Elimination of terrorism and restoration of peace in Valley our biggest target, says Rajnath; Governor’s rule won’t affect proactive approach, says Army chief

A day after Governor’s rule was imposed in Jammu & Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Army Chief General Bipin Rawat talked tough and said the forces will proactively deal with the terrorists in the embattled State. The focus will be on elimination of 70 foreign terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Tayyebba(LeT) present in parts of south and north Kashmir.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event at a private hospital in Lucknow, the Home Minister said the Government will not tolerate terrorism in J&K anymore and launch operations to flush out terrorists from the strife-torn State.

“Elimination of terrorism and restoration of peace in Kashmir is our biggest target,” Rajnath said.

The Army Chief, on the other hand, signaled the security forces will take a proactive approach, something they were forced to shun during the month-long Ramzan ceasefire.

Asserting that the operations will be conducted with the same tempo as done before the suspension of the proactive anti-terrorism drive, Rawat said the ceasefire was called off as terrorists continued with their activities during this period.

Incidentally, terrorist organisations, including Hizbul Mujaideen, JeM and LeT, did not reciprocate the Centre’s gesture and continued with their attacks.

“Operations were being carried out earlier as well. Then we saw a phase of suspension of operations because we wanted people to get a chance to offer their prayers during Ramzan without any kind of problem. Despite that, terrorists continued with their activities, which is why the suspension of operations was cancelled,” he said.

Claiming that the Governor’s rule will not have any impact on the operations, the Army chief asserted that there has never been any kind of restriction on the force on how it should conduct its work. “The security forces have very strict rules of engagement and take action in accordance with them during anti-terrorist operations,” Rawat said.

Sources said on the radars of the Army will be around 210 terrorists, of which 70 are foreign ultras belonging to JeM and LeT, who have infiltrated from across the Line of Control (LoC) in the past few weeks. Funded and trained by Pakistan, the foreign terrorists are known to be determined fighters capable of inflicting heavy casualties on security forces or selected public figures. Most of the foreign terrorists owe allegiance to JeM and LeT and are well-armed and well-stocked to avoid the security dragnet for days by hiding in thick forests of north Kashmir.

The Army will now commence cordon and search operations (CASOs) and seek and destroy operations (SADOs). During the halting of operations for a month, the foreign terrorists were able to move freely from North to South Kashmir and back to their hideouts as the security forces were ordered to refrain from a pro-active drive. Since the ceasefire is now off, the security forces including the Army and para military forces have started fanning out in the hinterland to deny terrorists the freedom and space to move.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, Thursday, 21 June 2018 | PNS | New Delhi