After losing the precious lives of four policemen in the two-day-long Juthana encounter in Kathua, the security forces on Saturday extended the ongoing search operations in the adjoining areas to hunt down the terrorists who may have escaped from Suffain village, taking advantage of the tough terrain and thickly forested area.
The dead bodies of two terrorists killed in the fierce encounter were also retrieved from inside the deep forests on Saturday. The security forces also sanitised the encounter site as per the standard operating procedure and destroyed the unused explosives littered around the encounter site. The local intelligence agencies are trying to track down the route taken by the terrorists after escaping the tight cordon in the Sanyal village of Hiranagar.
Police teams have detained a few suspects to ascertain their role in arranging any logistics for these foreign terrorists.
In a stern warning to Pakistan-based terror groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir, Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat late Friday evening said his force will not sleep or take rest till such groups are appropriately dealt with to frustrate their nefarious designs.
Meanwhile, emotions ran high across the native villages of all four policemen as their last rites were performed with full state honors.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and political leaders from different political parties, such as the BJP, Congress, National Conference, and PDP, visited the families of the four security personnel who laid down their lives in the recent Kathua encounter. At all these places, local villagers participated in large numbers and shouted slogans against the Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and demanded decisive action against the anti-national elements to teach them a befitting lesson for compromising the security of the Nation.
After meeting the family of Sgct Tariq Ahmad in Reasi, Omar Abdullah said his government will provide due compensation and a government job under
SRO-43 to the next of kin of all four policemen who laid down their lives in the line of duty.
Commenting on the security situation and repeated incidents of terrorist violence in the Jammu region Omar said the shifting of army personnel from Jammu to Ladakh to counter Chinese incursions allowed terrorists to exploit the situation.
He asserted more steps were needed to improve the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. "We should try to prevent such incidents. We should control
terrorism in such a way that such mourning in Jammu and Kashmir ends forever, Our four brave police personnel sacrificed their lives, but many innocent lives were saved".
