A 35 kilometre stretch on Srinagar-Jammu highway which has become a death-trap for our jawans

Srinagar, Feb 15: The highways of terror have once again come to the forefront, following the ghastly attack in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of nearly 44 jawans.

The stretch between Bijbehera town and Pampore has become extremely dangerous for security forces. This 35 kilometre stretch falls on the Srinagar-Jammu highway and terrorists have often targeted the forces on this route.

This has been raised at several meetings and it was decided to install CCTVs at several locations. However this exercise has not been entirely effective as many areas are still not covered. In addition to this many CCTVs were not working as well, a senior officer informed OneIndia.

The decision to spruce up security along the highway was taken after the year 2017 witnessed several attacks on convoys travelling along the highway. Further it was also decided that when the convoy travels, no civilian vehicles would be allow to enter in between.

Despite these measures being taken, a suicide bomber of the Jaish-e-Mohammad rammed his explosive laden vehicle into a bus carrying the CRPF jawans. Officials say that this attack calls for several course correction measures. We need to closely look into the routes that the terrorists use. For instance terrorists have crossed over through the Jhelum river and attacked convoys along the same routes.

On the other hand, while the Army has managed to gun down several top commanders, there is also a need now to tackle the over ground workers. There are still many OWGs who remain and this is what is making it easy for terror groups to re-group despite them facing a high number of casualties, the officer also noted.

Story first published: Friday, February 15, 2019, 6:49 [IST]