The Resurgence Of Militancy In Kashmir?

While militancy raged in Jammu in the past few years, Kashmir was seen as being relatively at peace. However, two high-profile militant attacks—one in a strategically important infrastructure project in Sonamarg area and another on an army vehicle in Gulmarg—has brought militancy in the Valley back into focus.    

On October 24 evening, a heavily-armed group of militants ambushed an Army vehicle in Bota Pathri area of Gulmarg near the Line of Control (LoC), killing two Army personnel and two porters and leaving three soldiers wounded. The Army soldiers have been identified as Rifleman Kaisar Ahmad Shah and Rifleman Jeevan Singh. The two porters are locals from Boniyar area of Uri in north Kashmir. They have been identified as Mushtaq Ahmad and Zahoor Ahmad.

The attack comes after last week’s attack on migrant workers in the Gangangeer area of Ganderbal in which a Kashmiri doctor and six labourers, many of the non-locals, were killed. The attack was carried out when workers of the tunnel project at Ganderbal’s Gund had returned to their camp late in the evening.

“According to an initial investigation, two people with masks covering their faces—both possibly foreign terrorists—entered the mess of the company constructing the Z-morh tunnel and opened indiscriminate fire. Seven people were killed and four injured,” Lt Governor of J&K told reporters in Jammu, adding that both the terrorists reportedly infiltrated from the Bandipora area of north Kashmir.

According to officials, the tunnel was to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi within a few weeks. The officials say the attack is going to impact construction work across Kashmir Valley as “some labour force is required from different states.” “I am not saying we get all labourers from different states. Jammu and Kashmir has enough labour force but we require some labour force from different states. They become hesitant to visit Kashmir after such attacks,” says an official.

The recent attacks have been widely condemned by political leaders ranging from Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, in his statement, asked Pakistan to “allow us to live in peace.” 

These attacks on civilian and military targets mark a troubling return to violence in Kashmir after a prolonged period of relative peace.  Many observers say these attacks are the first major ones in the Valley since the Lethpora fidayeen attack in Pulwama, which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel and led to Operation Balakot.

The fresh wave of violence began in Jammu with an attack on a bus carrying pilgrims, killing nine people including a driver and conductor of the bus. The attack was carried out in the Reasi area of Jammu minutes before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in for his third consecutive term on June 9, 2024. The first attack in Kashmir targeted workers involved in a road tunnel project of geostrategic importance— giving easy access to the Ladakh region—was carried out days after the government led by Omar Abdullah took oath in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ashok Koul, the BJP general secretary, told Outlook that neighbouring country don't like peace and stability in the region and carry out such terror attacks to harm tourism and construction of infrastructure in the region.

Luv Puri, who has worked for the UN office for counter terrorism and authored two books on J&K, tells Outlook, “The recent attacks bear an imprint of both the past as well as portents for the future.”

 “Irrespective of the claims by the authorities of peace, the last five years hadn’t been completely militancy-free in Kashmir valley,” Puri adds.

“The additional presence of troops (or some will say unsustainable) in Kashmir Valley since August 5, 2019, has shored-up local intelligence that have enabled relatively quiet consecutive summers in the Valley and an end to stone-pelting. But that does not mean attacks have stopped. In 2022, there were targeted assassinations, thus indicating that at any given opportunity militants will strike their targets,” he says.

In 2021, 32 civilians, including 21 Kashmiri Muslims and 23 political workers, were killed by the militants. “The context of the killings then was mass-scale hysteria about the possibility of a demographic change that swept the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370. And even in 2021 many targeted killings happened in the last quarter of that year,” Puri added.

“TRF, a motley group of militants from diverse organisational backgrounds, tried to capitalise on this anxiety and this time around the same outfit has claimed responsibility. The fact is that more local Kashmiris get killed as a result of any spike in militancy. Yesterday also, in addition to Army soldiers, two civilian porters, who were locals, lost their lives in Baramulla,” Puri says.

The BSF chief in Kashmir has recently stated that around 150 militants are waiting at launchpads across the Line of Control (LoC) to infiltrate into Kashmir.

Puri argues that the worsening security situation is directly linked to the centralisation of powers, which came with the abrogation of Article 370 and absence of political participation in J&K affairs. “In this context, what is ideally required from the Central government is the early restoration of statehood and that will place the Unified Command, a civil-security joint apparatus on counter-terrorism in J&K established since the 1990s, under the direct control of the elected Chief Minister,” he added. “It goes against democratic norms and even by narrow prism of security considerations that a popularly elected Chief Minister is kept out of the main inter-agency security mechanism.

This institutionalised structure of inter-agency coordination under political supervision will act as force multiplier in anti-militancy operations. In the past, elected political class, which is particularly more aware of the societal dimensions of militancy as compared to the military component, has succeeded in timely sensitising the security apparatus in this regard.”

On October 22, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha travelled to Gagangeer, Ganderbal to interact with officers and workers of Project Implementing Agency and to review the security measures on the project site.

During his visit, the Lt Governor chaired a meeting of Officers of Police, Civil Administration, Project Implementing Agency and other security agencies and directed that the security grid should be further strengthened to ensure zero terror incidents in order to push rapid social and economic development.

In the meeting, the Lieutenant Governor underlined the need for securing the vital infrastructure projects across J&K UT and putting in place a multi-pronged and foolproof mechanism for coordination with project implementing agencies to prevent security breaches. He said the safety and security of workers and officers working on key infrastructure projects is the highest priority for the government.

The Lieutenant Governor emphasised the need for stricter access control and regular patrolling around the project sites. He also directed the security forces and the police to conduct coordinated counter-terrorism operations pro-actively to wipe out terrorism in J&K UT.