Azhar Qadri

The deadly suicide car bomb attack in Pulwama district in February which prompted Indian airstrikes in Pakistan is increasingly shaping up as a milestone for Kashmir insurgency which has seen a fall for the first time in recent years.

Its impact was visible in the parliamentary poll which concluded without any major attack. The multiple polling days in south Kashmir also passed off without any violence.

Several senior officers said the aftermath of the Pulwama attack proved costly for militants as back-to-back counter-insurgency operations led to the decimation of key militant commanders.

In the three months since the February attack, over 50 militants have been killed — half of them affiliated with the Jaish-e-Mohammed which had claimed responsibility for the attack.

A senior security officer said the leadership of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which mainly comprised foreign nationals, had been decimated. Among them were its key commanders, including those who planned the attack.

“There is a hope that there will be a vacuum without leadership. The commanders are driving force and they are experienced. Their elimination throws the organisation into a free fall, and leaves them without guidance and aim,” said the officer, who is involved in counter-insurgency operations in south Kashmir.

Army’s Srinagar-based corps commander had last month told reporters that the impact of the counter-insurgency operations had been so devastating for the Jaish-e-Mohammed that “nobody is ready take over” its leadership.

The counter-insurgency campaign against the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which still has several dozen cadres in the region, was crucial for the security forces for two reasons: One it was responsible for the Pulwama attack, and second that it had become the insurgency’s operational arm.

The Hizbul Mujahideen, which has the highest cadre strength among all militant groups, had already gone into hibernation as it failed to carry out any major attack since it abducted policemen in September last year that had led to collapse of Indo-Pak talks.

The entire top-level leadership of the Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba, with a few exceptions, was killed in November and December last year, throwing the two groups into a crisis.

Courtesy:The Tribune,May 15,2019