The latest case of a policeman deserting with rifles in Jammu & Kashmir on Saturday has confirmed apprehensions of the security establishment about a new trend wherein terrorist organisations are asking potential recruits to prove their mettle by stealing or snatching weapons besides carrying out attacks. At least three such incidents have taken place in the last few months.
This apart, the pre-dawn fidayeen attacks on military establishments, including the Pathankot airbase in January and an Army camp in Tangdhar in December last year, have forced security forces to change their patrolling tactics by rotating the sentries at shorter intervals to ensure they remain alert during those crucial hours to prevent intrusion.
Giving the details of the latest suspected desertion, officials said Riyaz Ahmad, a driver in the police department and posted at Rainawari Police Station in Srinagar, had not reported for duty since last Friday. A service rifle of one of the constables at the police station was also missing. “Riyaz, who was working as a driver, might have fled with the rifle as we have not been able to contact him since Friday,” they said adding efforts were on to trace the missing cop.
This is the third incident of a policeman deserting the force with official weapons in the past few months.
last month, a policeman posted in Bijbehara decamped with four rifles from a police establishment in the south Kashmir’s Anantnag district and joined the ranks of militants. While the police managed to recover three rifles and nab an accomplice of the cop, he is still missing. In October last year, a Personal Security Officer (PSO) of then Minister for Roads and Buildings Altaf Bukhari decamped with his service rifle to join the militants. The PSO was later spotted in a video released by Hizbul Mujahideen’s “Divisional Commander” Burhan Wani.
Elaborating on this alarming new trend, officials said militant organisations were urging potential recruits, including policemen and others to prove their worth by stealing or snatching rifles.
While a policeman carrying such an attack can be identified, security forces were more worried about educated unemployed youth resorting to such acts in coming days.
Expressing apprehensions over the new tactics used by terrorist organizations to recruit and get sophisticated weapons, officials said more than 80 young men were feared to have joined terror ranks of Hizbul Mujahideen and lashkar-e-Tayyeba last year.
As regards enhancing security of vital installations, they said operational commanders were redrawing their strategy to fight militants who were now attacking in the wee hours as seen in the Pathankot airbase and an Army camp in Tangdhar.
Not ruling out such attacks on high profile targets by militants to make their presence felt, security forces were instructed to tighten their drills and commanders strengthened perimeter of all sensitive buildings, Army camps and other such institutions.
In one of the first steps, sentries guarding the sensitive military bases are now rotated frequently more so during early morning hours when militants sneak in and cause maximum damage.
Taking advantage of poor light just before dawn, militants had tried to enter the Army camp in Tangdhar and opened fire killing two persons including a contractor. The Army managed to repel the attack by killing all the four militants in a long fire fight. However, terrorists managed to breach the security cordon of Pathankot airbase leading to a four-day operation.
Officials admitted that element of surprise always rests with the terrorists and they manage to inflict casualties in the first couple of moments. Thereafter, militants hide in built-up areas like buildings or fields like in the Pathankot attack and generally do not fire to avoid giving away their location to security forces.
Armed with sophisticated weapons, guards were now changed after short spell of duty to prevent lack in alertness. The frequent shifting was stepped up during early morning hours with clear orders to maintain high-level of vigil during that crucial period.
Similarly, patrolling by the local police backed by Intelligence inputs was also increased in villages surrounding the vital installations to detect movement of strangers or any unusual activity, officials said. Regular interaction between operational commanders of the counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency grid was also on. The grid comprises Army, Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and local police besides Intelligence agencies.
With the State capital shifting to Jammu during winter months, the city was now a high value target with the entire State administration including Ministers and bureaucrats present there. In this backdrop, Governor NN Vohra instructed the security forces to review their operational preparedness to deal with any eventuality and strengthen protection of all vital installations.
With the detection of fresh movement along the International Border in Bamiyal area of Pathankot, where one intruder was shot dead by the BSF, the entire border route between Kathua and Jammu was also sealed. Terrorists had sneaked in from Bamiyal to attack the Pathankot airbase.
Additional troops were deployed in the vulnerable stretches along the International Border, officials said adding intense cold and dense fog was posing a major challenge to security personnel patrolling the border.
General security was increased in and around Army camps and school buildings along the Jammu-Pathankot Highway. Additional policemen along with Quick Reaction Teams (QRT) were stationed at sensitive locations along this road which saw at least two major suicide attacks on Army camps in the last two years.
Security was stepped up on the crucial Jammu-Srinagar Highway including towns like Udhampur housing the Army’s Northern Command Headquarters. The Army convoys moving on this highway were taking extra precautions to avoid improvised explosive device blasts, they said. Special Forces commandos were also kept on the standby mode at several vital locations to meet any exigency, they added.