It will take some time to check militancy 8212; Armymen

Further south, the Romeo Force looks after the Rajouri sector to allow the Delta Force to concentrate in Doda. On top of this, over the last two months, the 6 Mountain Division 8211; inducted into the Valley during the Kargil conflict 8211; is busy doing quot;mopping-up operationsquot; in the higher reaches of north and south Kashmir.

However, despite this additional deployment, renewed violence in the Valley has led many Army officers to say, in private, that security forces still haven8217;t been able to achieve their quot;pre-Kargil dominancequot;. With the shifting of the 8 Mountain Division to the Kargil sector, troops of other formations in the Valley are stretched. Says a Colonel: quot;Raising of headquarters in fact consumes troops. So there is one battalion in places where there were three before the Kargil conflict happened.quot;

That8217;s one reason why over the last four weeks, both security forces and militants have inflicted heavy losses on each other. For instance, during the last fortnight alone 8211; over 48 hours 8211; as many as 36 militants were killed. Though the Army8217;s body count doesn8217;t match this, the fact that officers are among those killed is a pointer of what lies ahead.

Another factor that8217;s troubling the Army is the nature of weapons recovered from terrorists. According to a BSF officer, recent seizures include disposable rockets and missiles, 81-mm mortars and automatic multiple-grenade launchers. Army officers say militants have sophisticated Japanese Kenwood wireless sets, which can even be used for detonating improvised explosive devices IEDs.

More evidence of their new arsenal came when the 6 Mountain Division recently carried out covert operations to flush out militants in Kupwara, Baramulla and on the Pir Panjal ranges. Several hideouts were cleared, Army officers say, and a large number of weapons recovered.

For example, in at least two cases, the Army, using mine-prodders, recovered arms and ammunition hidden in plastic water tanks, which had been buried deep in the ground to fool metal detectors.

Army officers say their focus of attention in the coming months will be populated areas. quot;We will follow and chase the militants wherever they go,quot; says Major General R N Kaushal, General Officer Commanding of the Victor Force.

This confidence, however, is being tested by a string of militant attacks on Army camps. In November, besides the attack on the Badamibagh military cantonment, there were at least three other attacks on Army camps. The attack on a division headquarter workshop in Baramulla on December 2 in which a JCO was killed appears to be part of the militants8217; strategy to put the Army on the defensive.

The attacks are a clever move to provoke the Army to retaliate against the public. Since the attack, security forces have been carrying out extensive searches in Srinagar town, including the Shivpora, Batwara, Noorbagh and Dalgate areas. Result: people are angry and a ghost-like stillness descends on almost all towns in the Valley, including Srinagar, after 8 pm.

Already, militants appear to enjoy a fair amount of support, particularly in the rural areas. Last fortnight, when two foreign militants, including an Albanian, were killed near Anantnag, hundreds of villagers promptly came out to claim the bodies from the Qazigund police station.

Though the militants8217; ranks are a mix of local Kashmiri youth and foreign militants, Major General A K Hakku, GOC of 6 Mountain Division, feels that the proxy war is now largely dependent on the momentum provided by foreign militants.

Nearly half of the 700-odd militants killed in the Valley this year were foreigners. Of the 67 militants killed by security forces during November, 21 were foreigners. Most foreign militants caught or killed are from Pakistan and only a few from Afghanistan or other countries.

In order to gain public sympathy, the militants follow a strict moral code. Security officers admit that of late there have been very few cases of looting and rape by militants. Some militants, says a BSF officer, paid by their quot;handlersquot; in Pakistan, are even willing to pay some villagers for the shelter they provide.

Tomorrow: Security forces under siege