There was another terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. This took place in the Pantha Chowk area, in the outskirts of Srinagar, in the middle of the night on Saturday. Three terrorists were shot dead in the ambush, one cop also lost his life.
In the overnight encounter, terrorists attacked a police checkpost with the aim of snatching the weapons from the officers there. A joint team of Jammu and Kashmir policemen and the CRPF were present on the spot. When the terrorists tried to escape, the officers charged them and they were later cornered in a nearby neighbourhood. In this clash, sub-inspector of the special operations group of police was shot dead.
The encounter that started late at night on Saturday, went on till early in the morning on Sunday. During this encounter, three terrorists were killed and one police officer lost his life. This information was made public by the IGP of Kashmir – Vijay Kumar.
Unfortunately, this is not the first terrorist encounter of the month. Earlier, on Friday, four terrorists were killed in an encounter with the security forces in the Shopian district of Kashmir. On Saturday morning, a similar incident took place to the one that happened on Saturday night. In this clash, one officer was shot dead and three terrorists were killed by the security forces.
This means that three such encounters have taken place in the last 4 days alone. 10 terrorists have been killed in these encounters.
The month of July and August have been marked with many such encounters. The constant increase in the influx of terrorists have left the people of Jammu and Kashmir terrified. Earlier this month, the terrorists had also attacked the joint party of CRPF and the Jammu and Kashmir police, in which three soldiers lost their lives.
Such encounters also took place in in the Kariri and Baramulla districts of Kashmir. In this encounter three terrorists were killed. In an incident very close to this one, one terrorist was encountered in Shopian. On 1st July, in the Sopore town of the Baramulla district, the CRPF party was attacked by the terrorists, in this encounter one soldier was killed and three were injured.
On Saturday, the Army had asked all terrorists to surrender themselves. They claimed that the Pakistani terrorists had recruited at least 80 youths from the South Kashmir area. It is said that the army was able to neutralize eight terrorists in the last couple of days, this also included one surrender. At least seven out of these eight youths were recruited by the terrorists under false promises. According to the officials, the terrorist activities have increased due to a lack of leadership in the terrorist organisations.
No matter what the cause, the constant increase of terrorists is posing to be a worry for many. The relations between India and Pakistan are already strained. In such a condition, a constant entrance of terrorists in the Jammu and Kashmir area is definitely not a good thing. The Ladakh region, a few months ago, had to witness a clash between the Indian and Chinese forces. This became a cause of worry for both Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The citizens of Jammu and Kashmir have already been in a lot of distress this past year due to the scraping of the article 370. This has become another cause of distress for them. Such terrorists activities, during a global pandemic, have proven to become a huge issue for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the army, CRPF and the police, and also the government.
Only time will tell what these terrorist encounters will bring for both the officials and the people in the next few months.