Security Forces Suffer Heavy Losses in Handwara Terrorist Encounter
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-05-03 20:19:50
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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A team of security personnel composed of men from the Army and personnel from the J&K police had gone to confront a group of terrorists in Handwara in Kupwara district of Jammu & Kashmir. In the gun battle that ensued, an Army Colonel, a Major, two other army men and one J&K police personnel were killed. The security team killed two terrorists and rescued many civilians. The heavy casualty suffered by the security points to incomplete intelligence input. If the security team had known that the terrorists were armed so heavily, they would have taken a larger team and planned the operations in a different way. It is unfortunate that the Army had to lose senior officers in such a seemingly minor anti-terrorists operation. The informer network in the state needs to be beefed up and educated to provide better information about the personnel and arsenal strength of the terrorist group. Otherwise, if more security personnel than terrorists are killed in an encounter it will demoralize the forces on the one hand and give terrorists the upper hand on the other. If precise information is not forthcoming, the security forces should plan for the worst and send larger teams with better equipment to prevent such heavy casualties.
The whole world is grappling with a devastating pandemic that threatens to kill people in large numbers and ruin economies. But Pakistan is doing what it knows best - indulging in unprovoked cross border firing and waging a proxy war against India by training terrorists and slipping them across the border. Initially, it had increased ceasefire violations at the border but counter-attacks from India, including targeting and destroying arms dumps and terror camps across the LoC had forced it to cut back on that. Recently, terrorist activity has increased in J&K as the ISI has obviously decided that that is a better way to prick India. But the Indian security forces are doing exceedingly well to keep things under control. Still, considering the difficult terrain, they should avoid going in to confront terrorists in small groups. Since reinforcements can take much time in coming and since many informers can change sides to lay a trap, operations should be planned well and with heavy armaments. Terrorists are now using the latest and sophisticated weapons supplied by Pakistan and can inflict heavy casualties on small teams, as the Handwara incident shows. Hence, the response of the security forces should not be found wanting. It is good to be successful in any operation, but the loss of too many officers and men can be demoralizing for the force.
