Army not to use cordon, search operations in J&K

Focus on flushing out ultras from populated areas

 The army is not returning to the cordon-and-search type of operations that were employed in the 1990s to hunt down terrorists in Kashmir.

Rather, the troops have been conducting only search operations to flush out militants from populated areas. Great care is being taken not to alienate the locals as earlier search and cordon methods had led to large-scale hardships, officials said.

Recent reports said nearly 4,000 soldiers of the Rashtriya Rifles were involved in security operations in 15 villages of Shopian district in south Kashmir from May 4. The army’s new approach will focus on smoking out militants holed up in villages in south Kashmir and forcing them to flee into the forests.

As public protests have made security operations in heavily inhabited villages difficult, the army sees greater chances of success from counter-terror operations in forests — if the militants are forced to move out of the houses. With a weakened intelligence network, the army is gearing up for the possibility of terrorist groups attacking the Amarnath Yatra, scheduled to be held between June 29 and August 7.

“Our job is to separate terrorists from the Kashmiri people, and target the terrorists,” Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said in an interview to a daily. “We are not returning to classical cordon-and-search operations in Kashmir because we know they cause hardship to local people,” he said. 

“These are area search operations. It is not even a cordon,” Rawat said.Rawat refuted the view that the army is against all Kashmiris and treats them as militants. “We understand that all Kashmiris are not involved in the so-called militancy. There are a few, select in number, who indulge in terror and violence,” he said during the interview.

This is in contrast to his remarks three months ago that all stone-pelters in Kashmir would be treated as ‘aides of jihadis’.

The army sees the killing of Kashmiri officer Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz, who was kidnapped and killed by militants in Shopian district on Tuesday, as a watershed moment.

It has given the army an opportunity to convey to locals that militants do not spare even their own officers.

“The officer was a role model for all young Kashmiris. The way things are, this action has taken Kashmiris back, while Lt Fayaz was taking it forward. He was encouraging young people to join the force, which the whole country is proud of,” Rawat said.

“These people are discouraging Kashmiris from availing job opportunities, while thousands of people line up for police recruitment. How can they explain this dichotomy? This act (Lt Fayaz’s murder) should be condemned by all Kashmiris,” he said.

2 civilians killed in Pak shelling

Two civilians were killed and several others injured as Pakistani troops continued heavy shelling on forward areas and border hamlets in Rajouri district on Saturday, reports DHNS from Srinagar. Reports said the Pakistani troops used 120 mm and 82 mm mortar shells to pound military posts in Jhanger village along the LoC in Nowshera sector.