Another ‘chance encounter’ and another bunch of hardcore terrorists eliminated but the question remains from where they came and for how many times we will be lucky to prevent any major incident in and around Jammu and Jammu Division as a whole. In this month only there was a grenade attack on this very Sidhra Bridge and the perpetrators are still at large. Sticky bomb blasts in buses at Katra and Udhampur, grenade attack at Rajouri, Bhatta Durrian encounter, live bomb in a drain outside Jammu Railway Station and similar IED near Phallian Mandal police post under Satwari Police Station, encounter before Jammu visit of PM, are enough indicators that Jammu Division is on target of enemy. The things get further complicated as time and again drones are being used to drop weapons, narcotics and even an attempt being made in the past to blow up Air Force Station of Jammu. Another serious aspect is use of RPG in attacking police station in neighbouring state of Punjab and another set of RPG subsequently recovered two days back only. All these incidents when seen on a broader canvass leads to only one conclusion, from across the border Pakistan is desperately trying to revive terrorism at any cost in both Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. All these incidents are not ordinary incidents but a well hatched conspiracy to cause wide spread trouble across our UT. A look at the arms and ammunition recovered from encounter site- 7 AK-47s, M4 rifle, 3 pistols, ammunition make the whole matter much more serious with dangerous consequences, what are terrorists up to? Cross border arms, ammunition and narcotics smuggling has taken new dimension and almost daily seizures of narcotics in and around Jammu clearly indicate that Pakistan has established underground network of sympathisers in whole Jammu Division. Nonstop series of terrorists attacks all along the National Highway have been going on for years together, be it Gurdaspur police station or Pathankot Airbase or Samba officers’ mess or Ratnuchak or Kaluchak or Sunjwan or Nagrota or Baan Toll Plaza terrorists’ attack, the list is endless with only one major conclusion, this National Highway is the main carrier route of terrorists. Time and again Jammu and Kashmir Police have intercepted vehicles carrying terrorists which have led to encounters, but all these are by chance only. We are lucky enough every time that there have been no major causalities on our side but for how long. Some serious intelligence, preempting enemy designs, subsequent meticulous planning and precision elimination of the terrorists in there hideouts itself is the need of the hour. With renewed strategies enemy is trying consistently to revoke terrorism and indulge in some major terrorist attack, as such we should have a counter strategy in place to checkmate the cross border enemy. As pointed out this highway is main transit route for all antinational activities of arms, ammunition, narcotics, bovine and terrorists smuggling. Experts have time and again recommended installation of full truck body scanners at Lakhanpur and other places for automatic checking of all inbound vehicles instead of random manual frisking, decades have passed but no consideration to this important aspect being given and nobody wants to answer this question, why? It is a serious unaddressed security lapse as such Home Ministry should immediately intervene and resolve this long pending much needed full body truck scanners issue. Jammu and Kashmir have special security requirements which cannot be ignored or buried under the carpet for so long. Another aspect is strengthening of intelligence network all along the International Border. Time and again anti national elements are able to ferment trouble by indulging in acts of blasts and encounters, clearly indicating their OGW and UGW networks are intact. Immediate house to house police verification is needed to get the moles out. No doubt the police is over burdened with plethora of duties but this most important aspect of policing cannot be ignored for long now. There are enough indications that sleeper cells and their sympathisers are very much present and it’s high time to apprehend them before they are successful in causing some major damage. Permanent check points all along the highway with proper body gears and modern ammunition are a must now.
Enemy is frustrated for obvious reasons, no more able to cause any major incident in the Kashmir valley as there are no hartal calendars, no stone pelting and almost negligible terrorist incidents, factually terrorism has been squeezed to couple of pockets in two or three districts only and Jammu and Kashmir Police is confident of wiping out the remaining lot of terrorists but we cannot be complacent. Enemy has been outwitted but not dead yet and it will try its best to revive terrorism at any cost. Thousand razor cuts bleeding theory of General Zia is very much alive, pursued and being implemented with new strategies as such we have to be extra vigilant to defeat the nefarious designs of the enemy. There are no shortcuts to counter terrorism but consistent block by block steps are must to wipe it out. Efforts of security forces despite constrains are much appreciated and timely joint operation of Army and JKP has saved the day once again for us but we have to pull up our socks, no time to dabble around, embellishing our success is not the need of the hour but taking all these recent incidents as reasons enough to be extra vigilant. Public also has an important role to play, just be cautious, report and support police if any unwanted activity is observed. Our Jammu and Kashmir Police is professional and experience enough to tackle any situation and will definitely go extra mile to counter these threats, every plan will be thwarted, terrorism has no place to survive in Jammu and Kashmir.
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