Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 21: To prevent attacks on capital city Srinagar and National Highway from Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which had made base in the outskirts of Srinagar, Army has set up a camp in village Chattergam in the Central Kashmir district of Budgam.
The Rashtriya Rifles camp was set up in village Chattergam in district Budgam in the outskirts of Srinagar for which they have acquired one hectare of private land on rent. There was already a small Army camp in a private house in the village before it was closed down 3 years ago after the improvement in the security situation in South and Central Kashmir.
The need for setting up of the Army camp was felt after rising militancy in South Kashmir with parts of Budgam and Pulwama district becoming a safe heaven for LeT commanders, who were planning attacks on Srinagar and South Kashmir from this vast unattended area.
General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt General Om Prakash admitted in July this year that over the years security forces focused on North Kashmir where there are more militants than South Kashmir but militants chose South Kashmir where security forces had decreased their presence following relative calm in the area.
The security agencies said that feeling security pressure in North Kashmir, the LeT made this area – west of river Jhelum from Srinagar Railway Station to Pulwama town – as their base. The LeT Divisional Commander for South Kashmir, Mohammad Qasim, who took over charge of South Kashmir after the killing of Abdul Rehman alias Rehman Bhai last year in October was hiding in this area. Prior to shifting to this area, Qasim was in Dacchigam area for almost a year.
Deputy of Qasim, Sajjad from village Zewan in the outskirts of Srinagar who is active in South Kashmir for past 8 years and two other commanders Imtiaz Teli, of Petipora in district Pulwama and Bilal Ahmad Bhat of Lalhar in district Pulwama were operating from this area prior to July Pampore attack in which one Army personnel was killed and another critically injured. These top commanders have reportedly fled from the area after the security operations were intensified in the aftermath of Pampore attack on Army. Divisional Commander Qasim was trapped by the security forces on August 29 in the South Kashmir’s Shopian district village of Brinail but he escaped from the security cordon along with LeT district Commander Shopian, Mudasir Sheikh, and fled to South Kashmir’s Pirpanchal mountains.
The decision to set up the security camp in the outskirts of Srinagar was taken in a review meeting held on July 8, a day after the Pampore attack that was described by the Army as alarming.
The review meeting had observed that a large area in the outskirts of Srinagar from Srinagar Railway Station to Pulwama town had no security presence after several security force camps were removed in South and Central Kashmir following improvement in the situation.
The meeting had decided intense security operations in the area to nab the LeT militants who had established base in the area till the camp is established.
The main worry for the security agencies was a militant base in the vast area adjacent to the National Highway from Awantipora in South Kashmir to Hyderpora Bypass in Srinagar. This had made capital city Srinagar and the national highway vulnerable to militant attacks like Pampore and yesterday’s attack on Srinagar Bypass.
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