News Analysis India

Tag: Jammu and Kashmir

  • Five army personnel killed in gunfight with terrorists in J-K’s Poonch

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Five Army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed in a fierce gunfight with terrorists during an anti-insurgency operation in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, officials said.

    The operation was launched in a village close to DKG in Surankote in the early hours following intelligence inputs about presence of terrorists, a Defence spokesman said.

    He said the ultras opened heavy fire on the search parties resulting in critical injuries to the JCO and four other ranks. All the five soldiers succumbed to their injuries. The encounter with the terrorists was going on and further details are awaited, the spokesman said.

    The officials said there are reports about presence of a group of heavily-armed terrorists in Chamrer forest after they managed to sneak from across the Line of Control (LoC).

    Reinforcements have been rushed to the area to plug all escape routes to ensure the terrorists are neutralised, they said.

  • Five army personnel injured in encounter with terrorists in J&K’s Poonch

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Five army personnel, including a junior commissioned officer (JCO), were injured in an encounter that broke out between security forces and terrorists during an anti-insurgency operation in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Monday, a defence spokesman said.

    The operation was launched in a village close to DKG in Surankote in the early hours following intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists there, he said.

    The encounter was going on when last reports were received.

    ​ALSO READ | TRF militant involved in October 5 killing of sumo driver killed in encounter in Kashmir: Police

    The hiding ultras opened heavy fire on the search parties resulting in critical injuries to a JCO and four other ranks, the spokesman said.

    They have been sent to a hospital for treatment, he said.

    Officials said there are reports about the presence of a group of heavily-armed terrorists in the Chamrer forest, after they managed to sneak from across the Line of Control (LoC).

    Reinforcements have been rushed to the area to plug all escape routes of the terrorists, they said.

  • JCO among five soldiers killed in encounter with militants in J&K’s Poonch

    Express News Service

    SRINAGAR: Five Indian army soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) were killed in an ongoing encounter with militants in Surankote area in the border district of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.

    An Army official said based on intelligence inputs, the Army launched a cordon and search operation in a village close to Dera Ki Gali (DKG) area in Surankote in the border district of Poonch in the morning on Monday.

    He said during the operation, an encounter broke out after militants fired on the Army’s search party.

    ​ALSO READ | TRF militant involved in October 5 killing of sumo driver killed in encounter in Kashmir: Police

    “The fire was returned by troops and in the ensuing firefight, five Army jawans including a JCO were critically injured and evacuated to the military hospital,” the official said.

    Sources said all the five soldiers succumbed to injuries in the hospital.

    Additional troops have been rushed to the area to assist the securitymen present on the ground in the operation.

    Sources said a group of 2-4 militants are present in the area and it is being suspected that they may have infiltrated from across the border.

  • Kashmir civilian killings: At least 500 people detained in J&K in sweeping crackdown amid ‘targetted’ deaths

    By Associated Press

    SRINAGAR: Government forces have detained at least 500 people in a sweeping crackdown in Indian-controlled Kashmir, local officials said Sunday, following a string of suspected militant attacks and targeted killings in the disputed region.

    Assailants fatally shot three Hindus and a Sikh person in the region’s main city of Srinagar this week in a sudden rise in violence against civilians that both pro-and anti-India Kashmiri politicians widely condemned.

    Local police blamed the spate of killings on militants fighting against Indian rule in the region for decades. Officials said they had detained in the last three days over 500 people across the Kashmir Valley for questioning, with the majority of detainees from the main city of Srinagar.

    ALSO READ | Kashmir civilian killings: NIA carries out searches in several places in J&K, arrest 2 ‘TRF ‘operatives’

    Police say militants belonging to The Resistance Front, or TRF, rebel group have shot and killed seven people since last week, pushing up the death toll from such attacks this year to 28 people. While 21 of those slain were Muslims, seven of them belonged to Hindu and Sikh minority communities.

    Speaking with reporters recently, the region’s top police officer Dilbag Singh described the killings as a “conspiracy to create terror and communal rift.”

    On Thursday, TRF in a statement on social media claimed the group was targeting those working for Indian authorities, and was not picking targets based on faith. The rebel group’s statement could not be independently verified.

    Indian officials say TRF is the local front for Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group that is based in Pakistan. The cell was formed after India stripped in 2019 the region of its semi-autonomous status, scrapped its statehood, and undertook a massive security and communications lockdown for months.

    ALSO READ |  ‘Some have started leaving’: Kashmiri Pandits fear 1990 rerun as attack on minorities rises in J&K

    Kashmir has remained on edge ever since as authorities also put in place a slew of new laws, which critics and many Kashmiris fear could change the region’s demographics.

    This last week’s killings appeared to trigger widespread fear among minority communities, with many Hindu families opting to leave the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley. Those killed included a prominent Kashmiri Hindu chemist, two schoolteachers of the Hindu and Sikh faiths, and a Hindu street food vendor from India’s eastern state of Bihar.

    According to police, those detained in the ensuing crackdown include members of religious groups, anti-India activists and “overground workers,” a term Indian authorities use for militant sympathizers and collaborationists.

    The Himalayan territory of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan. Both the nuclear-armed arch-rival powers claim it in its entirety.

    Rebels in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

  • Kashmir civilian killings: At least 500 people detained in J&K amid sweeping crackdown on ‘targetted’ deaths

    By Associated Press

    SRINAGAR: Government forces have detained at least 500 people in a sweeping crackdown in Indian-controlled Kashmir, local officials said Sunday, following a string of suspected militant attacks and targeted killings in the disputed region.

    Assailants fatally shot three Hindus and a Sikh person in the region’s main city of Srinagar this week in a sudden rise in violence against civilians that both pro-and anti-India Kashmiri politicians widely condemned.

    Local police blamed the spate of killings on militants fighting against Indian rule in the region for decades. Officials said they had detained in the last three days over 500 people across the Kashmir Valley for questioning, with the majority of detainees from the main city of Srinagar.

    ALSO READ | Kashmir civilian killings: NIA carries out searches in several places in J&K, arrest 2 ‘TRF ‘operatives’

    Police say militants belonging to The Resistance Front, or TRF, rebel group have shot and killed seven people since last week, pushing up the death toll from such attacks this year to 28 people. While 21 of those slain were Muslims, seven of them belonged to Hindu and Sikh minority communities.

    Speaking with reporters recently, the region’s top police officer Dilbag Singh described the killings as a “conspiracy to create terror and communal rift.”

    On Thursday, TRF in a statement on social media claimed the group was targeting those working for Indian authorities, and was not picking targets based on faith. The rebel group’s statement could not be independently verified.

    Indian officials say TRF is the local front for Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group that is based in Pakistan. The cell was formed after India stripped in 2019 the region of its semi-autonomous status, scrapped its statehood, and undertook a massive security and communications lockdown for months.

    ALSO READ |  ‘Some have started leaving’: Kashmiri Pandits fear 1990 rerun as attack on minorities rises in J&K

    Kashmir has remained on edge ever since as authorities also put in place a slew of new laws, which critics and many Kashmiris fear could change the region’s demographics.

    This last week’s killings appeared to trigger widespread fear among minority communities, with many Hindu families opting to leave the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley. Those killed included a prominent Kashmiri Hindu chemist, two schoolteachers of the Hindu and Sikh faiths, and a Hindu street food vendor from India’s eastern state of Bihar.

    According to police, those detained in the ensuing crackdown include members of religious groups, anti-India activists and “overground workers,” a term Indian authorities use for militant sympathizers and collaborationists.

    The Himalayan territory of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan. Both the nuclear-armed arch-rival powers claim it in its entirety.

    Rebels in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

  • Attacks on Kashmir attempt to alienate majority community in UT, says PC chairman Sajjad Lone

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: Peoples Conference Chairman Sajjad Gani Lone on Saturday said the spate of attacks on Kashmir was a deliberate attempt of othering the majority community in the union territory and identifying it with the savagery that a lunatic fringe is indulging in.

    Lone, who has condemned the attack on minorities, said the Jammu and Kashmir administration does not have the luxury of resorting to a randomised response.

    “Attempts are being made to violently target the minority community. There is a deliberate attempt of othering the majority community and identifying it with the savagery that a lunatic fringe is indulging in.

    “It is important to make a distinction between the majority community and the fringiest of the fringe, consisting of a few individuals who are a curse for this land and people inhabiting this land.”

    “They have not spared the majority community either and have killed at whim and continue to target all those who are not in conformity with their world view,” Lone said.

    Lone emphasised on the need to remain steadfast and united in this hour of grief and protect the people.

    “Our collective heritage and our collective histories of our struggles, our travails demand that we understand that this land is ours and that we together don’t allow trespassers and encroachers to scare us away.

    “A helpless civilian can do nothing against the diktats of violence and the majority community is as pained and as scared as the minority community.

    “I am under no illusions- the guns targeting the minority community today will target the majority community tomorrow.

    “They have done it in the past for the last three decades, they have done it just a few days back and they will do it again,” he added.

    Lone said the madness of perpetrators of violence would not matter if there is a resolve to call a spade a spade.

    “I am a Kashmiri Muslim and have lost my dear father to bullets and there are thousands like me. We are all in it together. We are connected through the pain of losing our loved ones to bullets. Those who indulge in terror, those who believe in violence have no religion, no faith and no nationality,” he added.

    Lone underscored that while the people of J&K cannot afford to give a scattered, disunited response, it is equally important for the state administration to understand that it just does not have the luxury of resorting to a randomised response.

    “That would be walking into a trap laid by the killers. What we need is a specific targeting of those involved in acts of terror. Sifting through three-decade records and summoning old OGWs who have reintegrated into the society may do more harm than benefit. Wholesale summoning is as harmful and counter-productive,” he added.

    He emphasised that the union territory administration needs to understand that it may have been operating in an environment, which was not as challenging as it is today or might be in the future and they need to gear up to face these challenges.

    “Our learning curves are bloodied and have been drawn over the last three decades in the company of a lot of pain and bloodshed. Not referring to these curves will be a waste of that sacrifice.

    “We will have to refer to these learning curves and I can tell you with authority that our learning curves will never recommend a randomised response,” he said.

  • Two cops injured in militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: Two police personnel were injured in a militant attack on a police party in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Saturday, officials said.

    The incident took place in Manzgam this evening, the officials said.

    They said two police personnel sustained injuries in the attack.

    Further details of the incident are awaited, they added.

  • Centre failed to protect people in Jammu and Kashmir, alleges Congress leader Rajani Patil

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: Congress leader Rajani Patil on Saturday met families of those killed by terrorists recently in Jammu and Kashmir and lashed out at the Centre for “failing” to protect people.

    The Rajya Sabha member termed selective killings in the UT by terrorists as a big failure on the part of the Union government, a Congress spokesman said.

    Patil made this assertion during a visit to the family of Mohammad Shafi Dar, who was shot dead by militants three days ago in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

    Patil, accompanied by JKPCC chief G A Mir and party leader Tariq Hamid Karra, also visited residences of M L Bindroo and Supinder Kaur, who were shot dead by terrorists in separate incidents.

    He accused the Centre of failing to protect people in J-K, stressing that the security situation in Kashmir has deteriorated.

    She said the Centre should take effective measures to ensure safety and security of members of the minority community and others in Kashmir.

    The spokesman said Patil and Mir will visit the residence of teacher Deepak Chand, who was also shot dead by ultras, to express solidarity with the bereaved family.

  • Afghan-origin terrorists may try to enter J&K once situation stabilises in Afghanistan: Army Chief

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Chief of Army Staff Gen MM Naravane on Saturday did not rule out the possibility of Afghan-origin foreign terrorists attempting to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir once the situation stabilises in Afghanistan as he cited similar instances when the Taliban was in power in Kabul over two decades ago.

    At the same time, he said Indian armed forces are prepared to deal with any eventuality as they have a very strong counter-infiltration grid as well as a mechanism to check terrorist activities in the hinterland in Jammu and Kashmir.

    Asked at the India Today conclave whether there was any link between the spate of recent killings of civilians in Kashmir and the Taliban’s capture of power in Afghanistan, Gen Naravane said it cannot be said whether there was a connection.

    “Definitely, there has been a spurt in activities (in Jammu and Kashmir) but whether they can be directly linked to what is happening in or happened in Afghanistan, we really cannot say,” the Army Chief said.

    ALSO READ | China’s continuous build-up matter of concern: Army Chief Staff Gen MM Naravane

    “But what we can say and learn from the past is that when the previous Taliban regime was in power, that time definitely we had foreign terrorists of Afghan origin in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

    “So there are reasons to believe that the same thing might happen once again that once the situation in Afghanistan stabilises, then we could see an inflow of these fighters from Afghanistan to the Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.

    The Chief of Army Staff said the Indian armed forces are fully ready to deal with any such attempts.

    “We are prepared for any such eventuality. We have a very strong counter-infiltration grid to stop them at the border. We have a very strong counter-terrorism grid in the hinterland to take care of any such actions. Just as we dealt with them in the early 2000s, we will deal with them now also should they venture anywhere near us,” he said.

    There have been increasing concerns in the Indian security establishment over the possibility of terror spillover from Afghanistan into Jammu and Kashmir through Pakistan and rise in terrorist activities, particularly by groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed following the Taliban wresting power in Kabul.

    On the targeted killings in Jammu and Kashmir, the Army Chief said this is a matter of “concern” and described it as “reprehensible”.

    “They do not want normalcy. It is a last-ditch attempt to stay relevant,” he said referring to militant groups.

    “The people will revolt. If they (militants) say that they are doing all these for the people, then why you are killing your own people who are your support base.

    It is just an attempt to spread terror which is totally unacceptable,” Gen Naravane said.

    About the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan, Gen Naravane said it was observed in “totality” for four months from February.

    “But from the end of July onwards to September and now the beginning of October, the sporadic incidents have again started.

    I think again, it is following the pattern of 2003 when it would start with one odd incident and rising to as good as not having a ceasefire,” he said.

    “Over the last month or so, we are again seeing renewed attempts at infiltration. We have eliminated two or three such infiltration attempts,” he added. In a sudden and significant move aimed at reducing tensions, the Indian and Pakistani armies on February 25 announced that they would cease firing across the LoC while recommitting themselves to a 2003 ceasefire agreement.

    “Apart from the infiltration bids, there have been three incidents of proper ceasefire violations that is one post firing at the other post,” he said.

  • Killing of J&K civilians aimed at denting ‘normalcy’ claim?

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  The recent spike in attacks on non-Muslim civilians in Kashmir Valley could be an attempt by militant outfits to puncture the central government’s claim of restoring normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, feel some senior officials.

    According to sources in intelligence agencies, the terrorists have plans to carry out more civilian killings in Jammu and Kashmir, targeting more members of the minority communities living in Anantnag and Kulgam regions. “There are specific inputs about the possibility of targeted killings in around 10 colonies where non-Muslims have a sizeable population,” a senior intelligence official told this newspaper. 

    The official added that the intel was generated on Friday, a day after two government teachers were shot dead in downtown Srinagar. Latest intel suggests that terrorists want to send a message of “no normalcy” in Jammu and Kashmir ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s scheduled visit to the Valley this month, another top security official said. 

    With these attacks, the official said, terrorists wanted to puncture the narrative of the Centre that abrogation of Article 370 had led to “revival of normalcy, boosted tourism and full integration of J&K with rest of India”, and instead create an atmosphere of fear and insecurity, particularly among the minority communities.

    ALSO READ | J&K militants attempting to recreate early 1990 situation, scare minorities: Experts

    Meanwhile, an analysis of government data reveals that more people from minority communities have been killed by militants in J&K this year compared to last year, though the total number of civilians killed in the UT this year is fewer than the number of civilians killed in 2019 and 2020 (as on October 5 for all years). The data, analysed by this newspaper, comes amid widespread panic among minorities in the Valley over the spate of targeted killings over the last one week. Many Kashmiri Pandits have reportedly fled the Valley while many more are in the process of leaving their homes.

    As of October 5 this year, as many as 29 civilians have been killed in the newly carved UT. Of these, five were non-Muslims. Last year till October 5, as many as 37 civilians, including three non-Muslims were killed in terror incidents. The year 2019, when the erstwhile state was split into two union territories and its special status revoked, saw a higher number of civilian casualties during the corresponding period. Thirty four Muslims and six non-Muslims lost lives to terror attacks till October 5, 2019.

    MORE THAN 300 DETAINEDThe local police have detained over 300 people for questioning in the case of civilian killings. Many more are expected to be detained and questioned over the course of next one week