Village Defence Guard (VDG) member Mohammed Sharief lost his life in an encounter with terrorists on Sunday in Basantgarh area of Udhampur district. He was chasing a group of four terrorists about which information had been received late on Saturday night, April 27. Around midnight, the group had sought directions to Chanali and Payali villages from a villager Sewa Ram at Kothi. Later, Sewa Ram had informed the police and VDGs in the nearby villages were activated.
Initially constituted in 1994, VDGs were earlier called Village Defence Committees (VDCs) and members are armed with .303 (Three Nought Three) rifles. Of late, most VDGs have become defunct in many areas of Jammu & Kashmir. But the government may need to rethink its policies and revive many of these VDGs.
Early on Sunday morning, one search party came under attack when terrorists fired on it and Sharief was injured. More search parties from different police posts and some Army personnel have now been deployed in an area covering several square kilometres of undulating plains, with dense forests. Hours later, Sharief succumbed to his injuries and his body was taken to his native village Khaned for burial.
It is almost after two decades that an incident of this nature has happened in Basantgarh area. South of Pir Panjal mountains in the Jammu region, terrorism was controlled by the security forces after relentless efforts. Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Anand Jain had rushed to the area on Sunday morning to coordinate the operations. Keeping in mind the challenging terrain, helicopters were used to drop some paratroopers deep into the forest areas.
This area of Gulabgarh borders Kathua district to its east and areas of Doda district to its far north. The villages here in these areas are sparsely populated and there is no reliable road network though some katcha tracks have been constructed. The villagers in remote areas have reported seeing two groups of terrorists in the mountainous areas of Basantgarh and Macchedi area of Billawar tehsil of Kathua district.
It is widely believed that these groups have recently infiltrated from Kathua border lying south of National Highway 44. All nallahs flow to south west from the Indian area and moving in north easterly direction from nearby Pakistan territory makes it possible to infiltrate. During elections in the first and second phase on April 19 and 26, there was heavier deployment along this border. However, the forces have been moved elsewhere since then.
Regular patrolling of border areas, nakas on roads and deployment at strategic points are tactics deployed by the security forces to keep vigil. However, for long, several points on this Kathua-Samba border have remained preferred infiltration route for Pakistani terrorists. The usual pattern followed by terrorists is to infiltrate and move northwards to higher areas of Kathua, then move to Doda and beyond to Kashmir valley.
During elections, be they of the Lok Sabha, or the Legislative Assembly, infiltration by terrorists to carry out subversive activities is almost a given in Jammu & Kashmir. Narowal district of Pakistan, particularly areas of Shakargarh and Zafarwal have often been used by the Pakistan intelligence agencies to help terrorists infiltrate into Kathua, Rajbagh, Hiranagar, Ghaghwal etc.
Some days ago, two terrorists had struck at Kondu Topa in Shahdara Sharief of Rajouri district and gunned down an official of the Social Welfare Department. That area also has dense forests and despite best efforts, the security forces have not met any success. The newly infiltrated groups may be headed for the Kashmir valley to disrupt the elections in the next rounds.
