Targeted killings, hybrid terrorists putting Kashmir back on the edge?
India Today
With the spike in targeted killings and the activation of hybrid terrorists, the situation in Kashmir has taken a sudden and violent turn for the worse.
The spate of targeted killings in the Kashmir Valley has sent alarm bells ringing. Security forces have pinned the attacks on hybrid terrorists -- operatives who are not on any terror lists but are radicalised enough to carry out a strike and then slip back into routine life.
On Thursday, an alleged hybrid terrorist took out a pistol and killed Vijay Kumar, a manager at Ellaqui Dehati Bank (EDB) in Areh Mohanpora village of Kulgam. Less than 12 hours later, two labourers were attacked in Budgam, and one of them succumbed to his injuries.
The situation in Jammu and Kashmir has taken a sudden and violent turn for the worse. Just last month, Union Minister Jitendra Singh made a statement that Jammu and Kashmir was fast returning to normal as the decades-long terrorism was on its last legs. Srinagar was declared 'terror-free' by police in August 2020, but now there has been a swell in terror ranks, with missing local youth from the Valley posing a major security challenge.
"With the crackdown on separatists, the recent sentencing of Yasin Malik, and the Centre's move to restore land of Kashmiri Pandits, there is pressure on terrorists to make their presence felt in the form of fear,” an officer told India Today.
Around 160 terrorists are active in the Valley, among them 70 are local militants and 90 are foreign operatives. The number of hybrid terrorists may close to 50, by conservative estimates. Sources said Pakistan is ensuring that weapons, mostly pistols and sticky bombs, make it into the hands of these hybrid militants.
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Lt Gen KJS Dhillon (Retd) stated, "Pakistan is escalating terror-related violence in Kashmir. This has been happening in the last three to four weeks and it is coinciding with the situation in Pakistan. Their economy is in doldrums, inflation is at its peak, the army is being openly questioned. These instances have never happened in Pakistan. So a diversion is created by engineering attacks in Kashmir."
