Ongoing Kathua Operation

The ongoing Kathua operation has made it clear that there is a need for a comprehensive internal security strategy that addresses the improvised terrorist threats. Kathua has been witnessing concerted efforts by the terrorist groups to destroy the peace and violate the security in Jammu region. Pakistan keeps on experimenting to infiltrate trained mercenaries inflict damage in Jammu and Kashmir. After having failed to win conventional wars with India, it has been resorting to asymmetric war with India. The supreme sacrifice made by the security personnel in Kathua operation and other such operations to decimate the merchants of terror is priceless. The valour and bravery of the armed forces has been the hallmark of their commitment to uphold the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India. There is a need to take a holistic view of the security preparedness so that loss of lives of the security personnel is reduced. We cannot afford to lose our jawans. It is exactly what the handlers of these terrorists want. They want to inflict heavy damage on the Indian security forces. Time has come to raise the cost for the enemy. So that before thinking of any assault it must ponder over the cost that it will have to pay for its nefarious activities. There is a need for national security doctrine that incorporates the internal and external security dimensions so that the threat perception is addressed and proactive anti-terror policy is formulated. Hit and trial and conventional strategies won’t yield the desired dividends in this vicious game. As the enemy is indulging in improvised tactics. Another thing that has to be internalised is that terrorist handlers in Pakistan are converging their energies on Jammu region to foment trouble. After violating the social fabric of the Kashmir valley, it is making every effort to destabilise the Jammu region. We have argued many times in the editorials that the theatre of war has been shifted to the Jammu region for quite some time. So that an impression is given that the entire Jammu and Kashmir is under their siege and their writ is adhered to. After creating communal fault lines in Kashmir, the aim of these terrorist groups is to inject disharmony in the Jammu region. As already discussed in these columns, after encircling Rajouri; there is a well planned motive to hold the Kathua district hostage so that the national highway is obstructed. It must be noted that Kathua-Lakhanpur national highway is the lifeline of Jammu and Kashmir. As it connects the Union Territory (UT) to the entire India. Its disruption can have economic and political ramifications. Not only that the rising presence of the Khalistani radicals in Punjab and their assertions Canada and other parts of the world must alarm the security agencies. It is a no secret that terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir and in Punjab have their handlers across the borders in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Army and ISI have been using both groups in tandem to work for the balkanisation of India. Thus the collaboration between these terror groups cannot be ruled out. In the past too these two groups have been supportive of each other’s activities to violate the peace in Jammu and Kashmir. The intelligence agencies must not allow these groups to gain ground and work collaboratively. Kathua needs to be fortified and intelligence needs to be gathered as to how these terror groups are acting with impunity? The repeated terror acts from Rajouri to Kathua must alarm both the intelligence agencies and the security forces. It must understand now that the terrorist violence being inflicted in Kathua or elsewhere is not a mere act of terror but it is an undeclared war and we cannot brush these acts of terrorism as proxy war. The kind of ambushes that have been witnessed from Rajouri to Kathua must ring alarm bells. As these battle hardened terrorists are well trained in military tactics to take on the Indian security forces. The months-long ambushes in Rajouri and now repeated terrorist attacks must make the security agencies ponder over it. There is a need for a complete change in strategy to defeat these merchants of terror.