Mohura attack a bid to derail elections: Parrikar

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 11

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the recent terror attack at Mohura in Uri that left 11 security men dead was aimed at bringing down the voter turnout in the ongoing Assembly polls in J&K.

"Due to the high voter turnout in the elections, I think this is an attempt to get it down again,” Parrikar told reporters during his visit to the headquarters of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps after taking over as the Defence Minister last month.

A 58 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the third phase of the polls on December 9, just days after the deadly attacks in the Valley on December 5. The turnout in Phase-III was, however, less compared to the first two phases. The Defence Minister said that despite the attacks, there was good voting. “… you see, for example, the results in Tral ( in south Kashmir) have gone up from 1 per cent to 37.8 per cent. So, people are coming out and voting in large numbers, it indicates that people of J&K want to be part of India as a democratic set-up,” he said.

The Defence Minister, however, said that there was a possibility of more such attacks. “As the election process is still on, the possibility of such attacks cannot be ruled out till the election results are declared. We are on alert,” he said.

The minister said the morale of the Army was high despite the attacks. “The morale of the troops is high. This could be seen when the Army neutralised the terrorists in a very professional way. The casualties the Army suffered were at the beginning of the operation, which had a surprise element to it.”

“The Army carried out the operation extremely professionally and no civilian was harmed… that is the biggest success,” he added.

Parrikar dodged a question on the revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, saying: “Let the new government be formed”.

Earlier, upon arriving in Srinagar, the Defence Minister was received by Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag , Northern Command chief Lt Gen DS Hooda and General Officer Commanding of 15 Corps Lt Gen Subrata Saha,

“The minister visited the War Memorial of the Chinar Corps and paid tributes to martyrs laying a wreath at the memorial,” a defence spokesman said.

The Defence Minister was briefed by the Northern Command chief on the prevailing security situation in the state. “The Minister was apprised of the robust counter-infiltration grid along the LoC and the counter-terrorist grid in the hinterland established by the Army,” the spokesman said. The minister also interacted with soldiers and complimented them on their high morale and operational preparedness.