In the third successive militancy related incident in ten days, three militants were killed by Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Akhnoor area during a failed ambush on an Army vehicle early Monday. Earlier, militants struck in tourist hub of Gulmarg, killing two soldiers and two porters and before that in a major incident, militants killed seven employees including a doctor at the construction site of the Z-Morh tunnel linking Kashmir Valley with Ladakh.The spurt in violence that began early this year has continued to increase its foothold encompassing the entire union territory. The attacks have followed recurrently, disrupting the uneasy calm that has largely prevailed in the UT since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
In recent years, security forces have achieved complete area domination and intelligence penetration in the urban areas and the countryside in the Valley, making it increasingly fraught for militants to take shelter in residential areas. But while the strategy has ushered in peace in the otherwise volatile countryside in South Kashmir, militants have moved to forests, where they are turning out to be difficult to track down for the security forces.
This is also apparent from the militancy related violence in the union territory this summer, most of which has been concentrated in the hilly terrain stretching from Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu division up to the districts in Kashmir.
The hill warfare has confronted security forces with new formidable challenges. More so, in a largely hilly and mountainous terrain of Jammu. The militants operating out of forests are difficult to locate and once located, difficult to be engaged in an encounter as has been clear in the successive gunfights this year. Most of the militancy related violence in which security personnel have been killed has taken place inside or close to forests.
On a positive note, the plains in the Valley, otherwise traditionally the hotbed of militancy, have seen a drastic drop in the militant numbers. These areas once used to be a site of recurrent encounters. This shows a considerable decline in local recruitment, a fact also acknowledged by security agencies. But a new security challenge is rearing its head. Although, the local militancy has, to a large extent, been reigned in, the influx of foreigners, especially in Jammu, has thrown the union territory into fresh turmoil. It is a new fight and may take a while before the security agencies are able to get a grip on the situation.
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