Forces fear J-K drive may hit innocents

Aasha Khosa

New Delhi, May 26: It's going to be a hard summer for security forces in Kashmir when they re-launch the anti-insurgency operations after six months of relative inactivity because of the ceasefire.

Sources said the biggest challenge security top brass foresee is the compulsion to conduct cordon and search operations in villages where insurgents have shifted their bases from the mountains during the ceasefire period. ‘‘This would inevitably involve common people and such operations are always risky,’’ they said.

Although no official agency agrees on the figures, it is generally accepted that about 100 to 300 militants have infiltrated into the state from Pakistan during this period. This, besides the Kashmiri youth returning from Pakistan-based terrorist training camps. Of late, the Army has enhanced its troop deployment along the Line of Control.

The foremost task of the forces would be to launch massive combing operations in rural areas and in town to identify militants. ‘‘They got the time to re-organise themselves and even set up concrete hideouts in villages,’’ a senior para-military functionary told The Indian Express.

However, the forces would be at a disadvantage while starting operations. Generally, May-September is regarded as a pro-active period for militants while the rest of the year, security forces have a decisive upper hand. This is due to weather conditions as during winter and autumn, it is easier to spot militants in barren lands the Valley turns into. In summers, militants can camouflage themselves in dense foliage. This winter, the militants had a relative free run under the ceasefire conditions and their numbers had swelled.

Sources agree that state government’s controversial Special Operations Group (SOG) of police had been pro-active in spite of the ceasefire and it managed to eliminate a good number of insurgents, which is a consolation for the Central forces.

The anti-insurgency operation also gets interrupted by two major events. One the Amarnath yatra, which generally takes two months of elaborate preparations and second, the Independence Day functions, held under heavy security due to militants threats.

Sources said the Home ministry has categorically stated that no additional troops would be available for Kashmir in the coming days.

A senior ITBP officer, who has just returned from UN mission in Kosovo and has been posted to Kashmir said: ‘‘This time, we are asked to adopt a pro-active approach and not sit in camps and wait for militants to attack us and that is what a soldier always wants to do’’.