It is now over more than a month now. Jammu is witnessing continuous terror attacks. More than six terror attacks or encounters have taken place in this period. Each attack has taken precious lives of the security forces that are performing their duties to safeguard the territorial integrity of India in Jammu and Kashmir. Army jawans and personnel of the para military forces belonging to the various parts of India have sacrificed their lives while fighting these merchants of terror. Monday’s fierce gun battle in Doda between the security forces within a few hours of the previous terror attack in Jammu has made it clear that there is a serious lapse in the security grid. Repeated terror attacks in Jammu have proved that terrorists are exploiting the gap in the operational strategy and error in the intelligence gathering on the part of the security agencies. It has led to the fear psychosis among the common masses and is leading to desperation. Common people have noticed the movement of suspicious people in various areas of Jammu carrying weapons. This must sound alarm bells. One thing has to be accepted that something is wrong with the security preparedness. Shree Amarnath Ji Yatra is going on and there are inputs that the terrorists will try to sabotage it. They have attempted it in the past as well. So we have a trend analysis of the terror attacks in the past when the Yatra commences. The Rising Kashmir has repeatedly said in its editorials that the terror cartels have shifted the theatre of war to Jammu after devastating Kashmir and destabilising its social fabric. There are enough case studies to decode these terror tactics employed by the terror patrons to keep Jammu and Kashmir on the boil. Pakistan is using the terrorist infrastructure to send a strong message to India that it has not given up its nefarious designs to annex Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu has been quite a difficult task for it to turn into disturbed area. To involve Jammu into its terrorism stranglehold, it is now focussing on subjecting it to mayhem. So that space of peace is shrinked in Jammu and Kashmir. It wants to increase its subversive influence in the Jammu region. So that it can claim that the entire Jammu and Kashmir wants to secede from India. It is investing heavily on the overground workers and the sleeper cells to engineer terror attacks. It can be seen from the kind of support these terror networks are gaining in the Jammu region. Time has come for the security agencies to put their heads together. So that the new modus operandi of terrorists is decoded. Knee jerk approach won’t stop these terror attacks. There is a need for a proactive strategy to decimate the terror infrastructure in Jammu that is evolving into a dreaded ecosystem. Security agencies must internalise that Pakistan’s state policy to exist is based on nurturing religious terrorism. For that to end India needs to impose high costs. So that enemy knows any act of terror will invite a heavy penalty. Otherwise, the magnitude of these attacks will increase. Because every act of terror left unpunished will embolden the merchants of terror and demoralise the masses. One more thing. It may take time to decimate the factories of terrorism in Pakistan but who has stopped the agencies from going after their patrons and sleeper cells in Jammu and Kashmir. Security forces must be equipped with apt information given by the intelligence agencies. So that the tentacles of the terrorist organisations are not allowed to spread with ease. Jammu is under siege and it must end. Otherwise, we are walking into a trap that will lead to a loss of innumerable innocent lives. Policy makers must act but with precision and send a strong message to the enemy. And that message lies in imposing a heavy cost for its acts of terror in Jammu and Kashmir.
