J&K terrorism: Govt sends counter-terror experts to Valley

WITH targeted killing of minorities in Jammu and Kashmir continuing unabated, Indian home minister Amit Shah has given stern directions to counter the killings of minorities and the Narendra Modi government has consequently sent its counter-terror experts to Kashmir Valley to help the local police forces neutralise the terror modules that are orchestrating the attacks.

On Thursday, Shah held a marathon five-hour meeting on Kashmir after terrorists of The Resistance Force terror outfit, backed by Pakistani Laskhar-e-Taiba, gunned down a number of individuals in Srinagar within two days. The dead include a Kashmiri Pandit pharmacist, two government school teachers, a street vendor, a local taxi stand official and others. Shah asked the security agencies to send their counter-terror experts to Kashmir and bring the perpetrators to book.

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According to a report in Indian daily Hindustan Times, Intelligence Bureau head of counter-terror operations Tapan Deka was set to leave for the Valley on Friday (8) to personally oversee the anti-terror plans. Counter-terror teams of other national security agencies have already reached Kashmir to act as force multipliers to the police of the union territory.

The attacks have taken place at a time when Srinagar is buzzing with economic activity with tourists from all over India thronging the Valley, one of the country’s top tourist destinations.

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Security sources have said the recent surge in violence in Kashmir is a result of the Pakistan-based terror outfits’ growing confidence after the Taliban recaptured power in Afghanistan in August and the appointment of lieutenant general Nadeem Anjum as the new chief of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence. India has been raising its concern at international platforms that the Taliban’s return could see anti-Indian groups in Pakistan getting a boost and Afghanistan’s soil being used against New Delhi’s interests.

Officials in India’s security establishments have also expressed fear that weapons left by the US, who exited Afghanistan after occupying it for almost 20 years, would now be brought into the Valley by the Pakistani jihadists from Afghanistan in the days ahead. They also said that the pistols used in the recent killings may have been dropped in the Valley’s upper reaches through drones from across Pakistan, the Hindustan Times report added.

Meanwhile, protests were organised by several organisations in Jammu demanding action against the terrorists. Local party like the People’s Democratic Party and national opposition Indian National Congress have slammed the local and central administrations accusing them of having failed to ensure security in Jammu and Kashmir.