Another Terror Attack in Poonch (J&K)
On 20 Apr 2023, Jawans of Rashtriya Riffles (RR) Battalion were going to a village near Bhimber Gali area in Poonch distt of J&K to distribute some provisions and sweets as a good will gesture on the eve of Eid, a Muslim festival. However, it appears that some of the villagers had colluded with terrorists who attacked and ambushed the vehicle in which 5 Jawans were martyred. Police and Army swiftly cordoned the areas within hours for a thorough search but the terrorists had been at large. Apparently 15-20 people have been rounded up for questioning and preliminary info suggests of a collusion. It is important mentioning here that there were intelligence reports of 2-3 terrorists having sneaked in from across of the LoC a couple of days prior to the incident but no strict combing ops were initiated. However, the incident was further worrying as the attack seemed apparently a handiwork of about 7 terrorists. Thus a legitimate question arises as to where did the other 4-5 terrorists come from. Were they the local terrorists or Pakis who were living in the villages or its vicinities? It is well known that many civilians do tend to provide shelter/support to the Pak terrorists as they claim to be undertaking ideological Jihad against India.
There is no doubt that significant numbers of Kashmiri Muslims are actively indulging in Jihad in J&K right from late 1980s. The darkest & blackened face of Kashmiri Muslims was visible during their 1990 genocide when chants of “Ralive, Tsalive ya Galive” against Kashmiri Pandits / Hindus emanated from the loudspeakers of every mosque. Although looking at the fate of Muslims in Pakistan, many feel more secure in India today but their emotional attachment of Islam still makes them indulgent. That is the reason why targeted killings of the handful of leftover Pandits in Kashmir continue even after the abrogation of article 370. Some such instances are enumerated below:-
The area of Poonch district extending from Bhimber Gali, Bhatta Durian up to Dehra Ki Gali near LoC has had recurrent terrorist attacks in past, on both security forces and civilians. Hence, there was a firm reason for the security forces to take the intelligence input of infiltration seriously and launch combing ops. On 1-2 Jan 23, two unidentified terrorists had killed seven Pandits/Hindus and injured 14 others in twin attacks at Upper Dangri village. Earlier, terrorists had killed 14 Army soldiers in two attacks in these forests on Chamrel side and at Bhatta Durian in October 2021. The LoC is just about 7-10 Km from there and the forest is very dense where terrorists can hide and search ops are extremely difficult if not impossible. It is believed that at least two launch pads for terrorists are being operated by Pak on their side of the LoC, from where they infiltrate from time to time on the direction of their handlers.
Pakistani ISI seems to be doing overtime to draw world attention by activating/using their 4th wing of fighting forces, the Islamic Terrorist Modules directly under ISI in creating situations in Jammu & Kashmir. It has been an apparently calm J&K in the recent months and years where the Indian govt is planning to have the G20 meeting in rotation with many other cities. By committing terror acts, Pakistan may be trying to discourage the G20 from holding the next meeting in May 2023. It is a childish and nefarious act of Pakistan but that has been ongoing ever since late 1980s.
Pakistan raised the Terrorist Infrastructure in the 80s with the assistance of USA to train the Afghani youths migrated due to Russian occupation. The control over the Terrorist Training and Operations has been under the ISI of Pakistan. Initially, the terrorists were used against the Russian Forces. Later Pakistan started sending them to several nations on possibly a handy tariff that they have kept concealed. It has also been useful to them to create several terror acts in India to inflict numerous cuts as retaliation for breaking Pakistan into two. It is another matter that the same terrorists are also badly hurting Pakistan too proving the adverb very right that “keeping snakes in own backyard will bite you too”. Of course, Pak ISI has always used them to cause several high-profile terror acts in India (read "Pakistan, Islamic Terror and India", https://articles.thecounterviews.com/articles/pakistan-islamic-terrorism-and-india/). India will also have to keep an eye on the Islamic terrorism emanating from elsewhere because Indian Muslims can fall prey in supporting them as well.
Islam is a religion of hate against non-Muslims all over the world incl in India where it is violating the Fundamental Rights of non-Muslim citizens (read “Gross Violation of Indian Fundamental Rights”, https://articles.thecounterviews.com/articles/gross-violation-of-indian-fundamental-rights-by-quran/). Islamic genocides of Hindu-Sikh-Christians are going on in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Elsewhere Christians and African Tribes are undergoing numerous Islamic genocides in Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Congo (by Islamic M23) to mention a few. It is another matter that in many Islamic nations, sectarian violence is going on between different factions of Islam itself like those in Yemen & Syria. When it comes to Kashmir, the compulsions of Islamic ideologies mute even moderate voices within the OIC block. It is another matter though that the same OIC members (incl terror-sponsoring Pak, Turkey, Saudi, Iran etc) are mum and at ease with the ongoing near-genocide of Muslims in Xinjiang (China).
Coming back to terrorist activities in J&K, the highly dedicated Indian security forces are keeping them in check…BUT…Min of Defence (MoD) & Min of Home (MoH) seem to be hesitant of taking any strong proactive measures. The basics of fighting terror is to destroy the coward terrorist in their own hideouts of ‘launch pads’ and their few ‘Drone bases’. MoD is fully aware of these ‘launch pads’ all along the LoC. India also possesses the capability to destroy those ‘launch pads’ even without crossing the LoC whether by Apache Hptr sorties or precision artillery attacks. Such retaliatory attacks will not violate the ‘cease fire’ between India & Pak as it will be directed against the terrorists. However, if Pak ISI can mount terrorist attacks within India, MoD will be fully within their rights to retaliate against the terrorists. Many other measures need to be adopted incl using technologies to detect terrorist infiltrations, raising ‘Vibrant Villages’ along LoC and also clearing thick jungles from 500 meters within the border all along LoC. It is the reluctance of the Indian govt that is encouraging Pak to continue with terrorist infiltrations.
One more inaction by the Indian govt is puzzling as to why Pakistan is not declared a ‘Terrorist or Terror-Sponsoring nation” (read “Golden Opportunity to Label Pakistan a Terrorist State”, https://articles.thecounterviews.com/articles/Pakistan-terror-sponsor-state-terrorist-jihadi-un-unsc/)? Unless India takes such strong steps, seldom any other nation will take strong measure against Pak. Right now Pak is reeling under a severe economic crunch. It may be in both Pak and Indian interests to initiate a bilateral dialogue to get the POK vacated from Pak authorities. If they refuge (which in all likelihood they will), India will have a valid reason to get it vacated by force. There is a saying “लोहा गरम है, हथौड़ा मारो”. It may be time to launch multi-pronged retaliatory and proactive military attacks on both Jihadi Estts and their Armed Forces as well as a credible diplomatic offensive against the govt of Pakistan.