Irfan Amin Malik*
SRINAGAR: Almost five years after the abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the government has yet to achieve its goal of zero militancy in the region.
While stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomy on August 5, 2019, the union government claimed that the watering down of Article 370 was a step towards eradicating militancy. In recent years, the government has maintained that militancy has come to a near end.
However, five years hence, the continued killings of security personnel, civilians, and militants in the Union Territory raised doubts about the government’s assertions of having restored peace.
While violence in Kashmir Valley has decreased during the past five years it is far from over. Since 2021, the Valley has witnessed 263 terror incidents in which 417 alleged militants have been killed. These incidents have also taken a heavy toll on security force personnel and civilians, leaving 68 and 75 dead respectively.
Equally worrying, militants have expanded their operations to Jammu province, which has been relatively calm in the last two decades. The province has witnessed a consistent uptick in violence, posing a new and deadly challenge for the armed forces.
Since 2021, at least 48 militants and 49 army soldiers have lost their lives in the Jammu region due to escalating violence in the southern Pir Panjal range and the Chenab Valley in about 33 militancy-related incidents These casualties, besides the deaths of 19 civilians, are seen as highly disproportionate.
The casualties, though lesser than Kashmir Valley, are alarming. Firstly, the Jammu region has seen little to low-key violence in the nearly two decades before the watering down of Article 370. Secondly, the data on killings reveals that for every militant killed, one security force personnel has been killed, and roughly for every five militants, two civilians are killed.
Ten army soldiers were killed in three separate incidents in Doda, Poonch and Kathua districts of Jammu province in the first two weeks of this month.
In June 2024, 9 people including a two-year-old child were killed and 43 injured after militants attacked a bus full of pilgrims, causing it to plunge into a gorge in Reasi district.
The attack took place on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in for a third consecutive term.
In the latest incident, an Army soldier was killed while thwarting an infiltration attempt by militants across the Line of Control in Poonch district on July 23. Army officials said that troops engaged the infiltrators in the Battal Sector. The injured soldier later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.
Prominent political and social commentator on J&K, Zafar Choudhary, said the Jammu region is grappling with a new wave of terrorism characterised by unprecedented attack patterns not seen in the 35-year-long Kashmir insurgency.
“Guerrilla-trained militants are launching surprise strikes in the forested mountains of the region at regular intervals. Their primary targets are members of the security forces, and in many instances, they have mutilated the bodies of their victims to send a message of vengeful terror,” he pointed out.
According to Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP)’s J&K spokesman, Altaf Thakur, there are two main reasons why Kashmir is calmer while Jammu is witnessing gun violence.
Firstly, the extensive militarisation, area domination, and the expanding human intelligence network in Kashmir have compelled foreign militants to shift their focus to Jammu, he said. Secondly, militants have been actively targeting Hindu-dominated areas of Jammu with the motive of inflaming communal tensions in J&K, he added.
Regional political parties attribute the recent spate of attacks in Jammu to the failure of the BJP-led union government and its poor governance in the region.
They argue that those in Delhi are misleading the public by attributing militancy to Article 370, as many years have passed since its abrogation, but terrorism has not ceased.
National Conference (NC) leader and former Lok Sabha member Hasnain Masoodi told Kashmir Times that the government’s assertion that the revocation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution would bring peace to the region has been contradicted by the recent escalation in militant attacks and gunfights in entire J&K.
“During the past five years, nothing has changed on the ground, with the level of violence increasing in the Jammu region, while militant activities and encounters continue in Kashmir. Earlier this month, six local militants and two army soldiers were killed in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district. Even last year, an army commanding officer and police officer were killed in an ambush by the militants in a dense forest area of Kokernag. Such attacks undermine the claims of the union government that everything is fine in Kashmir,” he emphasized.
During a briefing with reporters last week, Director General of Police J&K, R R Swain while acknowledging the infiltration of militants into the region admitted that the militants have clearly exploited the gaps and the recent uptick in militancy indicated that they are aiming to return the violence levels to those witnessed in 1995.
He, however, regarded the killing of the six militants in Kulgam as a significant advancement in the fight against terrorism in Kashmir. “While isolated incidents persist, the broader ecosystem enabling widespread terrorism has significantly weakened,” the DGP asserted.
Former J&K DGP S.P. Vaid stressed that to eliminate militancy from J&K, it is crucial to tighten the borders and halt infiltration completely.
“The highly trained former Pakistan Army SSG commandos, equipped with advanced rifles, are infiltrating our side of the border and causing severe casualties among security forces. We urgently need to devise a comprehensive strategy to root out militancy from the Jammu region, otherwise, Kashmir will also be adversely affected,” he said.
Though serving security officials have not talked about the presence of SSG commandos, police officials on conditions of anonymity stated that the militants operating in the Jammu region appeared to be highly trained and carried sophisticated weapons including M-4 carbines, Chinese steel core bullets, drones and body fitted cameras.
On July 18 this year, the army reported that two foreign terrorists were killed along the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran. In addition to other arms and ammunition, a Steyr AUG, an Austrian-made bullpup assault rifle, was recovered for the first time in the history of terrorism in Kashmir.
Vaid added that Pakistan, unable to accept the highest voter turnout in recent Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir, is purposefully stoking militancy in J&K.
J&K recorded a 58.5% overall turnout in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the highest in 35 years.
Choudhary, speaking to Kashmir Times, noted that Jammu, with a 66% Hindu majority, had been largely free of separatist militancy since the early 2000s, following a decade of sporadic violence in the 1990s. “The resurgence of violence following the revocation of Kashmir’s special status in 2019 seems to be a deliberate strategy by militant groups to convey that the conflict has not ended with the constitutional changes of 2019, as claimed by Indian authorities.”
Police claimed that 2023 marked a historic shift as more foreign militants were killed than local militants for the first time in the region. Out of the 73 militants neutralised by security forces last year, 50 were foreigners. In 2023, the Centre claimed that 73 militants, 30 security personnel, and 14 civilians were killed in J&K. The year also saw 46 militancy-related incidents and 48 gunfights.
Masoodi emphasised that the support network for militancy persists in Kashmir, despite police reportedly arresting ground workers almost daily in the Valley. “The incidents of stone pelting have decreased, but local support for militants continues, contradicting claims of normalcy in Kashmir. The emergence of hybrid militancy poses another new challenge for security forces in the Valley.”
Security forces in Kashmir are grappling with a new challenge on the militancy front — the rise of “hybrid” militants who, while not officially classified as militants, are radicalised enough to carry out terror attacks and then seamlessly blend back into daily life.
According to the J&K police, more than 70% of the 55 targeted killings between early 2021 and late 2022 were attributed to “hybrid militants,” and their victims have predominantly been civilians.
“The hybrid militants, often students or dropouts, execute targeted killings as directed by Pakistani handlers and then resume their normal lives unnoticed by their families,” former DGP, Dilbag Singh said during a press conference in November 2022.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter and her media advisor, Iltija Mufti, told Kashmir Times that the criteria the government uses to gauge normalcy in Kashmir post-August 2019 do not provide an accurate assessment. Mufti pointed to the ongoing infiltration across the border and the use of sophisticated weapons by militants targeting security forces in J&K.
“Despite decades of being free from militancy, Jammu is now witnessing a resurgence in deadly encounters. I wonder if the government can ensure foolproof security for events like the G20 in Kashmir, why has it failed to control the ongoing militant attacks in the Jammu region?” she questioned.
Choudhary pointed out that with security forces achieving significant success in the Kashmir Valley over the past five years, militants have now shifted their focus to the mountains of Jammu. “These attacks are clear evidence that terrorism in Kashmir is far from over, despite claims made by the Modi government,” he said.
He added, “They underscore the renewed urgency for a political process aimed at fostering a peaceful environment.”
However, the signs of resumption of normal political activity in the erstwhile state remain bleak. The state was truncated and demoted into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir with an elected assembly under a Lieutenant Governor, and Ladakh without it.
The only meaningful political exercise since 2019 was the recently held parliamentary elections to the five seats of Jammu and Kashmir and one of Ladakh. The polls witnessed an increased overall trend in polling.
However, in the first major electoral exercise in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 this year, the BJP chose not to contest any of the three Valley seats—Srinagar, Baramulla, and Anantnag. It also lost Ladakh and managed to retain two seats in Jammu province, albeit with a thinner victory margin as compared to the previous elections in 2014 and 2019.
Masoodi criticised the BJP, stating that the party in power lacked the courage to field candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. “Centre should introspect on the outcomes of August 5 and evaluate its achievements. If the abrogation of Article 370 truly benefited the people of J&K, why did the BJP abstain from contesting the recent Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir?”
Ever since BJP’s drubbing in the parliamentary polls, there are little signs of holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir despite the Supreme Court setting the deadline in September 2024. The last assembly elections were held in 2014. Jammu and Kashmir has been under central rule since 2018.
Earlier this month, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs expanded the administrative authority of the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Jammu and Kashmir. The amended Transaction of Business Rules give the LG control over All India Services, the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Prisons, and the Forensic Science Laboratory. The LG will also approve the appointment of the Advocate General and law officers and decide on prosecution sanctions and appeals.
This centralisation of power reduces the influence of any prospective Jammu and Kashmir assembly, even if the elections take place.
Timeline of Militancy-Related Incidents in 2024
**January 12:**
– In the Krishna Ghati Sector of Poonch, militants attacked a forces convoy, but all soldiers escaped unhurt.
– An army soldier was killed while performing an operational task in a forward area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
**January 18:**
– An army soldier, Agniveer Ajay Singh, was killed and two others were injured in an IED blast in the Nowshera Sector of Rajouri district.
**April 24:**
– Two soldiers were injured in an encounter in the Ranji Forest of Aramgam Bandipora.
**April 28:**
– A Village Defence Guard was killed in an exchange of fire between police personnel and militants hiding in Chochru Gala heights in the Basantgarh area of Udhampur district.
**May 4:**
– In the Sanai Top area of Poonch district, a soldier was killed and four others were injured in a fierce encounter.
**June 11:**
– A CRPF personnel was killed in an encounter in Saida Sukhal village in Hiranagar Kathua.
– On the same day, militants fired on a joint checkpost of the 4 Rashtriya Rifles and police in the Chattergala area of Doda district, injuring five soldiers and one SPO.
**June 12:**
– A cop was injured in the Kota Top, Dandoh Doda encounter.
**July 6:**
– A soldier was killed in the Chinnigam Kulgam encounter.
– In the Modergam Kulgam encounter, a Para-Commando died in action.
**July 7:**
– A soldier was critically injured after militants attacked the headquarters of a Territorial Army battalion in Galuti Patrara village of Manjakote Rajouri.
**July 8:**
– Five soldiers, including a JCO, were killed and five others were injured in a militant attack in the Badnota area of Kathua district in the Jammu region.
**July 16:**
– Four Army troopers, including a senior officer, were killed at Dhari Gote Urarbagi in the Desa forest belt, approximately 55 km from Doda town.
*Irfan Amin Malik is a journalist based in Jammu and Kashmir. (With inputs from Kashmir Times desk)
Have you liked the news article?