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| Attempt at staging mini Kargil in Mendhar | | |
NIRBHAY JAMMUAL
Jammu, Jan 4: Whose failure it is ?The Army's or that of the police in Mendhar area of Poonch where with the Pakistani aid a group of militants had fortified themselves.Neither the Police nor the Army had any wind of the activities of militants in the Pion forest belt.It is a forest enclosure.The green cover is so thick that even the rays of the sun cannot peep through the green foliage.Police sources say that since the entire area was under the command and control of the Army "our role in the belt was very limited."The police sources do not accept any blame for failure in spotting militant activiies.They say that it was the job of the troops guarding the border to prevent militants from building concrete bunkers in the area.These very bunkers were being used for targeting police the troops.
Army sources said that a retired police official had been providing all assistance to the militants in building the concrete bunkers. They say the police official had been instrumental for supplying building materials to the militants. Since the man had belonged to the police no agency suspected his activities. Whatever may be the truth behind this report the border guards should have foiled the game plan of the militants. No doubt the area is very difficult for search operations because no agency has any information about the exact location of the militants. Whether they are iniside the bunkers or have taken shelter behind tall trees and thick shrubs. Hence the counter operations have become difficult. Even during the last over 12 hours the troops have not been able to zero on the militants.
Inside reports reveal that till the late evening of Saturday not a single body of militants had been recovered after the Army had claimed that seven rebels had been killed in the operations. The operation had been carried out on the Indian soil hence the possibilities of militants having carried the bodies of slain rebels across the border were remote. These reports say that Pakistani agencies had been working on the project of staging min(chota) Kargil in Mendhar for the last several months. If the reports are true it becomes clear that Islamabad or to be precise agencies across the border were trying to stage mini Kargils not only in Mendhar but in other high altitudinal border belts. What is surprising is that these agencies have stared needling the Indian troops in the same way as they did in Kargil in 1999.But there is difference between Kargil and Mendhar. The border outposts on Kargil heights had been left manless as the Indian side had believed that militants aided by regular Pakistani forces would not attempt at occupying the posts located at heights varying between 11000 and 14,000 ft.But the Pakistani troops did sneak into the Indian territory with the purpose of not only grabbing the Indian territory but for snapping the supply line between Drass and Leh.
As the conflict between the two sides raged the Indian troops lived up to their reputation when they dislodged the Pakistani forces from the Kargil heights to regain the lost territory.At that juncture Islamabad denied involvement of troops in the Kargil conflict.It said that militants and not pakistani troops had crossed the LOC in Kargil.One should not feel amazed if Islamabad feigns ignorance about the Mendhar incident.It will say whatever happened in Mendhar was the work of militants. How did these militants sneak into the Indian territory? From where these militants got arms, ammunition and explosives? Which agency provided financial assistance to these militants for building concrete bunkers ?Neither the militants had descended on Mendhar forest belt from the sky nor had they received weapons and explosives from any super power. Police and Army officials say that experience gained by them during the last 20 years' of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir both infiltration, weapon supply and material assistance to militants in carving out safe sanctuaries have come from agencies across the LOC.The result is Islamabad talks of peace but prepares for war.
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