Ultras failed to launch lethal rocket

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, August 2

Six days after the attack on the Dinanagar police station, the police today took help of the Army to defuse an active rocket seized from the terrorists along with a disposable rocket launcher (DRL).

Officers claim the rocket had the capability to blow up the entire police station premises besides damaging buildings within a radius of 100 m.

Ishwar Chander Sharma, IG (Border), said they had to wait for six days as the police did not have the resources to defuse the sophisticated weapon which is also called a long-range artillery piece in Army parlance.

“The police across the country do not use DRLs. The process of asking the Army to defuse the device is tedious. The Deputy Commissioner first signed the requisition orders, following which the Army was called,” he said.

“The DRL is a getaway device. It is used by terrorists only as a last resort. We eliminated them before they could fire from it,” he added.

Nearly 60 Army men arrived at Dinanagar early this morning and took the device to Makkoran Pattan village near the confluence of the Ravi and the Ujh rivers. It was disposed of there which created a 6 ft deep and 4 ft wide crater. Officers admit that had the militants been able to fire the rocket, the damage would have been massive.

Experts say a DRL can hit the enemy from a long range with devastating effect. Initially, the police thought it to be a grenade launcher, but weapon experts pointed out that it was actually a DRL which was much more powerful than a grenade launcher.

DRLs come in various shapes and sizes and with varying firepower. The IG did not divulge details in this aspect.

The IG said three pairs of “Adidas” make gloves having “Made in Pakistan” markings had also been recovered from the militants. The gloves are used to facilitate grip over firearms.”

The 14 families living in the quarters adjacent to the building where the militants were holed up were in for a surprise to see Army men swooping on the police station early in the morning. All other arms and ammunition recovered from the militants are still lying in the premises.

Preparing to bury bodies

With the post-mortem on the bodies of the militants now over, the focus has shifted to their burial.

Ishwar Chander Sharma, IG (Border), has asked Gurdaspur SSP Gurpreet Singh Toor to make necessary arrangements to bury the bodies. Both place and timing are being kept under the warps. Toor said: "We are not in a position to take risks. The attack has international ramifications. We thus have to tread very carefully. Right, now I am not in a position divulge any details. The site where the bodies will be buried and the timing have to be decided by senior officers. I am awaiting orders from them."

The SSP has been given instructions to perform the last rites by the IG at a meeting held at the Dinanagar police station yesterday. Also present in the meeting were ADGP (Railways) Rohit Chowdhury, Pathankot SSP Rakesh Kaushal, Kathua SSP Niva Jain and other senior officers.

The bodies of the militants are lying in the air-conditioned mortuary of the Civil Hospital. A posse of police personal has been deployed near the mortuary and nobody is allowed to go near the building.

There are unconfirmed reports that the bodies would be taken to Kapurthala for burial during the night.