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Journalism of Courage
It was a wake-up call in the Valley. The storming of the BSF residential colony at Bandipore by pro-Pakistan militants, believed to belong to the Al-Badr group, signifies that although there may be a lull in fighting on the borders, the battle for securing the safety of the Valley continues.
It is indeed fortuitous that the sharpshooters of the elite National Security Guards could free the hostages and kill the three surviving militants in an efficient operation lasting less than three hours on Wednesday morning.
Fighting this form of malevolence is even more difficult than fighting on the front. Here there are no demarcated battlelines or rules of conduct. The combatants don8217;t come dressed in battle fatigues, neither do they confine their attack to armed forces who can defend themselves. They thrive on quick, unexpected and deadly strikes, aimed most of all at driving fear into the hearts of ordinary people who just happen to be around.
At Bandipore, it was the wife of the constable who was the first victim of the terrorists8217; gunfire and there were nine women and children among the 12 held hostage for 30 terrifying hours.
The Bandipore strike was the first of its kind in a long while, even in a state as exposed to terrorist activity as Jamp;K. Never before have the militants been as brazen as to actually storm aheavily guarded residential colony for paramilitary personnel. Thus far their victims have been poor migrant labourers, members of rival gangs or people caught in the crossfire. This lends credence to the theory that militant groups will now resort to increasingly desperate measures in a bid to keep their cause alive and the state will from now on have to be on full alert to neutralise their nefarious agenda.
It was the alertness and quick action of a joint patrol of the Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operation Group on Tuesday night that had foiled the plans of another Pakistan-backed militant outfit, the Hizbul Mujahideen, to perpetrate terrorist strikes. When the soldiers were informed that four members of this outfit had taken shelter in Atoli village, Poonch district, they zeroed in on them and recovered large quantities of arms and ammunition in the process.
The incidents at Bandipore and Atoli only mean that the current situation in Jamp;K demands effective intelligence, efficient surveillance and animmediate response to terrorist attacks from the state8217;s military, paramilitary and political agencies.
