The repeated fatalities suffered by security personnel in terror attacks in the Jammu region have raised questions about the way counterterrorism operations are being carried out in the forested and hilly terrains. Lack of credible human intelligence and perceived deviance from the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of anti-terror operations are believed to be some of the reasons behind the heavy casualties among security personnel in the area.
Of the 119 security personnel who lost their lives in Jammu and Kashmir since 2021, 51 deaths occurred in the Jammu division. For the past two decades, the Jammu region, being relatively free of terror incidents, was thinly militarised compared to the Kashmir Valley. In fact, one of the army’s counterinsurgency units was shifted to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) following the border tensions with China since the summer of 2020.
A security officer, who has served in the area, claimed to INDIA TODAY that there is now immense focus on TECHINT (technical intelligence) instead of the time-tested human intelligence (HUMINT). The boots on the ground appear to be missing in the recent counterinsurgency operations, with security forces failing to gather intelligence or information about the movement and activities of terrorists hiding in the area. Intelligence agencies also realise that terror groups have advanced technologically, allowing them to evade the surveillance apparatus of security forces.
According to an assessment by central intelligence agencies, about 80 per cent of the intelligence inputs generated lately in J&K have been through TECHINT, such as mobile or landline phone call records, emails, satellite images, social media posts and Google locations. “Nowadays, a lot of time and money is being invested on TECHINT, including tracking mobile locations, intercepting chats and mapping locations. Human assets have always been the bedrock for counterterror operations and spycraft, but found missing in these recent operations,” explained an officer actively involved in counterterrorism operations, on condition of anonymity.
Recently, a top J&K police official claimed that militants were roping in surrendered terrorists as overground workers of terror outfits in a desperate effort to revive terrorism in the Jammu region.
It is estimated that close to 300 overground workers are active in J&K, their job being to provide logistical support, funds, accommodation and other facilities to terrorists. Often overground workers are deadlier than terrorists as they roam about freely without weapons, making them hard to detect for the security forces.
On the evening of July 15, while conducting search operations, based on specific intelligence, in the general area of north Doda, a team of the army and special operations group (SOG) of the J&K police had come under militants’ fire. “Contact with terrorists was establishedâæ heavy firefight ensued,” the army said in a statement. The clash claimed the lives of an army captain and three soldiers. Kashmir Tigers, a shadow group of the Pakistan-backed terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad, claimed responsibility for the strike.
Similarly, last year, during a search operation in neighbouring Rajouri district’s Kandi area, five para commandos were killed when militants triggered an IED in the dense forest area.
Military analysts believe forces suffering casualties during search operations reflects poorly on India’s counterterrorism capabilities since the Indian military is regarded as one of the best in the world in anti-terror operations.
What could be the reasons for such setbacks? “Besides intelligence failure, it seems we are somewhere not following the prescribed SOPs before launching a cordon and search operation (CASO). Besides, terrorists are getting support through overground workers,” said another security officer.
CASO is a military tactic used to hunt down militants or recover weapons in a specific area. It involves setting up a perimeter around the targeted area, with troops positioning themselves at key entry and exit points. The purpose is to isolate the targeted area and search every nook and cranny to neutralise all threats. CASO was discontinued in J&K in the early 2000s following stiff opposition from the local population. However, the army revived it in 2018.
Intelligence agencies are also apprehensive about the role Khalistan elements in the attempts to revive terrorism in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region, which shares a border with Punjab. It is suspected that militants active in Jammu get support from the Khalistan elements. Punjab has been witnessing incidents of drone-dropping of arms and weapons from Pakistan. There is high probability of some of these weapons being supplied to terror groups in the Jammu region.