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| Militants on prowl in Kashmir | | |
When five militants were killed near
Preng in Ganderbal district of Kash-
mir and five infiltrators eliminated in Kupwara district the other day it further lent credence to the reports that have been conveying to the Government that militancy continued to survive in Jammu and Kashmir.Police claimed that five militants were killed in a gunfight at Preng bridge near Srinagar- Leh highway. A joint party of police and Army's 24 Rashtriya Riffles laid ambush near Preng bridge. Militants moving in the area opened fire on the forces which was retaliated triggering an encounter in which five militants were killed.In fact the operation was the result of specific inputs that the police and the Army had received in which it was stated that a group of militants were on a prowl and could target either a security picket,convoy or any vital Government installation.And had not the troops and the police acts on time Kashmir could have been in for some ugly incident.During the last about a month militants have been quite in south Kashmir area where on two occasions they have targeted the police killing two constables.In reality the month of August has proved inauspicious as far as the security scenario in the state is concerned.It was primarily because of step-up in ceasefire violations by the Pakistani troops on the LOC and the IB in which more than six Indian soldiers have been killed and several civilians nd soldiers were injured.What has been amazing is the way Pak troops enjoy rest for a day or two and then resort to heavy fring on the Indian border posts.
And it is what happened on Thursday night.After a two-day lull, Pakistan Army again violated the ceasefire by targeting forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu district, drawing retaliation from Indian forces.Pakistan Army opened indiscriminate and unprovoked firing on forward posts along the LoC in Pallanwala sub-sector in Jammu district during the night hours of Thursday.Pakistan Army fired from small and automatic weapons on the forward posts along LoC.Indian troops guarding the borderline used similar calibre weapons and strongly retaliated, triggering fierce exchanges, which continued till midnight on Thursday.There has been almost daily firing and mortar shelling by Pakistani Army in the Poonch-Rajouri sector since August 6, with a total of over 30 ceasefire violations recorded this month.Six jawans have been killed and 10 injured in ceasefire violations and firing by Pakistan troops on forward posts, civilian areas and patrolling parties along the Indo-Pak border in August.Despite series of protests lodged by New Delhi there has been no let up in the Pak plan to trigger border conflict.What is again surprising is the way Islamabad in general and Pakistan Army in particular failed to respond to repeated plea for end to ceasefire violations by the Kashmir separatists.
Again the most confusing aspect of repeated ceasefire violations is the Pak duplicity.On one hand those who matter in the establishment in Islamabad have been seeking New Delhi's response to the resumption of bilateral dialogue on the other hand troops are allowed to resort to unprovoked ceasefire violations.This also indicates that the Government headed by Nawaz Sharif does not have total control over the Army which may ultimately prove costly for him as it had happened in 1999 when the then Army Chief had engineerd the Kargil conflict without taking Nawaz Sharif into confidence.It may be that Pakistan was trying to force New Delhi to reopen the channels of dialogue process.Well Pakistan needs to know that India is not too timid to resume the process of dialogue under coercion or threat.For sever- al months,after the 2008, Mumbai mayhem India had shut the doors of dialogue but it r eopened them only af ter Islamabad's repeated begging.And during the last five years New Delhi has welcomed the process of dialogue despite provocations from the other side. It seems that finding that its case on Kashmir and on issues pertaining to Siachen and Sir Creek,besides water sharing,is too weak to be debated during bilateral talks, Islamabad has opted for means which flout all norms of parleys simply to force Delhi to grant some concessions.
Well New Delhi may not be averse to a accommodate Pakistan provided Islamabad adopts peaceful means.Till such a situation emerges India needs to upgrade its security grid so that its forces are able to silence the Pak guns on the border and tame militants operating within the state of Jammu and Kashmir. |
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