The murder of PDP leader Abdul Gani Dar in Pulwama on Monday is the fourth incident of targeted killing in the last fortnight in the Valley. Families of policemen too have faced similar targeted attacks in the region. Underlining the grim scenario is the fact that the Valley has witnessed at least 20 terrorist-initiated incidents so far since January this year as compared to just nine in 2016.
Army officials felt the new phenomenon of targeted killing of political workers and public representatives is a ploy to derail democratic process in the strife-torn State.
Such a trend was last witnessed in 1997-98 when terrorists killed several political figures, said officials in the security establishment, adding the latest bout of killings have thrown a fresh challenge to the law enforcement agencies.
Officials said the Army and paramilitary forces worked tirelessly over the years to bring down levels of violence and create an atmosphere where the political process takes over.
However, the recent spate of killings will deter the political workers from reaching out to the masses and to restore normalcy, said officials, adding this vacuum will help the terrorists and separatists to vitiate the atmosphere.
Coupled with this factor, the rise in number of terrorists related incidents in January-April period is another cause for worry, sources said. As compared to just nine incidents in the corresponding period last year, at least 20 terrorist attacks have already taken place this year. Officials did not rule out a spike in the coming weeks.
Explaining this aspect, they said infiltration bids from across the line of Control (lOC) will increase once the ingress routes become accessible after snow melts in the next few days. So far, the lOC has not seen major infiltration attempts but officials said it was matter of time before the lOC becomes hot.