ibn sultan
Security personnel have stepped up the search for militants who engaged in an exchange of fire with security forces in Kathua on Sunday. Top officers, including Jammu and Kashmir’s Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat, joined the combing operations in the dense forests on Monday.
It is rare for a police chief to join such an operation and this is believed to be the first time in over 30 years that J&K’s top cop has done so. Along with Prabhat, who set out for the search with an AK47 in hand, Inspector General of Police (Jammu Zone) Bhim Sen Tuti, DIG (Jammu-Samba-Kathua Range) Shiv Kumar Sharma, Kathua SSP Shobhit Saksena, and SP (Operation) Nasir Khan, also joined the operation.
The search operation came after militants, believed to have crossed the border into Saniyal village in Hiranagar sector, came into contact with local residents, who then raised the alarm.
Subsequently, security forces had a brief exchange of fire on Sunday evening with the militants who had been hiding in the forests.
Sources said the J&K DGP arrived at the spot on Sunday evening and stayed until midnight, before returning the next morning to join the search parties.
According to police, five-six militants are believed to be hiding in the forests.
The village remained tense with security forces appealing to people to stay indoors.
The International Border along Kathua district has emerged as a major infiltration route for militants from Pakistan to the higher reaches of the Kailash tri-junction connecting Udhampur, Doda and Kishtwar districts.
Last year, five soldiers were killed after militants attacked an Army convoy near Badnota village in Kathua.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said there has been no contact with the militants following the exchange of fire on Sunday. “So far, there has been no contact. The search and cordon is due to some suspicious movement. Now let us see how the situation develops,” Abdullah said.
“The area being close to the International Border, in all probability, they are likely to have come from there (Pakistan),” he said. However, he also said it was “premature to say anything. Let us first see if someone is tracked or not and how the situation develops.”
Referring to the efforts to end militancy, he said that “though directly this does not come under our area of responsibility, our elected government is making efforts to help that situation remain cordial and under control.”
“I keep saying that without taking the people along, it will not be possible to wipe out militancy in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.(Indian Express)
