Had the 4,000 personnel of the Armed Forces not carried out the mammoth operation at Kashmir, Shopian district would have been declared as “Azaad Kashmir,” by the terrorists with the help of several locals. The banners were ready and several local leaders had been threatened to resign from their posts and support the movement for an ‘Azaad Kashmir.’

A majority of the 160 terrorists who have infiltrated into the Valley over the past year had sneaked into the Shopian district and adjoining areas. There was concrete intelligence to suggest that the terrorists had made their move and the decision to declare the district as Azaad Kashmir was to be put into force.

It was a plan that was being set in motion. Terrorists had both lured and thretened people and leaders to join the movement and declare the district as Azaad Kashmir. This is a call that Pakistan has been making for several years now. It was decided that they would start with a district and then carry forward the plan to the other parts of the state. In a bid to raise funds for this operations, militants of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Jaish-Mohammad and the Hizbul Mujahideen had robbed several banks. Intelligence Bureau officials say that there was ample information about the declaring an Azaad Kashmir on Thursday. With the help of the locals, over 1,000 banners had been prepared with the text reading, Azaad Kashmir. Preparations were underway to put up these banners. This was to be followed by the resignation of some leaders and officials from their respective government posts. A massive rally across the district was planned where the announcement was to be made.
How Azaad Kashmir was foiled? This was the biggest combing operation that was undertaken by the Indian Army in 15 years. There was a huge risk involved in this and it meant that so many jawans were putting themselves out in the open where several terrorists were hiding.

However the huge presence of the Army pushed most of the terrorists back. The terrorists who were planning to come out on the streets were pushed back to their hiding spots in the forest areas. The personnel did face an attack later on Thursday evening. A vehicle carrying soldiers of the 62 rifles came under attack at the Imam Sahib area. A civilian driver was killed in the attack.

The operations are still underway. Sources say that the bigger part of the operation would be to snuff the terrorists out. There are many hiding still in the villages. If they are not brought to justice, then they may make another attempt to declare Shopian as ‘Azaad Kashmir.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 2

The US-made Chinook heavy-lift helicopters being acquired by the Indian Air Force will be based at the Chandigarh Air Force Station, for which new facilities are being established.India had signed a deal with the US in September 2015 for 15 CH-47 Chinook helicopters, with an option for another four machines. These are expected to start arriving in 2018. The deal includes 22 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.“A certain number of Chinooks will be based in Chandigarh,” a senior IAF officer said. “Two hangars and a maintenance bay along with associated technical and logistics facilities are to be set up here for the purpose,” he said. The work is estimated to cost Rs 150 crore, sources said.Chandigarh will be the third airbase in the Western Air Command to house new aircraft. The IAF has earmarked the Sarsawa airbase near Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh for the first squadron of French Rafale fighters, while the Bhisiana airbase near Bathinda in Punjab will house Netra, the new indigenous airborne early warning and control aircraft.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Chinooks, which have a payload capacity of around 10 tonnes will provide a much-needed fillip to the IAF vertical heavy-lift capability. This role was earlier being fulfilled by the Soviet-era Mi-26 helicopters, also based at Chandigarh.The IAF had four Mi-26s, but at present is left with just one serviceable machine. Chinooks will airlift artillery, vehicles, road construction and engineer equipment as well as troops and supplies to mountainous sectors in the north and North-East.Chandigarh is no stranger to the Chinook. Three of them belonging to the British Royal Air Force had been airlifted here from the United Kingdom for onward move to Nepal for flood relief operations in 2015. After being re-assembled and test-flown here, they spent a few days before being recalled home.

Yasin Malik, Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. file photo

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 8

Three separatist leaders in the Kashmir valley, who refer to themselves as ‘joint resistance leadership’, on Monday said the region’s separatist movement was indigenous and it had nothing to do with “global (jihadi) movements”.Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik issued a joint statement denouncing any attempt to change the “dimension” of Kashmir’s separatism and termed it as a conspiracy of intelligence agencies.The three separatist leaders spoke against the changing character of Kashmir’s separatism at a time when several militants have vowed to fight for an Islamist cause, espoused by global militant movements like Al-Qaida.In recent weeks, several militants, including the south Kashmir-based commander Zakir Musa, have issued statements in which they have denounced fighting for a nationalist cause and vowed that they were fighting for Islam. Another militant disapproved waving Pakistan flags and instead asked a gathering of people to wave Islamist black flags. Like in the past, the separatist leaders are conveniently blaming the forms of dissent within the separatist camp as part of a plan of intelligence agencies. In 2015, the separatist group led by Geelani had initially blamed intelligence agencies for attacking the telecom sector but the Hizbul Mujahideen had later acknowledged that one of its rebel commanders was behind the attacks. Even as the latest statement from Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik had all indications of being a reaction to the changing patterns of the militant ideology in the region, the separatists have tried to steer clear of naming or blaming the militants. The three separatist leaders in a detailed statement said that “the struggle for freedom is a local movement and its first and last goal is to end India’s forcible occupation”. “It has no other dimension and it has nothing to do with global movements,” the separatist trio said.The separatists said that intelligence agencies were attempting to defame Kashmir’s separatist movement and had devised a “dangerous plan of changing its indigenous character”.They said organisations “like the ISIS have no role” in the region and appealed to political and militant organisations to isolate those individuals who were being used to promote “India’s plan”.

Blame intel agencies

• Three separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik said intelligence agencies were attempting to defame Kashmir’s separatist movement
• They said organisations “like the ISIS have no role” in the region and appealed to political and militant organisations to isolate those individuals who were being used to promote “India’s plan”.

Attack carried out inside Indian territory in Poonch; Tarn Taran Naib Subedar among killed

Give total freedom to the Indian army to tackle dangerous situations faced in the line of duty. CAPT AMARINDER SINGH, PUNJAB CM

JAMMU/NEWDELHI: Pakistani forces killed two Indian soldiers and mutilated their bodies after a targeted attack on frontier posts in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday morning — an act the army described as despicable and promised appropriate response.

The slain soldiers were Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh, a junior commissioned officer (JCO) with the army’s 22 Sikh Regiment, and head constable Prem Sagar of the BSF’s 200 Battalion.

The 42-year-old Singh was from a village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, while Sagar was a native of Deoria in Uttar Pradesh.

The government strongly condemns this barbaric act and the country has full confidence and faith in the armed forces, which will react appropriately, defence minister Arun Jaitley said.

“This is a reprehensible and an inhuman act. Such attacks don’t happen even during a war, let alone peace … The sacrifice of these soldiers will not go in vain.”

he army’s northern command said the Pakistanis fired mortar shells, rocket-propelled grenades, and heavy machine guns at Indian posts in the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch district along the Line of Control, the de facto border between the two countries.

The shelling provided cover fire to members of the Border Action Team (BAT) — allegedly made up of a mix of Pakistani army regulars and militants. They attacked a 10-man Indian patrol comprising soldiers from 22 Sikh Regiment and the BSF.

Sources said the Pakistani rogue squad struck within 200 metres inside the Indian side of the LoC. The soldiers were patrolling across the border fence.

“Pak army carried out unprovoked rocket and mortar firing on two forward posts … Simultaneously a BAT action was launched on a patrol operating between the two posts. In an unsoldierly act by the Pak army, the bodies of two of our soldiers in the patrol were mutilated,” the army statement said.

Singh, the senior-most member of the squad, was leading the patrol. The Pakistani army denied mutilating the bodies, saying theirs is a “highly professional force and will never disrespect a soldier”.

“Pakistan army did not commit any ceasefire violation on LoC as alleged by India. Indian blame of mutilating Indian soldiers’ bodies is also false,” a statement from the neighbouring country’s inter-services public relations wing said.

Other than Singh and Sagar, another two BSF soldiers came under attack but they survived. Constable Rajender Kumar was one of the wounded, while the other’s identity is yet to be revealed.

The Pakistani army has violated a 2003 ceasefire agreement between the two countries 65 times in four months this year.

A HISTORY OF CROSS­BORDER BARBARISM

May 1999: Captain Saurabh Kalia and five other soldiers on patrol in the Kaksar sector of Jammu and Kashmir were taken captive by the Pakistan army . They were tortured for weeks before being killed and their mutilated bodies were handed over to India on June 9. It triggered the Kargil war.

GURPREET SINGH/HTThe grieving family of Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh, whose body was allegedly mutilated by Pakistani troops, at a Tarn Taran village on Monday.

February 2000: Pakistani terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri led a raid on Ashok Listening Post in the Noushera sector, killing seven soldiers. He took back to Pakistan the head of one jawan.

June 2008: A soldier lost his way and was captured by a Pakistani border action team in Kel sector. His body was found beheaded a few days later. January 2013: One soldier was beheaded and another killed by Pakistani troops after they crossed into the Mendhar sector of Jammu and Kashmir. October 28, 2016: A soldier’s body was found mutilated in Kupwara’s Machil near the Line of Control while the army was engaged in cross-border firing with Pakistan’s army.

November 22, 2016: Suspected Pakistani troops killed three soldiers and mutilated one of the bodies during a gunfight in the Machhil sector along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Jammu on Saturday. Inderjeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 6

Calling for a concerted dialogue process, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi alone could pull the Valley out of the prevailing morass.“Kashmir is not problem of a year or two, it is a 70-year-long issue which needs to be solved by addressing all related aspects,” she said at a public function here. “I know some people will criticise my stand, but I am of the firm opinion that the Prime Minister alone can permanently solve this vexed problem because he has the mandate of the entire nation,” she said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Claiming that Modi had the moral authority as well as the courage to take “bold decisions”, she recalled his unscheduled visit to Lahore on December 25, 2015, to normalise ties with Pakistan.Without naming a political or separatist group, she said some vested interests were hell-bent on fomenting trouble in the Valley. “I am hopeful that the PM, who has the mandate of the people, will take  effective steps to restore peace.” Invoking the Vajpayee doctrine, she recalled, “Vajpayeeji and Mufti Saheb had initiated sincere efforts which yielded encouraging results.”Facing immense pressure from within her party (PDP) to convince the Centre to hold parleys, Mehbooba has reason to invoke Vajpayee. It was during the latter’s tenure as PM that several pro-peace measures, including talks with the Hurriyat Conference and a ceasefire along the 720-km-long international border with Pakistan, were initiated. Also, LK Advani, then Deputy PM, had on January 22, 2004, held talks with separatists.“Thereafter, no efforts were made to carry forward the agenda of peace and reconciliation. It was owing to the ‘causal’ approach of the UPA government and successive dispensations in Jammu and Kashmir that the state saw unprecedented violence in 2008-2010,” she claimed.“There was pent-up lava. It started to pour out in 2008 and then in 2009-2010. This lava has now spread to the streets and we are forced to face this situation,” she said. As the CM was speaking, senior Congress leader Gulchain Singh Charak interrupted her, demanding two civil secretariats, one in Jammu and another in Srinagar. Charak, who later walked out in protest, was heckled by  some workers.

Student protests continue in Valley; 27 hurt in Handwara

Students receive injuries during a protest in Handwara on Saturday. Tribune Photo: Amin War

Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 6

A total of 27 students were hurt in the massive clashes that rocked Handwara and Pulwama today as the student demonstrations continued for the third week in the Valley.The Superintendent of Police, Handwara, said:“The students of Degree College, Handwara, took out a protest rally on the main road and started throwing stones on vehicles and police personnel, which resulted in clashes. The situation was brought under control.”The principal of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Handwara, said due to the massive teargas shelling outside the school around 50 girls fell unconscious and were admitted to hospital.“Our students were inside the school, which is half a kilometre away from Degree College, but the teargas smoke spread inside the school where 1,500 girls were there. Due to the intense shelling around 50 students collapsed on the ground. We admitted them to a hospital as a precautionary measure,” the principal said, adding that most of the students were discharged after treatment.Students of Degree College alleged that they were protesting peacefully but the police started throwing teargas shells on them without any reason in which many of them were injured. The students said many girls fainted on the spot due to inhaling of smoke.Chief Medical Officer, Handwara, Dr Khan said 27 injured students were treated after clashes and most of them had minor injuries.“One girl had a head injury, but after CT scan she was declared stable. The students were discharged after treatment,” the doctor said.The clashes also erupted in south Kashmir’s Newa Pulwama when the students of Higher Secondary School threw stones at a nearby Army camp.“The minor clashes happened today when the students threw stones at an Army camp but due to the presence of teachers and police the protesters were immediately pacified,” said Superintendent of Police, Pulwama, Mohammad Rayees Bhat.

The state-run ‘Global Times’ has focused on the “Kashmir dispute” and its resolution through Beijing’s intervention and mediation. AFP file

Arun Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 2

China has virtually announced its role as a mediator in the Kashmir “dispute” between India and Pakistan to fulfill its responsibility as a “stabilising force and conflict mediator” in South Asia.The state-run ‘Global Times’ has focused on the “Kashmir dispute” and its resolution through Beijing’s intervention and mediation as it says: “China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, but that doesn’t mean Beijing can turn a deaf ear to the demands of Chinese enterprise in protecting the overseas investments. Given the massive investment that has been made in countries along the One Belt, One Road, China now has a vested interest in helping resolve regional conflicts, including the dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan.”

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

China has invested $54 billion in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that runs through Pakistan occupied Kashmir, including Gilgit. Beijing has already stationed its troops for the safety of its workers in Gilgit-Baltisan and other parts of the PoK and it has turned a deaf ear to the Indian objections that it was undertaking projects in the territory which is legally part of India. Last Dogra king of Jammu and Kashmir had acceded the entire state as it existed before the tribesmen’s invasion of the state, to India in 1947.The newspaper, however, prods Beijing in its article titled ‘China ready to play a greater role in resolving conflicts in South and Southeast Asia’ by saying, “Mediating between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue would perhaps be one of the toughest challenges facing China in dealing with  regional affairs to safeguard its overseas interests (read CPEC).”China has shifted its stand that Kashmir was a bilateral issue to be resolved by Delhi and Islamabad. It had maintained and stuck to this stand vociferously in 1999, when it advised Pakistan to adhere to the “sanctity of the Line of Control” and withdraw its troops and proxies from the Indian side of the LoC.Things changed at the diplomatic and geo-strategic levels when Pakistan during negotiations on the Siachen glacier submitted non-papers seeking the involvement of China in deciding the fate of the highest battleground in the world, most part of which is under India’s control. The Karakorum highway, the lifeline of CPEC, runs across edges of the glacier.Kashmiri separatists, considered His Master’s Voice of Pakistan, have often made calls for China as a partner to settling the “Kashmir dispute”.The MEA had been dismissing these as peripheral noises, maintaining that India and Pakistan could resolve it bilaterally. Now, China has announced that it is willing to acquire a new role as a mediator as it is doing in the case of Myanmar and Rohingiya refugees. The one belt, one road runs through Myanmar too.That China has brought Kashmir on its agenda needs to be understood.

IN less than 24 hours after the ban on social media was lifted in Kashmir, the government felt constrained to reimpose it on Saturday, following the killing of Sabzar Bhat, the closest aide of the much-talked about militant “commander” Burhan Wani, whose death in an encounter last year rocked the Valley for almost five months. Fresh violence, protests and clashes swept parts of the Valley on Saturday. The killing of Sabzar and one other militant in Tral over-shadowed the killing of six infiltrating terrorists at the Line of Control. There is no visible respite from the cycle of violence.  And the mood has soured up again, despite a realisation that another spell of prolonged agitation would not alter the basic parameters. The 2016 unrest crippled Kashmir’s economy and education system; and the Kashmiris stare at nothingness after having lost more than 90 lives and so many working days. This time, it may not be as long and intense phase of clashes as in 2016 because the restraint and effectiveness mantra is at play.  But the instantaneous protests on Saturday should discourage all those who were hoping for  or advocating a “Ramzan ceasefire”.These violent interruptions have dealt a blow to an incipient dialogue process. Two sets of dialogue-makers — one led by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer  and another by former BJP minister Yashwant Sinha — have cracked the  walls as they met  separatist  leaders  apart from other stakeholders. Their outreach sent a message that civil society groups in the country were concerned over Kashmir and cared for the people in  the Valley. That, however, did not change the mind of militants and radical Islamists who remain firm in their anti-India ideology. The situation in the streets remains volatile. No one seems to be having a clue how to break out of this logjam. The state government has run out of imagination — and, perhaps, also out of political will. The Centre alone can step in with a bold and positive initiative. But, unfortunately, that for now seems to be a forlorn hope.

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 27

The Army has termed the recent killing of militants on the Line of Control (LoC) and in hinterland as “relentless operations by security forces to thwart desperate attempts by Pakistan to boost terror activities in J&K.”This comes on a day when Hizbul Mujahideen’s commander Sabzar Ahmed Bhat was killed during a night-long encounter in the Tral area of south Kashmir.The Army also killed six infiltrators in the Rampur sector on the LoC. A few days ago Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had visited the area and boosted the morale of soldiers.In a statement today, the Northern Command, PRO, said, “Security forces in J&Khave mounted relentless operations to thwart attempts by Pakistan to boost terror activities from across the the Line of Control. In the last 24 hours, 10 heavily-armed intruders and terrorists have been successfully eliminated. In an ongoing counter-infiltration operation on the Line of Control in the Rampur sector, a group of six armed intruders have been intercepted and eliminated.”“In another counter-terrorist operation based on specific intelligence generated from local sources in Tral, south Kashmir, has so far resulted in killing two terrorists. On May 26, a group of heavily-armed intruders of Pakistan’s Border Action Team was successfully intercepted resulting in their killing,” the PRO said.In another operation on May 21, troops in the Naugam sector eliminated four terrorists thereby foiling a major infiltration bid. In all operations, the Indian troops have recovered a large quantity of war-like stores, he added.

NEWS ANALYSIS

Kashmir is in perpetual trouble

Arun Joshi

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 27

Kashmir is always waiting to erupt and it just needs a spark. The killing of Sabzar Bhat, believed to be the successor to Burhan Wani whose death last year had sent tremors across the Valley, played out some flashback scenes of 2016 on Saturday, though at a miniature level to show that the place and the people are not at rest.The efforts of the government to keep the situation calm did not withstand the test that came after the killing of Sabzar Bhat and one more militant Faizan in Tral on Saturday. Spontaneous protests and the usual use of force, showed that nothing had changed. The contingency plans were executed after the killing of militants. The anticipation part was missing as was in the case of Burhan Wani in July last year even after the Valley suffered an incalculable damage in the unrest that set new precedents in protests.Today, Kashmir may not be standing at the threshold of the disaster of last year because of the fatigue factor, yet the fact cannot be ignored that Kashmir did wail the death and prepared obligingly to observe the shutdown call by the separatists. Kashmir is not afraid of the separatists as they have reconciled to the fatalities of the situation, but they do not want to give an impression to the world that they would let the militants die unmourned.“Sabzar was not a match to Burhan, who had gained popularity through social media, but his being the aide of the high-profile militant who was described by Pakistan as a martyr and his name broadcast at the United Nations General Assembly last year, was enough of a reason for hundreds of militants to throng his village,” said Gulam Rasool Bhat, hailing from Tral. “It should serve as an eye-opener to the Government of India to know where sympathies of the people lay.”Two factors weigh with the people after such incidents: one, they feel that it is their duty to demonstrate their sympathies for militants because the “movement for azadi” is work in progress, and, secondly, they want to stay away from the trouble as much as possible. No driver is willing to risk his vehicle to be smashed by stones, and the showroom owners are more than cautious. They shutter their establishments at the first signs of trouble.It brings out the fact that they are not convinced that security personnel can save them from any trouble. That is where the faith in the system is getting eroded, and the government is shaking uncontrollably. That is where the problem lies. Security forces cannot be buffer in such situation when the politicians abdicate their responsibility and cocoon themselves in seclusion.

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 23

Governor Acharya Devvrat and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh condemned the killing of three soldiers from Himachal in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir during an encounter with terrorists.Three soldiers — Havildar Damar Bahadur Pun, Havildar Giris Gurung and Rifleman Rabin Sharma of the Subathu-based 14 Gorkha Training Centre in Solan — were martyred while fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir on the intervening night of May 20-21.The Governor expressed sympathies with the family members and prayed for peace to the departed soulsThe Chief Minister expressed grief over their death. He said the brave soldiers of the state had always been leading from the front to safeguard the frontiers of the country and maintaining law and order. He said the supreme sacrifice made by the martyrs would always be remembered by the country.He expressed his sympathies with the bereaved family members and prayed for peace to the departed souls.Solan: Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment DR Shandil while expressing his condolences said their sacrifice would be remembered by the nation as they had shown exemplary valour by laying down their lives for the country.ADM Sandeep Negi said the soldiers would be cremated with full state honours at Subathu upon the arrival of their families from Nepal. TNS