Handwara Encounter - Worrying Trend

What is the issue?

• Five security personnel and two unidentified militants were killed during an anti-militancy operation in north Kashmir’s Handwara area.
• Encounters in Kashmir are on the rise, taking a disproportionate toll on security personnel.

What happened in Handwara area?

• It was an 18-hour anti-militancy operation near Handwara town in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
• Intelligence suggested that terrorists were present in a house in Changimulla village.
• On this, the security personnel reached the site which had a building and a cowshed adjoining it.
• An intense firefight commenced.
• All the enemy fire came from the cowshed, not the building.
• Then there was a lull for more than an hour during which the team apparently decided to approach the house.
• They decided to use the vantage of the upper floor to fire at the terrorists in the cowshed.
• They entered the house and there was a fresh firefight but no communication from the Colonel and his team.
• Then it was noticed that their communication instrument was being used by the terrorists.

• That is when realisation came all was not well, and firing ensued all over again.

Why is it a cause of worry?

• The five security personnel who were dead include -
  1. a Commanding Officer of a battalion in the rank of a colonel
  2. a major
  3. two other ranks
  4. a special operations group policeman in the rank of a sub inspector
• The details on the attack are unclear, yet provide compelling evidence of an operation that went horribly wrong.

• It is unusual and disproportionate for just a couple of terrorists to take down five highly skilled and motivated soldiers.
• The way this operation ended will have ramifications.
• It might affect both morale and operating procedures, on future operations of this kind.

What does this imply?

• Evidently, changing the nomenclature and status of J&K has not addressed any of the underlying causes of unrest and angst.
• Neither has it deterred Pakistan from its steadfast goals.
• Since the beginning of the year 2020, in 127 days, as many as 55 terrorists have been killed in the region.
• Such encounters have only aided the impulse of the disaffected to embrace arms.
• As the dangerous drift in J&K continues, New Delhi must realise the implications and look for ways to arrest this trend.

Source: The Hindu