SRINAGAR: After two back-to-back gunfights in Handwara in which eight securitymen including two army officers were killed, security experts are apprehensive that militants might attempt to open a second front in north Kashmir and the summer may be “hot” on militancy front.
Former Jammu and Kashmir DGP S P Vaid said the militants might be planning to disturb north Kashmir like south Kashmir. Vaid said there was a possibility that militants might attempt to revive militancy in north Kashmir and open another front for security forces. After the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July 2016, south Kashmir had emerged as a stronghold of militants.
However, Vaid said two years back, when he was the DGP, police used to get reports that militants were trying to become active north Kashmir also.
According to security experts, the Rajwar forest area in Handwara falls along the infiltration route and serves as a hideout for infiltrators.
“In absence of free movement owing to lockdown, militants are operating in north Kashmir,” said another former DGP Kuldip Khoda.