By Sumit Kumar Singh
New Delhi, Nov 25 (IANS) Pakistan-based terrorists have increased attacks on defence establishments lately in Jammu and Kashmir because they see security forces as their enemy and also they don’t want to target civilians anymore, said former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief A.S. Dulat.
In the last four years India has witnessed several attacks on security establishments and installations. On February 14, 2019, a terror attack was carried out at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir by a suicide bomber resulting in the death of 40 CRPF personnel. The suicide bomber, identified as Jaish-e-Mohammad’s Adil Ahmed Dar, rammed his vehicle into a bus with the CRPF convoy.
On September 18, 2016, Pakistan-based armed militants entered an Indian army base in the garrison town of Uri — about 102 kilometres from Srinagar — killing 18 soldiers.
On January 2, 2016, heavily-armed terrorists entered the highly secure Pathankot air force base in Punjab and opened fire, killing seven security men.
“In Jammu and Kashmir every day some or other incidents happen but because it happens in Jammu and Kashmir no one take notice of it. If it happens in Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata, then the media will take much more notice of it,” said the former R&AW chief.
He said that terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir has not ended. “There it keeps happening. Every four to five days some terrorist is killed or security personnel lose their life.”
Citing reasons behind attack on defence establishments in the Valley, Dulat said that in Jammu and Kashmir terrorism has always been there. “Now if defence and security establishments are being singled out it is for two reasons; one is that security establishments are looked upon as a villain and second reason is not to kill civilians,” he said.
The former chief of India’s external intelligence agency said that earlier civilians were also killed. “Over period of time civilian killings have come down. But if terrorists threw grenades at the CRPF bunker then collateral damage will happen. This is there.”
He also said that until and unless the issue of Kashmir is resolved it will keep happening. “Nowhere in the world it has happened that the militancy is solved by force or guns. You always have to talk to people,” he said.
He said the problem is that Delhi wants something and back there Kashmiri wants something and due to this there is a big gap and no one wants to fill that gap. “This how it is? My humble view is only dialogue can resolve the militancy in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
(Sumit Kumar Singh can be reached at [email protected])
–IANS
sk/ash