New Delhi: The Army has agreed to the government's decision to suspend counter-insurgency operations in J&K during Ramzan with some reluctance as terror outfits had used such inter­regnums in the past to re­group and re-arm.

Initially opposed to any "unilateral" suspension of operations in the absence of any reciprocal signal from Pakistan-controlled terror outfits or "at least tacit un­derstanding" with others like the Hurriyat, the Army came on board after two of its main operational concerns were addressed in what was "essentially a political deci­sion", said sources.

"One, Army will have the right to retaliate if any con­voy, camp or patrol is at­tacked. And two, Army will be allowed to conduct specif­ic intelligence-based oper­ations, like the one in which Hizbul Mujahideen com­mander Sameer Bhat alias Sameer Tiger was killed in Pulwama district on April 30," said a source.

Though the Army's "area domination patrols" will con­tinue as before, "pro-active" CASO (cordon-and-search) and SADO (seek-and-destroy) operations will be "curtailed". "Some CASO/ SADO operations, however, will be required to continue to sanitise, for instance, roads for vehicular movements," added the source. The Army believes the non-initiation of combat operations under­taken in 2000-2001 by the Vaj­payee government "failed to achieve any concrete re­sults" and instead led to a surge in violence.

Courtesy: Times Of India, 17, May, 2018.