Peace Formula : Turning South Kashmir Into Final Resting Ground For Terrorists Of All Hues
By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar, Veteran
Srinagar is the Capital of J&K state but the Centre of Gravity of the Kashmir Valley is located in South Kashmir which comprises just 7% of the area of Kashmir Valley but holds 23 % of the population. In fact a vast tract of South Kashmir is heavily forested and mountainous. Therefore it implies that the size of populated area is much less than 7% of the total land area, which means that all the towns and villages have very heavy concentration of population.
Apart from the heavy population, Shopian town is the nerve centre of the entire fruit business of Kashmir Valley, implying its own dynamics on Economic, Social and Political issues of the region.
Equally important is Pampore the Saffron hub. A new factor which has been added to the existing National Highway No1 coming from Udhampur is the Railways which originates near Quzigund area, just down the Banihal tunnel……i.e. the pathway to both Kashmir valley and Ladakh passes through South Kashmir.
Then comes the summer rush of tourists to Pahalgam and Lidder Valley with yet another major factor in the shape of the annual Amarnath Yatra. Even the source of the mighty Jhelum River is at Verinag located in South Kashmir.
Politically too, South Kashmir is equally important. All the top bosses of PDP, Congress and most of the other smaller parties belong to South Kashmir. Though the Abdullahs of National Conference belong to Ganderbal, other NC leaders are from South only.
Surprisingly top leadership of the indigenous Terrorist and Separatists groups like HM, Jaamat e Islam and others too belong to this area only. To name a few, Shabir Ahmad Shah is from Kadipora and Burhan wani was from Tral.
Interestingly the top controller of all the Pakistan Sponsored Terrorists operating in Kashmir Valley has the designation of Deputy Chief Supreme Commander South Kashmir.
Even from the Indian Army side, the mainstay of Anti-terrorist and anti-insurgency, the Rashtriya Rifles have one HQ bang in the area….. Victor Force in Awantipore and the other one just bordering it……Kilo Force.
So it is very evident that to take control of Kashmir Valley, one must take control of South Kashmir or the other way round, whoever controls South Kashmir will always be able to control rest of Kashmir.
Therefore every one from Pakistan to Terrorists, Separatists, Political Parties, NGOs….. State Police, State Govt, Central Security Forces, Indian Army and the Central Govt all perforce have to concentrate on South Kashmir.
All this was very well understood by Major General R S Jamwal, the GOC of Victor Force. He had the entire area in firm grip, after all he had been born and brought up in the Valley. If only the valley had more of such people.
The life at Victor Force had been fun because the work load had been taken up by a very efficient GSO2 of mine, Major R A Khan and of Course Col Raymond Naronnah (later Lt Gen) the Col GS was always there.
The youngsters too in the HQ were a super lot. Apart from my coursemates including M Y Stalin there was a senior friend from Sri Lanka days Col B K Chaturvedi. However at times I too made my contribution in the form of Intelligence analysis.
An Intelligence analysis at VICTOR FORCE for a period of then 10 YEARS had shown that every year around 500 terrorists were entering South Kashmir and the same number were being dispatched to hell. It meant that Victor Force was doing its duty efficiently.
The overall analysis had been appreciated by General J S Lidder, the GOC but his deputy Brigadier Kaushal Yadav liked it better when I showed a slide which clearly came out with figures that whenever the GOC was on leave, we had more”kills” achieved by the Force!!!
Similarly one day, we had a conversation intercept giving out the details of monthly FUNDS distribution to the terrorist outfits, starting from Deputy Chief Supreme Commander (DCSC) down to the lowest Section Commander. Equating the DCSC with the GOC, I quickly made a table down to our section Commander. Then gave out the fund distribution on either side. Our side had NIL funds for intelligence work till Company Commander level.
Then some amount at battalion level, a slightly bigger one at Brigade level and then a bit more at Victor Force level. The opposite side had funds right from top to bottom and DCSC had 20 times more fund than the GOC. Then I wrote a remark …. How the he’ll are we expected to Win this war!!! and sent it to the GOC.
A few days later, the Army Commander was to visit the Force HQ. When the briefing was being prepared, suddenly the GOC asked me to make a slide of tha”Fund distribution”.
When the briefing of Army Commander was over, then the GOC asked for the final slide to be flashed. General RK Nanavatty, the Northern Army Commander had a look but said nothing.
He took a step to leave along with the Corps Commander, then suddenly turned back, walked down to me to shake hands and say bye and then added send a copy of that slide to me.
Soon I had to tell every one that I was the Staff Officer or rather the Chief of Staff as my Commander in Ad Hoc HQ SF used to introduce me to visiting Generals in Sri Lanka. The Commander was none other than RK Nanavatty.
Siachen : A rare picture of General Nanavatty Lt Col Arvind Sinha briefing Dr Raja Rammana, Rajya Raksha Mantri with Brig R K Nanavatty, Commander Siachen Brigade (bag slung on shoulder). (A decade and half later Dr. Arvind Sinha was the Director of Engineering Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) Helicopter Systems Division Australian Department of Defense)
Another rare front picture of the General
To everyone’s surprise soon more than adequate funds for intelligence gathering began to be released to Victor Force on monthly basis and even some additional on demand.
Recent days have seen a number of attacks and killings in North Kashmir. This shows the desperation of both the terrorist groups and the Separatist groups to do something to drive deep fear into the hapless civil population of Kashmir.
This is likely to sharpen the focus of chair borne counterinsurgency tacticians sitting in AC offices and homes, News and TV media Editors, Human Rights activists, NGOs and politicians of various varieties on to this area. That is only natural as vultures always head for the carrion and Pakis will definitely like it this way.
Then without batting an eye lid the overall verdict will be that Govts entire focus must shift on to North Kashmir as soon as possible. However, it would be a grave mistake to sharpen focus so intensely on Northern part of the of the Valley as to ignore South Kashmir.
According to the local population and own civil and military intelligence, scores of foreign militants are now hiding in north Kashmir area of Sonawari-Safapora belt and have even indulged in some violence in recent weeks.
An even larger number could be hiding in the forested hills that stretch from Handwara to Baramulla, not far from the Line of Control but this is pure conjecture.
Most of these suspected terrorists are said to be foreign militants who have infiltrated not now but over the past years through routes across the Shamsabari range and right across the Kupwara district.
This summer they have again begun trying infiltration in large numbers but have been generally hunted down right on the LC fence. Though it is possible that a few may be getting through.
Similarly, the forests around the Bandipora region are likely to be home to a few more foreign militants.
There are also reports that infiltrations have taken place from the Dras area and into the Valley through Gurez. Then another centre is Sopore. which has been the epicentre of insurgency for decades. In early 90’s Militants roamed freely and even army convoys took detours to avoid the town.
The concentration of attacks and encounters in North Kashmir is designed to give the terrorists in the South a chance to take firm roots again and prepare for future action. The foreign infiltrators are far better trained than the kashmiri terrorists who are generally trained locally.
The arms that these foreigners bring with them too are more sophisticated and lethal. Most of the local terrorists have armed themselves with rifles left over from the past and what they have been able to snatch from state police or Central Police personnel after an ambush.
The ISI is also leaving no stone unturned. The social media and the local whispering campaign is again spreading misinformation in the Valley by spreading rumours of a further increase in violence.
This is to just boost up the morale of the Separatists, who after the NIA raids know that their game is over. There are similar talk during the month of Ramzaan about heightened unrest after Eid and indeed after the hunting down of that killer terrorist Burhan Wani.
All such rumours if increased infiltration should be welcomed by the Indian Army because finally all the terrorists have to enter South Kashmir and as has been happening since raising of Victor Force, they will be promptly despatched to hell.
Once again, post Afghanistan, Victor Force is likely to become more active …..after all it still remains the final resting place. Men of Victor Force will hunt down the terrorists spilling through POK and at the same time our SF will strike at terrorist training bases, no matter wherever located from Gilgit to Gandhar.
I remember those days the Chief terrorist located in Kashmir with HQ in South Kashmir had a self styled or ISI conferred high sounding designation as Deputy Chief Supreme Commander. Now as per ARMY Press release a SF officer has been placed as the head of Victor Force. He will ensure that South Kashmir becomes the final resting place for terrorists of Pak, Afghan and any other variety.
(The Author had led the first SF detachment to be deployed in the Kashmir Valley in 1992 for OP RAKSHAK. Later he had served as General Staff Officer Grade1 INTELLIGENCE in HQ Victor Force which is responsible for South Kashmir.
