Is militancy making a comeback to Srinagar?

The killing of two paramilitary BSF jawans on the outskirts of Srinagar city on Wednesday(May 20) evening has come as a reminder from the militants that its presence has increased in the city, which was not long ago was considered as a zero-militancy zone.

The hit-and-run attack near Pandach came just a day after the top commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Junaid Sehrai, was killed in an intense gunfight with security forces in the congested Nawakadal area of old city Srinagar. In the Pandach attack, the militants also snatched two weapons of the slain soldiers.

Even as militants fired gunshots or lobbed grenades at some places, there was no major militant strike for over 18 months in Srinagar. The worry for the security agencies is that the latest two incidents occurred in the city at a time when militants are on the defensive in south Kashmir, where they have suffered heavy losses in recent months.

Immediately after the killing of Sehrai on Tuesday, J&K police chief Dilbagh Singh said that he was tasked to lure local youth into militancy and for grenade throwing in Srinagar. “He would hold meetings with the youth (in Srinagar) and lure them towards militancy,” he said in a presser.

Though the police chief evaded a direct answer when asked about the number of active militants in the city, he said 14 are active after Sehrai’s death in the Central Kashmir districts of Srinagar, Budgam, and Ganderbal.

However, sources said, in the recent two years the Hizbul has covertly built a network of over-ground-workers (OGWs) in Srinagar through which they can carry attacks “at will.”

“The Pandach attack probably is also the handiwork of the OGW network. After becoming a militant in March 2018, Junaid Sehrai was tasked to revive militancy in Srinagar and neighbouring Ganderbal districts. To some extent he succeeded in his mission as several youths came under his influence,” they said.

The police categorise “anybody who supports the militants” as an OGW. A person providing a safe house, passage, information, or acting as a messenger for militants automatically comes under the radar of the police as an OGW.

Sources said the militants are trying to make new bases in Srinagar as they are on run from south Kashmir due to relentless operations by security forces. “Though people of Srinagar were not interested in providing logistic support to militancy for the long years, there has been marginal recruitment of militants after August 2019. The militant handlers are trying to encash palpable scepticism, pessimism, and cynicism in the air after the abrogation of Article 370,” they said.

A senior police officer involved in counter-insurgency operations told DH that to keep the ‘waning’ morale of militants high, Pandach-like attacks may happen in the city. “Militants are of asymmetrical techniques like hit-and-run as a reaction to a major crackdown on them. The militant handlers want to keep the city on the boil. However, we will thwart all their attempts,” he asserted.