Author: Pradeep Dutta
Publication: The Indian
Express
Date: October 13, 2000
Villagers in parts of
Jammu and Kashmir are gradually losing faith in militants and reporting
their activities to security forces. And they're paying the price,
reports PRADEEP DUTTAOn September 19, 31 militants belonging to Jehad-e-Turq,
a newly floated militant outfit hops across the border. An hour after
their stay in the interiors of Saujian forest in Poonch, the police gets
a tip-off, and pass it on to the troops posted there. In a 10-hour
long operation, 23 of them are eliminated.
Several such successful
operations have taken place over the past few months at the southern end
of Pir Panchal ranges comprising Poonch, Rajouri and Doda districts.
What has helped the security forces is the People hitherto supporting militants
have turned their backs on militants.
yed there to inflict
heavy militant casualties.
Earlier, once militants
crossed the Line of Control (LoC), they could move unhindered along the
thickly wooded slopes of Pir Panchal. After crossing the National
Highway, they could move up again, cross the range and then come south
to the Doda district across Synthen and other passes, or from the meandering
nullahs barge into any of the house, knowing that they would be helped
and even fed along way. Some of the villagers would even help the
militants flee.
Terror tactics by militants
like killing civilians by branding them as mukhbirs (informers) or slitting
their necks, gouging out their eyes or chopping their limbs have made villagers
do a rethink.
According to Maj Gen
G.S. Negi of Dah Division, since March this year, the militants have
killed 25 villagers in Mahore teshil. In Warwan forest area in Doda,
considered a hotbed of militancy, when a family refused to serve meals
to militants, they tried to gouge out their eyes by placing red-hot iron
rod on their eye-lids. One of the women lost her sight, while two
others are undergoing treatment at Batote Hospital.
In another incident some
weeks ago, militants abducted four villagers from Chak Balota area in Doda.
The next day, they threw their bodies with the limbs chopped off in one
of the schools in Kancha area.
These killings has snatched
many bread-earners, and many have been forced to take to menial jobs or
begging. Nazir Begum, 69, a resident of Kot Dharra, Rajouri, is one
such victim. She leaves her dhok early morning, treks more than three
km to reach the houses where she works as a maidservant. Back home
are her paralysed husband, Hakim Din, pregnant daughter-in-law and her
two children.
From her meagre income,
Begum can barely manage a meal once a day for them. ``At times, I
am unable to earn anything. Those are the days when I hide my face
from my grandsons. They expect me to turn up with eatables.
On days when I get nothing, they drink water and fall asleep,'' says Begum.
Begum's son Mohammad
Rashid was gunned down militants on August 14. He was spotted talking
to security personnel who had visited the workshop where he was working.
``They didn't just kill Rashid, but also snatched our lone bread-earner.
If they are true jehadis, they should have at least thought of these toddlers,''
says Begum.
So far, about 73 villagers
have been killed in Poonch and Rajouri while 29 civilians have been done
in Doda district. These killings and atrocities have taken away the
little support militants enjoyed here, and the villagers are instead turning
into informers.
``It is because of this
information that we've been able to inflict heavy casualties on militants,''
said Ram Lubhaya, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Rajouri-Poonch Range.
``The time lag in information
has decreased,'' he added.
A senior army officer
said villagers now promptly inform security forces to get rid of militants.
``Earlier, we had to use force to quiz people about the movement of militants.
Now, they voluntarily pass on information about militants,'' informed a
senior army officer.
Lt Gen A.S. Khanna,
added that for the past several months, ISI operatives have been scouting
around for potential leaders to launch strikes in Doda, but they are finding
the going tough. The impediment before them is not only the forces,
but also the people.
Mohammad Nawaz, alias
Abu Hijrat, a Lashkar-e-Toiba (leT) instructor, who trained the first batch
of fidayeen which attacked Badami Bagh Cantonment, killing Major Purushottam
and wiping out his entire public relations team two months ago, surrendered
before the Romeo Force last month. He said it was his disillusionment
with the cause that led him to shun the path of violence.
While talking to people
in Rajouri and Poonch, the area he was operating, he found that people
were happier before militancy. ``I realised that the presence of
militants added to their woes rather than giving them relief,'' Hijrat
said.
