PM Modi concerned over random terror attacks in Poonch-Rajouri sector

While Congress leader and former chief minister of Punjab Charanjit Singh Channi called the terror attack in Poonch last Saturday as political stunt of the BJP during the 2024 election campaign, the Indian Army has confirmation that at least four groups of terrorists are operating in the Rajouri-Poonch sector and belong to different Pakistan based terror groups.

The spray firing by terrorists on three vehicles of the IAF convoy using area weapons like assault rifles left one IAF corporal dead and four others injured, with the perpetrators managing to flee from the spot. The Rajouri-Poonch sector lying in close proximity to LoC has seen terror attacks on armed forces and civilians in the past three years with the terrorists belonging to the same region across the Line of Control.

According to top officials, electro-magnetic surveillance of the area indicates the presence of around 12 terrorists divided into four groups of mixed ‘tanzeems’ from Occupied Kashmir. Despite the IAF vehicle convoy following standard operating procedures, the terrorists, obviously under instructions from across, had the audacity to target the vehicle carrying armed troopers. The terror scene shows that the terrorists took the occupants of the last of the three vehicles unaware and sprayed bullets on the windscreen in order to get the driver and the support staff. Corporal Vicky Pahade of IAF lost his life in the attack with four of his other colleagues now receiving medical treatment at Command Hospital in Udhampur.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is upset at the random terror killings in Rajouri-Poonch sector and made his concern known to the top brass of Indian Army, it is quite evident that clearing of this belt from terrorists will require a major counter-terror operation which could lead to casualties given the terrain of the area. The thickly forested mountain terrain provides perfect ground for asymmetric warfare with the terrorists being locals of area on both sides of the LoC and living off the land.

Despite the Modi government giving a free hand to the armed forces to tackle terrorists in Rajouri-Poonch sector, the Nagrota based 16 Corps formation along with the local police have not been able to neutralize the terrorists in the region. This has resulted in both Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba using the sector for infiltration and staging terror strikes in the hinterland of the Union Territory.