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Opinion: Why terrorists specifically attack Indian army camps
Major Amit Bansal
Since the NDA government came to power in the centre, we have noticed two major things related to terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The first is an all-out integrated approach to target terrorists and neutralise them under "Operation All Out” and second is the reaction of the terrorist outfits in the form of increased frequency of attacks on the camps of the security forces.
Under "Operation All Out” all the stakeholders, including Special Forces, Army, Rashtriya Rifles, Paramilitary forces and Jammu and Kashmir Police are acting as a joint team not only to neutralise the terrorists, they had also been successfully handling stone pelters in the valley. The joint operation yielded very good results and, in 2017 alone, more than 213 terrorists were killed by the security forces which gave a big blow to the aspirations of people across the border.
This was a matter of serious concern for Pakistan ISI as well as the terrorist organisations like Lashkar-E- Taiyaba, Jaish-e- Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen. “Operation All Out” not only gave a major blow to the Pak sponsored terrorism but also lowered the morale of the terror outfits. There was a time when no one was ready to take over the top position in the terror group as many of the newly joined recruits from Kashmir were killed by the security forces.
Pak Army was also worried over the Indian Army and the BSF's response to retaliatory firing at border posts and growing casualties of its men. They were finding it difficult to carry out the old strategy of BAT and sniper attacks on Indian personnel as forces were giving befitting responses. More than 138 Pakistani soldiers were killed when Indian forces strongly retaliated at the ceasefire violation caused by them. ISI too had a serious concern and that’s why the Pakistani authorities called for a meeting of the ISI and leaders of various terror outfits at Rawalpindi in the last week of December 2017. Members of the ISI, Pak Army, Hafiz Sayeed, Massoud Azhar and other representatives of Hizbul Mujahideen participated in the same.
Their prime worry was low morale of their cadres and difficulties in recruitment of fresh terrorists from Kashmir. During the meeting, they worked out a two-pronged strategy. Firstly, to infiltrate militants under heavy cover of LoC firing to support Kashmiri militants and, secondly, to weaken the morale and operation capacity of SF by attacking their convoys and camps.
Indian agencies which had the knowledge of the meeting have begun their counter preparations to tackle fresh designs of attacks from the ISI in the coming months. Indian intelligence agencies confirmed the news of this meeting and the same was further confirmed on 5th January 2018 when IGP of CRPF, Ravideep Singh Sahi revealed that in near future terrorists are going to resort to a new kind of tactics which will include standoff attacks on security forces, hit and run as well as grenade lobbying.
This new tactic was aimed to address some of the concern of the Pakistan Army and the ISI.
• The very first aspect was to compel security forces to adopt a defensive strategy in separation from the existing offensive one, thus, saving their cadres from being killed mercilessly.
• Secondly, because these attacks will be carried on in areas full of sympathisers, it would have helped in ushering the morale of their cadres.
• They thought that this hit and run tactics will save their cadres from getting killed easily and there will be more chances of damage to the security forces.
• Putting IEDs on the routes frequented by security forces will slow their movements and they will now be more cautious. This will affect the speed and agility of the forces by which they were attacking the terrorists by now.
• Praising and popularising such attacks through Islamic radicals and their recruiters in the valley to facilitate new recruitments.
• Attacking military installations will affect the morale of the security forces too.
The terror outfits soon started to perform as per the new tactics of their masters as is evident from the number of attacks carried out in 2018 itself. There has been a total of 22 attacks in just 44 days which means one attack every alternate day. Most of the attacks are hit and run type and were targeted to lower the speed of the security forces. The suicide (Fidayeen) attack on the camps were majorly targeted to lower the morale and cause a panic in the families of the soldiers.
Date
Type of Attack
Location
Casualties
01 Jan 2018
Suicide Attack
Letpora, Pampore
05 policemen Martyred
02 Jan 2018
Firing at police station
Pulwama
NIL
06 Jan 2018
IED Blast
Sopore, Baramula
04 Policeman Martyred
08 Jan 2018
Fire at Police Patrol
Tahab, Pulwama
NIL
10 Jan 2018
IED Blast
Kamalkote, Uri
01 Soldier injured
12 Jan 2018
Attack on Police post
Keegam, Shopian
NIL
13 Jan 2018
Recovery of IED
Srinagar City
NIL
15 Jan 2018
Infiltration Bid Foiled
Uri, Baramula
05 JeM Terrorists killed
18 Jan 2018
Recovery of IED
Pounda, Doda
NIL
19 Jan 2018
Grenade attack
Police Station- Pulwama
08 Policemen injured
22 Jan 2018
Grenade attack
Azad Jung- Baramula
One Policemen injured
22 Jan 2019
Grenade attack
Khrew Chowk, Pampore
One Policeman Injured
24 Jan 2018
Recovery of IED
Tangpora, Pampore
NIL
26 Jan 2018
Grenade Attack
Police Station- Pulwama
NIL
27 Jan 2018
Grenade Attack
Warpora, Sopore
02 Policemen injured
01Feb 2018
Firing at Police Station
Banura, Pulwama
NIL
03 Feb 2018
Grenade Attack
Tral, Pulwama
05 Policemen injured
05 Feb 2018
Grenade Attack
RR Camp, Kakarpora
NIL
06 Feb 2018
Terrorist attack
SMHS Hospital, Srinagar
02 Policemen Martyred
10 Feb 2018
Suicide Attack
Sunjuwan, Jammu
06 Soldiers Martyred
12 Feb 2018
Terrorist attack
CRPF HQ, Srinagar
02 Policemen Martyred
13 Feb 2018
Terrorist attack
Damana, Jammu
NIL
So, with the changing strategy of the terror outfits, the security forces have also changed their tactics and started acting accordingly. The recent attacks on CRPF Headquarters in Srinagar and Damana in Jammu were successfully thwarted.
As far as the attack on Sunjuwan camp is concerned, my personal take is the security forces did a wonderful job. I had seen several suicide (Fidayeen) attacks in the past and know about their planning and intensity. The way this attack was immediately detected and repulsed with minimal casualties, the security forces deserve an applause. While we salute our martyrs, who laid down their lives in this attack, the overall operation will definitely be called a success. We must keep the fact in mind that the terrorists were supported by locals and were holed up in a built-up area full of the families of soldiers and all of them were unarmed.
With all these sequence of events, one thing is absolutely clear that the morale of terrorists as well as their masters sitting across is breaking down. They are looking for ways and means to keep this movement going but finding it difficult. The cracking down on separatists, their financial network as well as over ground workers (OGWs) is making the task furthermore complicated.
The need of the day is now a final blow to the terror camps across the Line of Control. India must break the so-called sanctity of the Line of Control because the area across LoC belongs to us and we have full rights to thwart any unlawful activity from that area. This is the right time and right momentum and just need a strong political will. A perfectly planned and executed action now will certainly give lot of tactical and strategic mileage to the Indian security forces.
Major Amit Bansal
Since the NDA government came to power in the centre, we have noticed two major things related to terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The first is an all-out integrated approach to target terrorists and neutralise them under "Operation All Out” and second is the reaction of the terrorist outfits in the form of increased frequency of attacks on the camps of the security forces.
Under "Operation All Out” all the stakeholders, including Special Forces, Army, Rashtriya Rifles, Paramilitary forces and Jammu and Kashmir Police are acting as a joint team not only to neutralise the terrorists, they had also been successfully handling stone pelters in the valley. The joint operation yielded very good results and, in 2017 alone, more than 213 terrorists were killed by the security forces which gave a big blow to the aspirations of people across the border.
This was a matter of serious concern for Pakistan ISI as well as the terrorist organisations like Lashkar-E- Taiyaba, Jaish-e- Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen. “Operation All Out” not only gave a major blow to the Pak sponsored terrorism but also lowered the morale of the terror outfits. There was a time when no one was ready to take over the top position in the terror group as many of the newly joined recruits from Kashmir were killed by the security forces.
Pak Army was also worried over the Indian Army and the BSF's response to retaliatory firing at border posts and growing casualties of its men. They were finding it difficult to carry out the old strategy of BAT and sniper attacks on Indian personnel as forces were giving befitting responses. More than 138 Pakistani soldiers were killed when Indian forces strongly retaliated at the ceasefire violation caused by them. ISI too had a serious concern and that’s why the Pakistani authorities called for a meeting of the ISI and leaders of various terror outfits at Rawalpindi in the last week of December 2017. Members of the ISI, Pak Army, Hafiz Sayeed, Massoud Azhar and other representatives of Hizbul Mujahideen participated in the same.
Their prime worry was low morale of their cadres and difficulties in recruitment of fresh terrorists from Kashmir. During the meeting, they worked out a two-pronged strategy. Firstly, to infiltrate militants under heavy cover of LoC firing to support Kashmiri militants and, secondly, to weaken the morale and operation capacity of SF by attacking their convoys and camps.
Indian agencies which had the knowledge of the meeting have begun their counter preparations to tackle fresh designs of attacks from the ISI in the coming months. Indian intelligence agencies confirmed the news of this meeting and the same was further confirmed on 5th January 2018 when IGP of CRPF, Ravideep Singh Sahi revealed that in near future terrorists are going to resort to a new kind of tactics which will include standoff attacks on security forces, hit and run as well as grenade lobbying.
This new tactic was aimed to address some of the concern of the Pakistan Army and the ISI.
• The very first aspect was to compel security forces to adopt a defensive strategy in separation from the existing offensive one, thus, saving their cadres from being killed mercilessly.
• Secondly, because these attacks will be carried on in areas full of sympathisers, it would have helped in ushering the morale of their cadres.
• They thought that this hit and run tactics will save their cadres from getting killed easily and there will be more chances of damage to the security forces.
• Putting IEDs on the routes frequented by security forces will slow their movements and they will now be more cautious. This will affect the speed and agility of the forces by which they were attacking the terrorists by now.
• Praising and popularising such attacks through Islamic radicals and their recruiters in the valley to facilitate new recruitments.
• Attacking military installations will affect the morale of the security forces too.
The terror outfits soon started to perform as per the new tactics of their masters as is evident from the number of attacks carried out in 2018 itself. There has been a total of 22 attacks in just 44 days which means one attack every alternate day. Most of the attacks are hit and run type and were targeted to lower the speed of the security forces. The suicide (Fidayeen) attack on the camps were majorly targeted to lower the morale and cause a panic in the families of the soldiers.
Date
Type of Attack
Location
Casualties
01 Jan 2018
Suicide Attack
Letpora, Pampore
05 policemen Martyred
02 Jan 2018
Firing at police station
Pulwama
NIL
06 Jan 2018
IED Blast
Sopore, Baramula
04 Policeman Martyred
08 Jan 2018
Fire at Police Patrol
Tahab, Pulwama
NIL
10 Jan 2018
IED Blast
Kamalkote, Uri
01 Soldier injured
12 Jan 2018
Attack on Police post
Keegam, Shopian
NIL
13 Jan 2018
Recovery of IED
Srinagar City
NIL
15 Jan 2018
Infiltration Bid Foiled
Uri, Baramula
05 JeM Terrorists killed
18 Jan 2018
Recovery of IED
Pounda, Doda
NIL
19 Jan 2018
Grenade attack
Police Station- Pulwama
08 Policemen injured
22 Jan 2018
Grenade attack
Azad Jung- Baramula
One Policemen injured
22 Jan 2019
Grenade attack
Khrew Chowk, Pampore
One Policeman Injured
24 Jan 2018
Recovery of IED
Tangpora, Pampore
NIL
26 Jan 2018
Grenade Attack
Police Station- Pulwama
NIL
27 Jan 2018
Grenade Attack
Warpora, Sopore
02 Policemen injured
01Feb 2018
Firing at Police Station
Banura, Pulwama
NIL
03 Feb 2018
Grenade Attack
Tral, Pulwama
05 Policemen injured
05 Feb 2018
Grenade Attack
RR Camp, Kakarpora
NIL
06 Feb 2018
Terrorist attack
SMHS Hospital, Srinagar
02 Policemen Martyred
10 Feb 2018
Suicide Attack
Sunjuwan, Jammu
06 Soldiers Martyred
12 Feb 2018
Terrorist attack
CRPF HQ, Srinagar
02 Policemen Martyred
13 Feb 2018
Terrorist attack
Damana, Jammu
NIL
So, with the changing strategy of the terror outfits, the security forces have also changed their tactics and started acting accordingly. The recent attacks on CRPF Headquarters in Srinagar and Damana in Jammu were successfully thwarted.
As far as the attack on Sunjuwan camp is concerned, my personal take is the security forces did a wonderful job. I had seen several suicide (Fidayeen) attacks in the past and know about their planning and intensity. The way this attack was immediately detected and repulsed with minimal casualties, the security forces deserve an applause. While we salute our martyrs, who laid down their lives in this attack, the overall operation will definitely be called a success. We must keep the fact in mind that the terrorists were supported by locals and were holed up in a built-up area full of the families of soldiers and all of them were unarmed.
With all these sequence of events, one thing is absolutely clear that the morale of terrorists as well as their masters sitting across is breaking down. They are looking for ways and means to keep this movement going but finding it difficult. The cracking down on separatists, their financial network as well as over ground workers (OGWs) is making the task furthermore complicated.
The need of the day is now a final blow to the terror camps across the Line of Control. India must break the so-called sanctity of the Line of Control because the area across LoC belongs to us and we have full rights to thwart any unlawful activity from that area. This is the right time and right momentum and just need a strong political will. A perfectly planned and executed action now will certainly give lot of tactical and strategic mileage to the Indian security forces.
Reuters )
