It is proving out to be a rather hot summer in Kashmir. Tensions over militancy and anti-insurgency have been soaring. Close to 100 militants have been killed in Kashmir this year till May

On Monday, unknown militants shot at a sarpanch in Anantnag area of south Kashmir. Ajay Bharti was associated with the Congress party. Many such assassinations of panchayat members have happened in the Kashmir Valley but after a very long time a Kashmiri Pandit was targeted.

It is proving out to be a rather hot summer in Kashmir. Tensions over militancy and anti-insurgency have been soaring. Close to 100 militants have been killed in Kashmir this year till May. There are clear indications of this being a very active year in Kashmir.

Even as the coronavirus pandemic rages across the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, militants have been targeting security forces, civilians and activists. Sensing the situation, security forces have also upped the ante against the threats.

RISE IN MILTANT ACTIVITY AND ENCOUNTERS

Encounters have been taking place in Kashmir almost every second day and mostly in south Kashmir. More than 14 militants have been killed in last four days including five on Wednesday.

“Over the last couple of months we have been getting intelligence reports of their plans to attack security forces, carry out kidnappings, IED attacks etc. Our operations have managed to thwart those plans,” said Rajesh Kumar, IG CRPF while speaking to the media.

After the big decision on abrogation of Article 370 in August 5, 2019, there were apprehensions about possibilities of increase in militancy in the Kashmir Valley. Sources believe attempts by the terror groups to push their men from across the borders have gone up. Many infiltrations have been successful as well.

Most of the militancy-related activities and the anti-insurgency operations are taking place in this belt. “I would not like to use terms like success but these are definite steps we are taking in the right direction, at the end of it I would go back to the issue that we are here because the population or the government is inconvenienced, so any militant neutralised will bring normalcy,” said Lt Gen BS Raju, Corps Commander 15 while speaking on the recent increase in the number of encounters.

He further added that when it comes to South Kashmir alone there is a figure of close to 125 active militants. Among these there are around 100 locals while others are foreign nationals.