What will dominate the summer of 2014 in Jammu & Kashmir: The bullet or the ballotIJ It would be safe to place a bet on the ballot, Masood Azhar and his gang’s nefarious designs notwithstanding, writes JAIBANS SINGH
Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Omar Abdullah, during a discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor over the latter’s address to the joint session of the two Houses of the State Assembly on February 17, was outright in his rejection of allegations that peace in Jammu & Kashmir was ‘deceptive’ as it had been achieved by ‘force’. He qualified his assertions with statistics that show a 71 per cent decline in militancy in the last five years. Another silver lining is that there have been zero human rights violations by security forces in the year gone by.
Kashmir-watchers will agree that there was no let-up in the attempts made by terrorists to infiltrate into J&K from across the line of Control in 2013. On the contrary, in the aftermath of Afzal Guru’s hanging, leaders of lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Al Badr Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen held a meeting at the National Press Club in Islamabad and publically vowed to take revenge for Guru’s execution and step up jihad in Kashmir.
That these were not mere threats was proved by the spurt in attempts to push terrorists into J&K all through 2013. The Army foiled as many as 277 such infiltration attempts. This was no easy task since, in addition to the existing advantages of rugged and forested terrain available to the terrorists, Pakistani posts on the loC actively facilitated the infiltration attempts by resorting to heavy firing on Indian troops. The unusually large number of ceasefire violations all through 2013 were mainly for facilitation of infiltration attempts. It goes to the credit of the Indian Army that despite these serious challenges, it maintained a continuous vigil along the loC. With its strong anti-infiltration grid in place, the Army successfully restricted the infiltration of terrorists.
The Army has also been successful in its winter strategy to counter terrorism. While the troops deployed on the loC did a commendable job in effectively checking infiltration all thorough the period of intense cold, fog and difficult conditions, the troops in the hinterland too performed well by adopting a proactive strategy of striking at the terrorists before they could carry out their attacks. The reduced terrorist attacks this winter, clearly indicate the success of this strategy. The Army has not let down its guard and in the first one and a half months of 2014 alone, it has killed 10 terrorists and apprehended 16.
While the credit for achieving such phenomenal success goes to the synergy between the Army, paramilitary forces and the police, the same would not have been possible without the cooperation of the who are totally disillusioned with the so-called jihadis. The main reasons for this attitudinal change is perhaps the Army’s current policy of conducting operations with surgical precision based on accurate intelligence to avoid any collateral damage, its compassion towards the people and exercising restraint even in extremely provocative situations.
These changed dynamics have resulted in a relatively peaceful winter and a dramatic increase in tourists footfalls this winter. The three day international Heli-ski competition held on the slopes of Gulmarg between February, 21 and 23, is a befitting encore to the success achieved in ushering complete normalcy during the winter months. This extravaganza witnessed participation by as many as 250 skiers from across the world. Nothing more needs to be said to prove the words spoken by the Chief Minister.
The terrorists are on the run with their cadre strength depleted and leadership in disarray. They are in self preservation mode, trying desperately to conserve some strength for the forthcoming ‘summer of reckoning’. That the evil proponents of the proxy war are dreaming of a big bang is quite evident from the reports of resurfacing of Maulana Masood Azhar, a rabid anti-India, anti-Kashmir leader of the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad who has, for the last many years, been kept confined to the compound of his safe-house in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. His reactivation indicates that the terror masters are not happy with their fast-depleting presence in J&K and are not shy of using even an internationally-wanted criminal like Azhar to give an impetus to their evil cause.
The dwindling force of the terrorist movement constitutes good news when seen in the context of the lok Sabha. Successful conduct of the election is a social and political imperative in J&K since it will give a fillip to the process of normality and will pave the way for the State election due later in the year.
Terrorist commanders are putting in maximum effort towards energising their cadre to achieve a fair level of disruption of the electoral process. The sudden activation of people like Azar is a step in this direction. Security forces in the State are well aware of the evil designs and intentions of the enemy; they are equally determined to not only thwart all such ambitions but also to reduce terrorist capability to a mere whimper.
What will dominate the summer of 2014, the bullet or the ballotIJ It would be safe to place a bet on the ballot, Azhar and his gang notwithstanding!