The dastardly terror attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday has claimed 40 lives, said K. Vijay Kumar, adviser to the state governor, who is tasked with handling security related matters. Kumar said the toll is 40 as of now, but they are still in the process of getting the exact numbers as 42 people were on board the bus which came under attack at Lethpora.
The biggest terror attack in the state in recent times has come as a major setback to the Narendra Modi government at the Centre which has been claiming that its tough policy to deal with terror had brought down militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. The fresh terror strike has clearly demonstrated that such claims are far from truth. It has also come at a time when the state is under President's Rule and the law and order is directly being overseen by the Centre.
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Kumar, a counter-insurgency expert and former chief of the CRPF, said that militancy in the state has been on the wane, but it does not mean that it was wiped out.
“Earlier there were sniper attacks on camps of security forces. The forces neutralised several terrorists, but there are others who are still active. It is like a vessel which keeps getting empty and filled up at the same time. We can never say it’s over. There have been inputs of terrorists who are active in using IEDs and this (Pulwama attack) seems to be the handiwork of some of them who are still at large,” Kumar told THE WEEK. He further said that it is too early to say whether there is involvement of cross-border terrorists, but it has always been a mixed group of local and foreign militants operating in the valley.
Sources, meanwhile, disclosed that troop movements have been going on in the state with forces' personnel going on and returning from leave. It was also due to the inclement climate that they have been travelling together in large numbers.
Meanwhile, the National Security Guard (NSG), the counter-terror force which was recently deployed in the state for the first time to be part of the counter-insurgency grid, has sent Post Blast Investigation Teams to the spot. The NSG team was already stationed in the state so that it could quickly dispatch its teams to the spot.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also rushed a team with suitable forensic component to assist the J&K Police in forensic evaluation of the scene of crime, NIA officials said. The NIA team will land on Friday morning in the state.
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, who reached Thimphu in Bhutan earlier on Thursday for the annual secretary-level talks, has decided to cut short the visit and rush back. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be in Srinagar on Friday where he will meet senior security officials and review the ground situation and discuss operational actions. Meanwhile, the home ministry officials said arrangements are being made to airlift the mortal remains of the slain soldiers.