Last Updated on September 18, 2021 at 10:49 am
The recent spurt in militant activities and gunfights since July this year indicates that Pakistan has been employing all possible means to revive militancy in the Rajouri district of Jammu division. The district witnessed four severe gunfights since July 8, this year in which six militants and four government forces personnel including two Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) were killed.
The recent increase in gunfights is seen as the revival of the militancy in the border district.
Ata Hasnain, a former General Officer Commanding (GoC) 15 Corps based in Srinagar, corps of Indian Army responsible for military operations in the Kashmir Valley, had said that Taliban taking over Afghanistan have created a threat and can have effect on Jammu and Kashmir.
It has been claimed that two of the four attacks carried out in the Rajouri district by a militant outfit, People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) – believed by the police to be a Lashkar-e-Taiba offshoot.
On 6 August, a gunfight broke out in Thanamandi area of Rajouri nearly 90 kilometres away from Sunderbani along LoC. On 19 August, another gunfight broke out in the Thanamandi area in which two government force personnel’s including a JCO and a militant was killed. The gunfight was claimed as an ambush by PAFF.
Another incident was witnessed in which Army recovered huge cache of arms ammunition and explosives with Pakistani currency amounting to Rs 13,370” from a gunfight site in Poonch in which two militants were gunned down by the government forces.
Such attacks and rise in the militant activities is posing new challenges and threats to peace and normal routine activities of the people in this region.
