Rajouri, Poonch districts new target of terrorists

Jammu, May 6: The twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch seem to be the new target of terrorists who after sneaking in from across the Line of Control (LoC) have killed five security force personnel in two terror attacks since December last year.
Four soldiers were killed in an ambush on an army vehicle in Bafliaz area on December 21 last year whereas one Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel was killed in another ambush on May 4.
The terrorists behind these attacks are yet to be neutralized or captured by the security forces, which is making the area volatile with respect to the terror incidents.
Sources said that there are more than 10 terrorists operating in the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch and they are mostly operating in Mendhar and Surankote areas of Poonch. “These areas have dense forests and ridges where the terrorists get natural hideouts and even massive combing operations in the forest areas have not yielded any result so far,” said a source.
The Line of Control (LoC) is close to all the three major towns of Poonch district including Poonch, Mendhar and Surankote and Mendhar and adjoining areas have remained the infiltration pass for militants.
Experts believe that such incidents are the desperation of these terrorists who have completely been contained in Kashmir valley and try to attack in desperation in Rajouri and Poonch areas.
Former Director General of Police J&K, K. Rajendra believes that one odd incident like this doesn’t mean terrorism has been completely revived. “It is their desperation to show their presence and they managed to sneak in through tough terrain where they have suffered huge casualties in the past. There is always the possibility of crossing the border and indulging in some sort of sensationalism,” Rajendra said.
“This also will be controlled and they will be eliminated in no time,” he added.
The security forces maintain a three-tier anti-infiltration grid on the LoC but still terrorists manage to infiltrate and carry out attacks on security forces without getting caught.
Replying to this, the former DGP said that there is always scope of improvement. “Given the tough terrain, long border and dense forests, there is always scope of sneaking in. Be it from International Border (IB) in Jammu side, either by cutting the fence or through the tunnels and on LoC in Rajouri and Poonch side, there is always a possibility of sneaking in. How alert you are, you can’t rule out because they can always mix up with the population,” he said.
The past history suggests that people of Rajouri and Poonch district have never supported the terrorists and their handlers but still for the last four to five months, a group of terrorists have carried out two attacks and killed five security force personnel and are yet to be neutralized.
The former DGP also feels the same that people don’t support terrorists but they hide in natural hideouts. “People are not supporting them at all but there are natural hideouts, stones and cave like structures available and whenever there is maize crop, it becomes much more difficult to really identify them and to really clean up these areas. There are areas with no population and it is easy for such small groups to hide and go undetected once they sneak in,” K. Rajendra added.