Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 26 February 2018 | Page 16
valley blitz
by Naseer Ganai in Srinagar
N
ot that the offensive was com-
pletely out of the blue. It was
anyway public knowledge that
this February 9 would mark
the fifth death anniversary of
Afzal Guru. The Kashmiri sep-
aratist was hanged on that day in 2013
in Delhi after the country’s highest
judiciary upheld a verdict against the
43-year-old imprisoned for his invol
vement in the 2001 Parliament attack.
Ahead of the anniversary this time,
int
elligence agencies as well as the
state police had sounded a high alert
about possible strikes anywhere in
Jammu and Kashmir.
Then, just as the day got over techni-
cally, a pre-dawn fidayeen attack on
February 10 killed six soldiers at the
Sunjuwan military base close to Jammu
city. In a jiffy, militants managed to show
yet again that they are capable of sabo-
tage at any spot, however fortified and
alert. The raid at 36 brigade of the Jammu
and Kashmir infantry around 4.45 a.m.
also killed three fidayeen men and the
father of a soldier, while ten others (inc
luding women and children) residing at
the army camp were wounded.
Senior intelligence officials in the J&K
Police say the attack was carried out by
an Afzal Guru Squad of the militant
outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad. Ahead of the
February 10 encounter, the militants
had written on the wall of an isolated
army building in Jammu slogans such as
“Afzal Guru” and “Go India Go Back”. In
the wee hours of that wintry Saturday,
the heavily armed attackers breached
security and made their way towards the
family quarters of the army personnel.
The next three days were punctuated
with heavy exchange of fire that killed
the three militants.
The Jaish men were in for a long haul:
they were carrying not just weapons, but
even food. It was Pakistan-based JeM’s
second major attack in the state this
year—the first (January 1) being on Leth
pora camp in Pulwama district of south
Kashmir that killed five CRPF personnel.
The Sunjuwan incident led defence
minister Nirmala Sitharaman to visit
Jammu on February 12. Holding Islama
bad responsible for the attack, she said
Pakistan would have to pay for the mis-
adventure. Handlers from across the
border control the militants, she said,
16 Outlook 26 February 2018
action Securitymen
walk into Sunjuwan
camp on February 10
No Sermon of
Serenity at
Arch of Terror
Fidayeen attacks are on the rise in J&K. Many feel
the Centre can be less hard in its take on militancy.