New Delhi: Two terrorists were killed by security forces on Tuesday in a massive operation in Bandipora district in north Kashmir. The seek-and-kill operation has been launched to combat a spate of attacks across the valley after a democratically elected government took charge in Jammu and Kashmir in mid-October after six years. The identities of the killed terrorists have not yet been confirmed and forces are carrying out further crackdown in the area.
Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha asserted that those targeting civilians will be nailed and punished. He also sounded a warning that the house of those giving shelter to terrorists would be razed to the ground. “I have issued directions to the security forces not to harm anyone who is innocent, but the culprits will not be spared. If anyone offers shelter to terrorists, then his house will be razed to the ground,” he said at a programme in Baramulla.
As security forces carried out operation against ultras and their networks, a man hailing from Sopore, who was identified as Ashiq Hussain Wani, was taken into police custody on Tuesday as he was suspected to be a “hybrid terrorist” — which means people who have been radicalised to carry out attacks and later return to everyday life. A pistol and seven rounds of ammunition were recovered by the police from the arrested man.
Call for local support amid spate of attacks
There has been a spate of terrorist attacks, which have claimed several lives. On October 14, two soldiers and two civilian porters were ambushed near Gulmarg in Baramulla. On October 18, in Shopian, a migrant worker hailing from Bihar was gunned down. And on October 20, seven tunnel construction workers were killed in Ganderbal.
The massive operation to flush out terrorists has resulted in multiple gunfights. On November 2, in an operation, Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Usman alias Chota Waleed from Pakistan was killed in Srinagar. The same day, two unidentified terrorists were shot dead in Anantnag. In a retaliatory attack the next day, terrorists wounded 12 people in a grenade attack in a buzzing Srinagar market.
Sources attribute the recent attacks to two factors: the impending winter, which will restrict movement, and frustration among Pakistan-based “handlers” regarding the peaceful conduct of the assembly elections in J&K, the first in ten years.
‘Local cooperation required’
LG Sinha has alleged that Pakistan continues to push terrorists across the border and stressed that ending violence needs cooperation from the local population. “It is not only the responsibility of the security forces and the administration, but also the people’s duty to identify such individuals (terrorists),” he said. He added that with support from civilians, terrorism can be rooted out from J&K within a year. Restoration of statehood in Jammu and Kashmir is “as certain as the sun rising from the east”, LG Sinha said on Tuesday.
