Dangerous trend in Kashmir

Arun Joshi

tribune news service

Thursday morning’s fidayeen attack at an Army camp in Panzgam, Kupwara, in many ways was more terrifying than most terror attacks since July 1999 —- the first suicide attack on Army camp in Kashmir.

Never before had the locals gheraoed an Army camp to seek the bodies of the fidayeen. It seems an increase in the combatant role of the civilians, taking it to the next level from that of protests at encounter sites.

Earlier, the crowds would raise slogans and hurl stones to enable the militants to escape alive from the encounter sites. That has happened so many times that now it is beyond the memorised statistics. This new phenomenon indicates new challenges thrown at the security forces, which are now being forced to shun restraint.

Any civilian casualty in this kind of a situation spells double trouble for the Army. One, it suffers casualties, which in itself is a horrifying scenario. Two, dealing with the stone-hurling menacing crowds deters it from search operations besides bringing a bad name to it for targeting protesting civilians.

Crowds on Thursday were seeking militants’ bodies to stall the investigations. Normally, the DNA tests are conducted to nail Pakistan’s involvement. The fidayeen in almost 100 per cent of the cases are foreigners, and mostly Pakistanis. Islamabad and its agents were behind this situation.

What should be remembered is that the civilian killings put the Army on the back foot. Separatists and politicians like Farooq Abdullah then get a chance to abuse the Army and India.

There is another spectrum. That is, the timing of the attack at a time when videos showing the new power of militants are in circulation, hailing their own will to fight unto the last in a bid to inspire others.

Another aspect that comes to the fore is that despite being the victim of so many fidayeen attacks, the security forces have not adopted the safety requirements against such attacks. They should have been more alert this time when they knew that new batches of infiltrators were trying to sneak into the country from across the Line of Control. Kupwara is a border district. This adds to their vulnerabilities.

Fresh security assessment needs to be made in the light of the new trend that has the potential to spread across the Valley — beyond the confines of the Army camps and surroundings.

Never before had the locals gheraoed an Army camp to seek the bodies of the fidayeen. It seems an increase in the combatant role of the civilians, taking it to the next level from that of protests at encounter sites.