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October     Last updated: October 14: 7:00 p.m.

New dimensions to terrorism in J&K

Our Special Correspondent

JAMMU : With military Junta in Pakistan coming to power, the terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir has assumed more dangerous dimensions and there have been number of horrible incidents that remind one of the medieval ages. During the last few months a new dimension has been added with the induction of suicide squades which are called Fidayeens. A new organisation Jaish-e-Mohmmad has been set up entrusting the task of motivating and training youth for extreme type of steps to attack the camps of the security forces and police stations as well as protected places.

These suicide squades have started attacks on the various camps of security forces and other places. According to a report about 400-500 trained Fidayeens have been pushed in Jammu and Kashmir to launch sudden attacks. Keeping in view the threat, the security forces have taken some measures to meet the new challenge. Another dangerous potential threat has been added with the setting up of a Border Action Team (BAT) which has been given the task of launching sudden attacks on the forward Indian posts after infiltration, both, regulars and trained terrorists from different directions. While these infiltrators launch attacks from different directions, the Pakistani troops across the Line of Control (LoC) simultaneously resort to mortar firing and also the fires with heavy guns.

During the last few months there have been about a dozen of such attacks in Palanwalla area of Chammb Sector, Bhewani-Lam area of Naushera Sector and also at some posts in Mendhar area of Poonch as also in Kupwara area of the Kashmir Valley. But, because of the alertness of the Indian troops the intruders had to suffer more casualties. In addition to this the Pakistani troops are resorting to almost daily shelling at number of places including the villages to cause panic among locals. According to an estimate during the months of August and September alone the Pakistani troops have fired more than 25,000 mortars in addition to lakh of bullets with some long range guns which resulted in killing and injuring innocent civilians. Thousands of the panicked families had to migrate to safer places. And thus, the life has virtually come to a hault in the border areas because of the booming of the guns and blasts. Obviously, the Indian troops too are replying the enemy fire.

The ISI has adopted another strategy to give a legal face to the extremism for this end and both allurements and inhuman acts are being perpetuated to trap the local youths. In this regard, in a brutal incident, in the Mendhar area of Poonch District, at the dead of night a group of Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists intruded in the house of Shri Gulzar Hussain, a forest guard, and asked his wife to handover her young son Tariq to join the what they call jihad. But on her declining to do so, the terrorist resorted to massacre resulting in the death of six family members and injuring two others. To terrorise the local people, terrorists are now resorting to cutting of the limbs of the people and also gouging the eyes of the people including women. In this regard three incidents have come to light recently when a young boy named Abdullah and two middle aged women named Hafiza and Pissi underwent treatment at Government Hospital in Batote. They were willing to tell their tales of woes to any listener and break down as they recount what happened with them. The eyes of all the three were gouged out just because they declined to follow the terrorists who wanted to use them for their nefarious designs.