Army Chief Gen. Manoj Pande Visit Poonch-Rajouri; Reviews Security Situation

Srinagar: Amid reports that the Centre is worried over the resurgence of militancy and increased terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch-Rajouri districts, the Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Monday visited the sensitive border belt to take a first-hand assessment of the situation.  

A defence spokesman in Jammu said that Gen. Pande was briefed by the local Army commanders on the ongoing joint operation against the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants involved in Thursday’s terror attack in Poonch’s Dera ki Gali area. Naiks Birender Singh and Karan Kumar and Rifleman Gautam Kumar and Chandan Kumar fell in the line of duty and three other jawans of the 48 Rashtriya Rifles were critically injured in a sneak attack on two vehicles – a Maruti Gypsy and a 1-ton tuck.

The Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADGPI) of the Indian Army said in a post on ‘X’, “General Manoj Pande #COAS visited #Poonch sector and was given an update on the prevalent security situation. #COAS interacted with commanders on ground, exhorted them to conduct the operations in the most professional manner and remain resolute & steadfast against all challenges”.

After visiting Dera ki Gali to review the anti-terrorism operations underway in the Surankote-Thanamandi belt, the Army chief flew to the 25 Infantry division headquarters in Rajouri where he was briefed by the commanders on the ground about the overall security situation, the Jammu-based defence spokesman said.

Massive counterinsurgency operations are underway in the twin districts bordering the Line of Control (LoC) following Thursday’s deadly attack. Several senior Army commanders and officers of the J&K police, the CRPF and other Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) are camping in the region to oversee these operations.

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, General Officer Commanding of the Jammu-based White Knight Corps or 16 Army Corps, Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain, J&K Police Director General Rashmi Rajan Swain and ADGP (law and order) Vijay Kumar too have visited the twin districts during the past five days “to supervise the anti-terrorist operation and maintain law and order”.

On Monday, additional security personnel were deployed at Bafliaz, Dera ki Gali, Surankote, Thanamandi and other areas of Poonch and Rajouri to supplement the ongoing operations which include increased aerial surveillance and intensified ground combing operations, especially in the forest belt of Dera Ki Gali and Bafliaz, and maintain law and order as the tempers in the civilian populations are running high, the reports said. “General Pande’s visit was also aimed to boost the morale of the security forces deployed in the counterinsurgency operations”, an official said.

The visit came also amid the widespread public outrage over the killing of three residents of Poonch’s Topa Pir village, allegedly due to torture in the Army custody. The slain were among more than a dozen civilians detained by the Army for questioning in connection with the terror attack. Ten others who were also subjected to violence in the Army custody are receiving treatment in two different Poonch hospitals. The officials have claimed that their condition is stable.

Facing severe criticism by opposition political parties and human rights groups and the region witnessing series of protests over the custodial deaths, the Army on Sunday removed four of its officers including Brigadier Padam Acharya, Brigade Commander of the Rashtriya Rifles, and attached for a Staff Court of Inquiry. The Army had earlier said that ‘internal inquiry’ has been ordered into the incident.

The J&K government had at the weekend said that “legal action” in this matter has been initiated by the appropriate authority. It also announced compensation for each of the deceased and compassionate appointments to the next of their kin. The Army pledged “full support and cooperation” in the investigation.

On Saturday, a couple of videos showing some army personnel beating up civilians with canes, stripping some of them and even pouring chilli powder over their whipped buttocks went viral. Sidiq Muhammad, the head of village Topa Pir, has said that the videos are “authentic” and that the deceased Safeer Hussain (43), Mohammad Showket (27) and Shabir Ahmad (32) are among those who are seen in one of these being given severe beating by the uniformed men. The entire Surankote-Thanamandi belt has a dominant Muslim Gujjar population who, Muhammad said, have always stood with the Indian Army and, therefore, “everyone is shocked how they can do this to us.” He said that they now want justice and have been assured by senior Army, police and civil administration that it will be delivered.

As these videos have added fuel to public anger and caused embarrassment for the government, the police are, after registering a formal FIR, investigating apart the circumstances leading to the death of the three civilians also as to who captured these videos and how these appeared on social media platforms. After these videos went viral, the authorities snapped mobile internet services in the entire Poonch-Rajouri region early Saturday. They called it a “precautionary measure” taken “to check rumour mongering and prevent miscreants from creating any law-and-order problem”.