SOURCE: ENS
If the crime rate, fatal road accidents and traffic violations could reduce drastically owing to the lockdown, conventional wisdom would have dictated that militancy in Jammu and Kashmir would also ebb. With movement curbed, one would have thought terrorists, too, would go into hibernation. But on the contrary, they only seem to have become bolder, carrying out deadly hit-and-run attacks and even enticing security forces into a situation where they could inflict heavy casualties. In the past two days, seven security personnel have been killed, including a decorated commanding officer of an Army battalion and a Major.
Even before these two attacks, the graph of terror strikes had been steadily rising. There have been more attacks, more security personnel killed, more civilians killed and more infiltration attempts since March 19, according to police data.
Army Chief General M M Naravane and others in the security apparatus have given an assurance that they will not let down their guard and will also give an appropriate response. While that will be comforting for the nation, such words would have little meaning for the families who have lost their sons and husbands. For the government, it is time to ponder if India has entered into a more dangerous and potentially bloodier new phase of militancy in Kashmir.
Ever since the signing of the peace deal between the US and the Taliban in February, resulting in the phased withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, there was fear here that the jihadis would shift their attention to India. Experts had warned of battle-hardened foreign terrorists making their way to Kashmir. It is not clear if they have already found their way into India, but according to retired security personnel who cite intelligence sources, some Pakistani terrorists have sneaked in. If in the future the Taliban were to overthrow the current Afghan regime, things could get grimmer as that would enable Pakistan to run their evil designs only on India. There is no doubt that the security brass would have discussed this and formulated countermeasures. The time now is to roll them out.
https://defencenewsofindia.com/tackling-rising-pakistan-sponsored-terror-in-kashmir/
