A new front in the proxy war

The Prankote killings indicated the opening of a third front by militants, and the Indian security forces have accepted the challenge.

VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN
recently in forward areas in the western sector

THE insurgency situation in Jammu and Kashmir appears to have entered a critical phase with the escalation of militancy in the Rajouri, Poonch and Udhampur regions of Jammu in the last three months and the intensification of counter-insurgency operations by the security forces. According to senior officers of the Army and the civil administration, this region was practically unaffected even when militancy was at its peak in the Kashmir Valley and in Doda district. The extension of terrorism to this region marks the opening of a third front in the proxy war launched by Pakistan.

The aggravation of the security situation in the region, called Makh-buja-Kashmir by the local population, presents a unique problem to the security forces on account of the difficult terrain. Anti-terrorist operations here are more arduous than in the Valley and in Doda district. The problems presented by the terrain were highlighted when the first signal of the opening of the new front came with the massacre of 28 people in the villages of Prankote on the night of April 17 by the Laskhar-e-Toiba militant group (Frontline, May 22, 1998). Prankote is in Jij patwal (an administrative unit, comprising a group of villages) of Reasi division. It can be reached only after an eight-hour trek over a mountainous stretch, the last motorable road being 8 km away.

The news of the massacre reached the authorities after 10 hours and it took more than 24 hours for the security forces to get to the village. The security threat in the region is all the more serious as mountains and gorges separate the houses in most of these thinly populated villages. The method employed by the militants in the Prankote killings adds an extra dimension to the problem: no firearm was used there and the victims were hacked to death with sharp-edged weapons.

SANDEEP SAXENA
People of Thanpal village in Reasi tehsil undergoing firearms training under the Village Defence Committees scheme.

Following the massacre, and visits to the region by political leaders, the Army and the paramilitary forces spread themselves across the villages, jungles and mountains in a concerted effort to prevent a repeat of the incident. Combing operations were launched in the entire Makh-buja-Kashmir, covering 300 square km.

Prior to the Udhampur killings, which changed the character of militancy in the area, the Rajouri-Poonch belt was used by militants for two years essentially as a transit route to training camps in Pakistan. The movement of militants intensified in the last six to eight months. According to the security forces, during this period militant groups were crossing the border both ways with impunity.

The region offered five transit routes along the mountain ridges, all of them converging either at Choru Sira, a village at the base of the Pir Panji Gali mountain range, or near the Rad Khad, a river at the base of the mountains. As a trek through these routes took 15 to 20 days, the militants took shelter in villages on the way, sometimes after forcing their residents into submission.

These villages included Gulabgarh, Barmari Gala, Mathyani Gala, Kunala Gala, Gaibas, Gunda, and Jij Bagli, all within a radius of 5 to 10 km of Prankote. After the April 17 massacre, all these villages have a significant presence of the Army and the paramilitary forces. Accompanying the soldiers of the 5 Sikh Regiment, who were deployed between Mathyani Gala and Thanpal, this correspondent witnessed the Army operations in some of these villages.

The combing operations were essentially undertaken by recently formed commando teams. The commandos (code name: Ghatak) were trained in mountain warfare and counter-insurgency operations. According to Col.Jaipal Santhanam, commanding officer of the regiment, the teams provided the cutting edge in tackling militancy in the difficult terrain and this had been proved in the operations in the region.

Considering the backwardness of the area in terms of health and nutritional care, the Army unit set up a medical centre at Gaibas. The residents of Gaibas and nearby villages such as Kot Chilwal, Bhambal and Udhan appreciated the work done by the Army. Lakhiram, sarpanch of Kot Chilwal village, said that before the Army was deployed, many Hindus from nearby villages had migrated to towns such as Reasi and Paoni, fearing a repetition of Prankote. The Army intervention, he said, had restored their confidence and many villagers had returned. Lar Hussain of Udhan village said that one of the aims of the Prankote killings was to instigate communal division. But the Army helped the people stick together, he said.

SANDEEP SAXENA
Hunched over their light machine guns, Indian jawans set their sights on potential enemy targets at Kunala Gala, near Prankote.

Taking into account the specific problems of the area, particularly their inaccessibility, the security forces and the local administration evolved the concept of village defence committees (VDC), in which the residents would be trained to protect themselves. Ten VDCs are currently in operation and many more are being set up. The Army also trains VDC volunteers. The most successful of the training camps are located at Thanpal, Hawas and Kotranga, each training 50 volunteers.

Volunteers in the Thanpal camp told Frontline that with sufficient support from the administration and the security agencies, they would be able to take on the menace of militancy.

The Army, the Border Security Force and the Jammu and Kashmir police acted in tandem in the area, and according to Brigadier P.K. Saxena, overall field-in-charge of the operations, the findings of Army investigations were handed over to the police. He said that the 5 Sikh Regiment had caught several militants and achieved a breakthrough in the investigation into the Prankote massacre. However, a prime suspect in the incident, a supporter of the terrorists, Chairman Israel, who belonged to Prankote, was absconding, he said.

The security forces rated their operations in the region since the third week of April as successful, essentially because they were able to prevent further incidents after Prankote. "The operations are basically meant to be confidence-building measures and we have succeeded to a large extent in this respect. Many migrants have returned and the process is continuing," said Rohit Kansal, Sub Divisional Magistrate of Reasi. He hoped that the administration's initiatives, supported by the security agencies, would enable all the migrants to return to their villages.

However, despite the hopes raised by the relative success of the counter-insurgency operations, chances are that the region will remain the third front in the proxy war. The escalating border tensions in the context of the nuclear tests have only deepened the insecurity of the villagers.

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