Using the public address systems of mosques to warn and threaten the security forces, provoke local residents to come out in large numbers to pelt stones, shout slogans and act as a shield is the latest modus operandi of the terrorists facing increasing pressure from the security forces in Kashmir Valley.
The new practice saw most wanted lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) commander Abu Dujana escape just two days ago in Kulgam. He carries a reward of Rs15 lakh on his head and has evaded the dragnet at least five times in the last six to seven months.
Operating in the Valley since 2014, Dujana has emerged as a priority for the security forces as he enjoys support in several villages of four-five districts of South Kashmir. He has so far managed to evade capture due to prior announcements from the mosques whenever the security forces close in. In fact, he, along with two of his associates, fled twice in the last one week minutes before the security forces could corner him in Kulgam.
Soon after the alarm was sounded from the mosques instigating overground workers (OGW) and sympathisers to surround the site where the terrorists were hiding on Wednesday, the security forces came under heavy stone pelting and slogan shouting. The locals, mainly misguided youths, acted as “human shields” for the leT terrorists, officials in the security establishment said on Saturday.
They admitted this phenomenon has picked up in the last few months forcing local commanders of the security forces to redraw their tactics to deal with the challenge. “Places of worship were used to provoke local residents to come out in large numbers and shield local terrorists,” 15 Corps chief lieutenant-General JS Sandhu said last week.
Officials conceded that “initially we were caught off guard by these protests” but now “we have redesigned our standard operating procedures and are also taking support of law enforcement components of paramilitary and local police to ensure our operations do not suffer”.
Elaborating upon the new procedures, they said the local police and paramilitary forces are given the responsibility of tackling the mobs while small teams of the Army carry out the actual operation of going after the holed-up terrorists.
These tactics were initiated after frequent incidents of stone pelting and regular use of locals as “human shields” by the terrorist commanders started adversely affecting anti-terrorist operations in densely populated villages of South Kashmir including Shopian, Pulwama, Anantnag and Kulgam.
Another worrying factor is the increasing number of terrorists in these districts following which the anti-insurgency grid including the Army, police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has adopted a three-pronged strategy.
With more than 250 terrorists including 115 local recruits active in the Kashmir Valley, the Army is making all efforts to curb infiltration from across the line of Control (loC). Second, several programmes to reach out to the youth to bring them into the mainstream are on by the civil authorities and the Army.
The third and most important component of the strategy is to bring down the number of militants to “sustainable” limits through relentless operations. Explaining this aspect, they said “sustainable” limit means that rule of law and writ of the civil Government should prevail and the terrorists should not call the shots.