Anantnag encounter casts shadow over J&K civic elections

The ongoing encounter between security forces and suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists at Anantnag may have come as a setback in the run up to the panchayat and urban local body elections likely to be scheduled in October-November, vitiating the atmosphere for polls to the grassroots tier of government in Jammu and Kashmir, officials aware of the matter said, a day after two decorated army officers (including a commanding officer) and a deputy superintendent of police were killed in the gunfight.

This is the second major terror attack on security forces in south Kashmir in weeks; three soldiers of the 34 Rashtriya Rifles were killed in an ambush by terrorists in the Halan forest of Kulgam on August 4, triggering concerns about a possible deterioration in the security situation ahead of the process to elect grassroot leadership (around 30,000 representatives), the officials said, asking not to be named. The terrorists behind the Kulgam attack are still at large.

Some officials, however, were of the view that conducting the elections would not be a major challenge for the administration as polls have been held in J&K during peak terrorism in the past.

Both attacks took place at a time when calm was returning to the Valley and the upcoming polls were expected to be smooth, the officials said.  

“The two attacks are a chilling reminder that the threat of terrorism persists in Kashmir and the security forces need to keep their guard up,” said one of the officials cited above.

In July, state election commissioner BR Sharma told reporters that panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir should be held in October-November this year as the term of the existing panchayat ends on January 9, 2024. He also said that exercises such as the revision of electoral rolls will be taken up shortly for the elections for around 33,700 elected panchayat seats, including around 4000 sarpanches or village chiefs. Since the effective abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the state in 2019,    the region has held polls to the District Development Council.

 The security situation in the Jammu region has also taken a hit due to a raft of terror attacks, again raising concerns about the possible impact on panchayat and urban local body elections.

Five soldiers were killed and an officer wounded in a terror ambush in Rajouri’s Kandi forest area in May, with the attack suspected to have been carried out by the same group of terrorists who ambushed an army truck and killed five soldiers in Poonch in April. More terror-related incidents have taken place after the two attacks, including the latest one in Rajouri.  The army has lost 25 soldiers in this forested region near the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, the officials said.  “Pakistan has been focusing on the Jammu region, especially Rajouri and Poonch, for the last two years because the terrain and the location of the LoC suit them for (aiding) infiltration,” said J&K’s former DGP  SP Vaid.

To be sure, the restoration of ceasefire in February 2021 between Indian and Pakistani militaries along the LoC in J&K has held well and led to a drop in infiltration by terrorists (at least until a few months ago).

J&K director general of police Dilbag Singh earlier said in Sopore that the region was becoming terror-free and the focus would now be on cracking down on drug smuggling. He added that the number of active terrorists was at an all-time low and the scourge was on the verge of being wiped out. “We will make efforts to finish off the remaining terrorists,” he recently said.   According to him, nine to 12 foreign terrorists are still active in Rajouri and Poonch districts. They keep shuffling between Kulgam-Shopian and Rajouri-Poonch, he said.

This year, security forces killed 46 terrorists out of whom 37 were foreign terrorists, according to official data.