Search operation in Poonch after suspicious movement

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, November 26

A cordon-and-search operation was launched in Poonch district after security personnel received information regarding a suspicious movement. The operation was launched near the Line of Control (LoC) in Krishna Ghati area by a joint team of the Army, the CRPF and the police. Multiple villages were searched by the security forces to ascertain if any terrorist was present in the area.

Normalcy claims false, say pandits

• Panun Kashmir, an organisation of migrant Kashmiri Pandits demanding a separate homeland, has criticised the government for claiming normalcy in J&K despite terror activities.
• Its chairman Ajay Chrungoo said the recent encounter in Rajouri once again brought to the fore the grim reality that the situation in J&K was different than what was being claimed.

Officials said the search operation was launched in the general area of Behra, Kund, Topa and adjoining areas under the jurisdiction of the police stations of Mendhar and Daradullian, Mangnar, Salani and Uchhad top in Krishna Ghati sector.

On Saturday, a core group security meeting was organised, co-chaired by Lt General Sandeep Jain, General Officer Commanding (GOC), 16 Corps, and DGP RR Swain. The meeting was held to deal with the terrorists operating in Rajouri and Poonch districts. In a recent encounter, five soldiers and two terrorists were killed in Kalakote area of Rajouri.

The security forces are now forming a strategy to start large-scale combing operations in the forest areas of Rajouri and Poonch where at least 20-25 terrorists are believed to be operating and hiding in natural caves. It has been reliably learnt that drones and dog squads will also be deployed in some areas having tough terrain.

Lt General Upendra Dwivedi of the Northern Command, during a recent interaction with media in Jammu, had said that it would take at least a year to eliminate all terrorists in Rajouri and Poonch. The Army is leaving no stone unturned to prevent civilian killings like what happened in Dhangri on January 1 when seven villagers were killed by terrorists who had got training in Pakistan.

At least 10 soldiers have sacrificed their lives during search operations this year. Five soldiers died in Kandi forest of Rajouri on May 5 during a search operation when terrorists triggered an IED blast while five others died recently after an encounter broke out in Kalakote. A search operation was launched before the encounter.

While intelligence agencies, the police and the Army have been sharing information with each other regarding the presence of terrorists in the forest areas of the twin districts, the search operations become risky as terrorists take the cover of dense jungles and boulders.

“They fire upon the soldiers searching for them and run into deep forests, causing fatal bullet injuries to security forces. During most of the encounters in both Kashmir and Jammu divisions, soldiers died due to injuries caused when terrorists suddenly fired on them from inside bushes,” said a source in the Army Intelligence.

He said some soldiers laid down their lives while retrieving the bodies of other soldiers in recent encounters in J&K. “A strategy is being formed to identify the precise location of hiding terrorists in forest areas and launch attacks on them,” said the source.