In a replay of 2010, Srinagar is witnessing a repeat of rising levels of violence within the city. As per the assessment of the security establishment, the level of violence now is on par with that witnessed in 2010. The increase of violence within the urban area of the summer Capital of Jammu & Kashmir, has forced the security establishment to sit up and take note.

The concern stems more from the fact that the terrorists are now spreading the arc of terror from restive South Kashmir to Srinagar which, till recently, was only preferred as the rest and recuperation venue for terrorists escaping from the security dragnet in other parts of the State. Against this backdrop, operational commanders are now devising tactics to prevent terrorists from staging attacks in the Capital and deter them from enlarging their area of operation.

The levels of violence in Srinagar started rising in 2008, continued in 2009 and touched a peak in 2010. Thereafter, the terrorists started shifting their focus to others areas of the State including South Kashmir and the Capital virtually did not see any incidents, officials said here on Saturday while explaining the dynamics of new pattern of terrorism in the State.

Focus has now shifted back to Srinagar after a long gap and the first sign of trouble was when Lashkar-e-Tayyabba (LeT) terrorists carried out a daring attack in February this year outside a hospital in the city to free a Pakistani terrorists from custody. A policeman was killed and another cop seriously wounded in the incident. Naved Jutt, the LeT terrorist, nabbed in Kulgam in South Kashmir in 2014, managed to escape with the attackers.

After suspension of anti-militancy operations last month, the city witnessed a spike in violence with incidents of weapon snatching from security personnel, grenade blasts, stone pelting and killing of eminent journalist Shujaat Bukhari last week, sources said. Terrorists, mostly active in South Kashmir, took advantage of ceasefire as they could move without hindrance and staged attacks in Srinagar during that period.

Admitting that area of operations of terrorists has “increased far too much” stretching from South and North Kashmir to Srinagar, officials said it is a “serious problem” and matter of “concern.” Given the sensitivities involved in conducting large scale operation in the Capital, the only way out to deal with the challenge is to go after terrorists on the basis of hard intelligence.

Jammu & Kashmir Police and para-military forces are gearing up for such actions in the city while the Army and other security forces are conducting area domination drills in the hinterland to prevent terrorists from sneaking into Srinagar. Such actions by the anti-insurgency grid have picked up tempo after the ceasefire was withdrawn and the next few weeks will see intense patrolling covering the National Highway leading from Srinagar to other parts of the State.

Elaborating upon this aspect, officials said the main objective is to frustrate terrorists from moving around freely in their area of domination and force them to commit mistake by engaging security forces in a fire-fight.

As regards growing area of influence of terrorists, they said post Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s death in an encounter in July 2016, four districts of South Kashmir saw wide scale protests including stone pelting for nearly four months. However, the Capital did not see any such mass protests. Terrorists mostly owing allegiance to Hizbul Mujahideen are active in South Kashmir and security forces have launched a major operation to nab or neutralise them after month long unilateral ceasefire during the holy month of Ramzan was called off on Sunday last.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, Monday, 25 June 2018 | Rahul Datta | New Delhi: