New Delhi: Defence experts on Wednesday pointed to the role of Pakistan-backed ‘overground workers’ after three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were injured in a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
‘Overground workers’ are suspected to act as civilian or underground support networks for Pakistan-backed militant and terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India.
Referring to the Kulgam attack and a previous terror attack on migrant labourers, former Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) S. P. Vaid admitted that there is prevailing movement of terrorists in the Valley.
“According to reporters, 60-70 terrorists are still active in Jammu and Kashmir, of which around 95 per cent are foreigners as local recruitments have largely reduced,” he told IANS.
In a warning to Pakistan, the former DGP said that this should be a matter of concern for those Army Generals “who run terror factories in Jammu and Kashmir”.
However, Vaid added that it is not possible to carry out such an attack without local support.
“It seems overground workers still have an active network, which is being used by Pakistani terrorists,” the former DGP said while urging for continuation of search operations to drive out such elements.
Hitting out at Pakistan, retired Brigadier Hemant Mahajan said: “Several Pakistani agents, known as overground workers, are in Kashmir. So, such kind of an attack cannot be ruled out.”
However, he underlined that Wednesday’s incident is “not the beginning of a series of terrorist attacks because terrorists don’t have that much strength due to our strong security grid in the Valley”.
Captain Anil Gaur (Retd.) added: “This is the first attack on CRPF personnel in the entire country in 12 months, whether you look at Bastar, the Kashmir Valley, or anywhere else.”
According to Gaur, the attack might have been carried out in response to a recent joint raid by the CRPF, the Army’s Rashtriya Rifles (RR), and the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
“This shows that these individuals have now become desperate,” he said, while appealing Jammu and Kashmir residents to inform security authorities about any suspicious activity in their region.
Defence expert P. K. Sehgal said that the terror attack raises several questions regarding who the attackers were and which terror group they were linked with.
“Whether they were from Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, or a local group. Were they local militants or infiltrators? What was their objective? Were they operating independently, or was this part of a larger conspiracy? What kind of support did they receive, what was their motivation, and where are they hiding?” he asked while speaking to IANS.
However, according to Sehgal, there could be two reasons.
“One is that passes are soon going to be closed and Pakistan often carries out such attacks before that. Secondly, some local militants might have got influenced due to the recent remarks of Farooq Abdullah and carried out the attack,” he said while maintaining that clarity will emerge only after the investigation concludes.
Last month, National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah came under fire after he credited Pakistan for “saving” Kashmiris.
He said that the intentions of Indian state towards Kashmiris are not “right”, and it is due to Pakistan’s diplomatic effort that their voice are being heard globally.
(IANS)
