New Delhi: A Jammu and Kashmir policeman and two terrorists were killed while three security personnel of the Indian Army, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and J&K police were injured in a gunfight between militants and security forces in the town of Tral on Saturday night, a CRPF official said on Sunday.
The CRPF said both terrorists were killed. While one of them, Aqib Ahmed, is believed to be a close aide of Hizbul Mujahideen’s Burhan Wani, the other terrorist belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
“One of them, Aqib Ahmed, is a very close aide of Burhan Wani and he has been neutralized. But locals continued to hamper security operations because they pelted stones at us when the encounter was on. They surrounded security forces and tried to snatch the weapons to stall the encounter,” CRPF spokesperson Rajiv Kumar said.
Locals stoned security personnel despite new Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat’s stern warning last month that those who impeded security operations would be treated as terrorists. This is the second such incident in recent weeks. On 12 February, four terrorists and two jawans were killed in a gunfight in Kulgam while locals disrupted security operations. “As per reports of the agencies, the problem of terrorism in India is largely sponsored from across the border. The ISI (intelligence agency) of Pakistan, reportedly, has links with various terrorist outfits inimical to India. We are taking various steps to beef up security along the line of control (LoC) and the international border (IB) in order to minimize damage,” said a senior home ministry official, requesting anonymity.
The official added that the home ministry was taking measures such as augmenting the strength of Central Armed Police Forces, establishing National Security Guard hubs at Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai and putting in place effective border management through surveillance and patrolling. “The Centre is taking various other steps such as tighter immigration controls, establishing observation posts, flood lighting and border fencing along the IB and LoC to monitor movements in these areas and scaling up the intelligence apparatus of the country,” the official added.
Although the home ministry has also asserted that “issues of cross-border terrorism in all its manifestations, are being raised across all bilateral and multi-lateral forums,” according to data provided by the ministry, 2016 has witnessed the maximum number of ceasefire violations along the LoC, in the last three years. While 2016 saw 228 ceasefire violations, so far 2017 has witnessed eight.
The Border Security Force (BSF) however, remained sceptical of moves to make the border “airtight,” stating that some parts of the mountainous terrain were impossible to seal.
“You can make the border airtight in regions such as Jaisalmer (in Rajasthan) where the land is flat. In regions like Kashmir, it is next to impossible to seal the border because there are several other issues such as heavy snow which push down the border fencing and heavy forests which make fencing difficult. We can only remain alert and avoid damage,” said a senior BSF official in Kashmir, requesting anonymity.
