Khajuria S Kant in Jammu
Pakistan once again launched terror attacks deep inside Jammu & Kashmir on September 26 and butchered four army men, including one Lt Colonel, four policemen and two innocent civilians, thus sending a clear message to New Delhi that it will continue to bleed India with a thousand-cut at regular intervals till the time Jammu & Kashmir remains an integral part of India.
In a major terror attack originating from Pakistan, three fidayeens in Army dresses carried out twin strikes at Hiranagar Police station in Kathua district and 16 Cavalry unit of Army at Mehsar, about two kilometers from Samba killing 10 persons including four Army soldiers, one of them a Lieutenant Colonel, four police personnel and two civilians before being eliminated by the troops after about 11 hours long gun battle in which six persons including two Army jawans, three police personnel and a civilian were also injured.
Unable to locate the camp, the terrorists stormed the police station at 6.45 am hurling grenades where they killed a sentry at the gate and then an ASI and a Special Police Officer. A constable, who was resting on the second floor of the police station, was also gunned down in the indiscriminate firing, Police said.
The militants then took the truck after killing its cleaner Mohd Feroz. They asked driver of the truck namely Altaf of Srinagar to be taken to a nearby Army camp at Samba. On way they also shot at a PCO owner Suresh Kumar. The truck was stopped outside the Army camp at Malahaser on Jammu Srinagar National Highway at Samba and the militants then opened indiscriminate firing on jawans deployed at its security gate before they stormed the premises. They barged into the Army Mess where they resorted to heavy indiscriminate firing as troops geared up and retaliated resulting in fierce gunbattle .
After day-long operation in which Army used the helicopters and commandos, a final assault was launched on three fidayeens, who were zeroed-in near Officers’ Mess and gunned down at 4.30 pm. The Army sanitised the area to ensure that there was no other militant, though the auto and truck drivers had confirmed presence of three militants only before declaring the operation over at 5 pm. The Army had to blast a major portion of the Officers’ Mess to kill two militants, where they had taken shelter.
While two militants were killed within few hours of the operation, the third one kept on fighting till late in the afternoon and was gunned down around 4 pm. The Army declared the operation as complete at 4.30 pm.
It is unfortunate that New Delhi once again failed the wounded and wailing nation by rejecting out-of-hand the demand put forth by many political parties, former Generals and diplomats and strategic affairs experts that the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must call the Pakistani bluff and call off his scheduled meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly at New York on September 29. But the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Defence Minister and Home Minister spoke one language and stated and restated that the scheduled talks between the two Prime Ministers will go on, that the brutal murder of twelve Indians will not be allowed to derail what they called peace talks and the attacks were aimed at derailing the peace process by extremists.
The Jammu region burst into anger against the terror attacks at Hiranagar and Samba areas today, in which some civilians, personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and Army soldiers lost their lives.
Charging the Centre and the state government with propagating pro-militant policies, the state unit of the BJP called for a Jammu bandh on September 27 in protest against the terrorist attack.
Condemning the terrorist attacks, the state BJP president Jugal Kishore said it was a total failure on the part of the (UPA) government, which had adopted a soft approach towards Pakistan during the last nine years.
He said the National Conference-Congress coalition government in the state was equally responsible as the Chief Minister had been demanding revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and withdrawal of the Army and added that the government functionaries had been encouraging those elements which had been levelling flimsy charges against village defence committees and demanding that those should be disbanded.
BJP Legislature Party leader Ashok Khajuria, national executive member Nirmal Singh and state general secretary Ashok Kaul also spoke.
Earlier, a team of BJP leaders visited Hiranagar and Samba for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and interacted with the local people. They visited the family of shopkeeper Suresh Kumar at Hirangar to express sympathies with the bereaved family and attended when the last rites of Constable
Pradeep Singh were performed at Birpur.
Jammu on terror radar
March 30, 2002: Militants strike at the ancient Raghunath Temple in the heart of Jammu killing 11 devotees
May 14: Terrorists attack Army camp in Kaluchak (Samba district), kill 31 persons, including three Armymen, 18 of their family members and 10 civilians
Nov 24: Militants again target Raghunath Temple; 14 die
Jan 3, 2004: Terrorists attack Jammu railway station; kill six
May 11, 2008: Major terror strike at Kaily Mandi in Samba; six killed, including a politician, his wife, two soldiers and a photo journalist
Aug 27: Three ‘fidayeens’ kill 11 persons, including three Armymen and five civilians, in Chinore area near Bantalab in Jammu city
