Strategy chalked out to counter rising threat of terrorism in twin border districts of J&K

Security agencies have chalked out new strategy to counter the rising threat of terrorism in twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir.

At a time when militants are on a run in Kashmir valley with their numbers coming down to double digits, Pakistan’s changed strategy and lesser presence of security forces are some of the reasons behind the spike in terrorism in the twin border districts in the past two years.

26 Army soldiers and nine civilians have been killed during last two and a half years in the twin districts which has posed a huge threat to the security grid in the Union Territory (UT).

Also Read | 'Please come back, papa', pleads 10-year-old daughter of soldier killed in Rajouri blast

Sources told DH that Army, paramilitary forces and J&K police have been directed by the government to launch a series of joint operations to track down the militants operating in the two districts.

Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, who chaired a high-level security meeting to review the security situation Rajouri and Poonch on Saturday before returning to New Delhi is believed to have given a go ahead to the new strategy to flush out the terrorists, who have taken shelter in a network of natural caves in the border districts.

“Security forces are trying to plug the routes leading to these caves and have kept a tight vigil in the area to cut the supply lines of the terrorists. But it seems the terrorists have already stored enough food, weapons and ammunition due to which they easily make an attack and come back to take shelter in the caves,” they said and added as both the districts are close to the Line of Control (LoC), it gives another advantage to the militants.

A senior police officer said there is a network of natural caves in the area which the terrorists are using. “The use of caves for shelter is advantageous for terrorists as it does away with the need for support from the local overground supporters’ network which considerably decreases chances of their detection,” he said.

“A number of villages lie between the Indian fence and the Zero Line along the 225km-long LoC in Poonch and Rajouri districts, where presence of sleeper cells of various terror outfits, including narco-smugglers, remains no secret,” the officer said.

Five Army personnel were killed in a blast that was triggered by militants in a thickly vegetated area in Rajouri on Friday and the incident took place at a time when the forces had been engaged in a massive combing operation for the past 15 days following an ambush on an army truck in Bhata Dhurian, Poonch, where five more soldiers lost their lives in an ambush by militants on April 20.

Also Read | Defence minister Rajnath Singh visits J&K’s Rajouri, reviews security situation

Earlier in Dhangri village in Rajouri terrorists killed seven civilians in two attacks that came on heels of each other on January 1 this year. In two major incidents in Rajouri in 2022, five army personnel and two terrorists were killed in a suicide attack at a security camp at Pargal-Darhal on August 11, while two civilians were killed in a firing incident outside an army camp near Rajouri town.