Khushi Maheshwari, Pune
Bloodstreams stain the valley of Jammu & Kashmir yet again as three officers – The Deputy Superintendent of the Jammu and Kashmir Police Humayun Bhat, Colonel Manpreet Singh, and Major Ashish Dhonchak were killed in an encounter by militants in the Anantnag district of J&K.
The three officers were part of a cohesive unit composed of both army officers and police personnel to tackle militants in an operation that kicked off on Tuesday. They camouflaged themselves behind dense foliage at the Gadool hamlet of the Kokernag area in the district while standing at the vantage points to seek cover. Still, they were caught between a barrage of bullets fired by the terrorists and consequently lost their lives.
On the same day, the security forces retained quite a large amount of warlike stores along with medicines having Pakistan markings. On Tuesday, just as the operation commenced, two militants were tailed behind and killed by the forces.
The Anantnag attack has been viewed as an organized ambush executed by the terrorists since the defense forces were guarding the area after being tipped off. In August, a similar incident occurred when militants ambushed security forces in a treacherous area of Kulgam and took the lives of 3 army men.
The Pir Panjal Valley has seen a surge in instances of militancy ever since the terrorists have started entering the borders via roadways from Nepal and Punjab leading the Army to be aware of the new strategies adopted by these militants.
Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi is of the view that by releasing intruders into the region Pakistan wants to hinder the growth in travel and tourism that Kashmir has observed this year with 1.88 crore tourists visiting the region and, in turn, disrupt the peaceful environment of the valley.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, National Conference President Farooq Abdullah urged for a dialogue between India and Pakistan in order for the bloodshed to stop. Drawing a parallel between the war in Ukraine and the state of perpetual violence between India and Pakistan over the years, he strongly expressed that no amount of violence is going to dissolve the bone of contention between any of these nations and for decisively resolving their issues they need to talk to each other.