J&K: Sopore: Ascendant Terror

On May 25, terrorists shot dead an employee of a Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) franchisee, identified as Mohammad Rafiq Dar, and injured two others at Shah Fasil Market in Sopore town.

On May 23, two grenades were hurled at a residence in Sopore where a mobile transmission tower was installed, but they failed to explode.

The recent attacks on people associated with telecommunication have come after the terrorists' hitech communication equipment installed atop a tower of an unidentified cellular company was seized by Police on May 23, 2015, in Sopore. "The equipment was used by militants for smooth communication process without detection by security agencies," Police sources disclosed, adding that the militants suspected that their communication equipment had been handed over to the Police by the people associated with telecom companies in Sopore town.

Earlier, on May 1, 2015, two terrorists had barged into an Airtel show room at General Bus Stand in Sopore and had 'questioned' the staff there about their missing communication equipments. The same group of terrorists then went to a Vodafone office at the Water Tank area and subsequently to the Aircel office at Main Chowk with the same query. They threatened the employees at all the three places. Sources indicated that the terrorists might have installed some communication device which would have boosted their internet facilities, as they no longer use cell phones for communication, after reports emerged that terrorists were being traced through cellular channels. An intelligence officer noted, "Militants hardly use radios or cell phones these days. Communication is happening on Voice over Internet Protocol. That needs faster speed and they may have installed these devices to raise the internet speed".

According to the Police, there are 37 mobile towers under their Sopore jurisdiction. Aircel has 12 towers, followed by Airtel (11), Reliance (5), Vodafone (4), Tata Indicom and Idea (2 each) and one tower of the Government-owned BSNL.

Meanwhile, posters of a hitherto unknown terrorist outfit, Lashkar-e-Islam, have been appearing in Sopore town since May 15, 2015, threatening people associated with telecom companies to stop working or be ready to face consequences. Sopore Superintendent of Police (SP) Abdul Qayoom stated, "Although the Police are investigating Lashkar-e-Islam and its motive, what we can say is it could be a shadow group of Lashkar-e-Taiba or even Hizb-ul-Mujahideen," adding, "Cell phones have become a major source of information about the whereabouts of the militants, and this seems to be the reason why the outfit is trying to forcibly close down the operation of mobile phones in Sopore in particular and other parts of north Kashmir as well."

General Officer Commanding 15 Chinar Corps, Lieutenant General Subrata Saha, observed that the singling out of the telecom sector in Sopore brings a new focus to the fight against terror in the Valley: "This group (Lashkar-e-Islam) has been criticized by all. We're analyzing it as a new threat and I am sure we will expose this unheard of group."

All major cellular companies operating in Kashmir have shut shop in Sopore. Surprisingly, none of the cellular companies had registered any complaint against the unidentified gunmen, whom they described as 'militants'. Nevertheless, Police took cognisance of the matter and started investigations. An FIR has been registered for the attacks but no arrests have been made so far.

Terrorists have succeeded in disrupting the entire mobile communication system not only in Sopore, but across the entire Baramulla District. Indeed, on May 27, 2015, one person, identified as Imtiyaz Ahmad, a resident of Aram Mohalla of the Pattan area of Baramulla District, was fired upon and injured by unknown assailants near his home. Ahmad has two mobile phone transmission towers installed at his house.

It is far from coincidental that the epicenter of the new threat is Sopore. Sopore has been a terror stronghold for decades. The town has a vast hinterland that provides hideouts to the terrorists after they strike terror and the easiest points of infiltration into the Kashmir Valley from across the Line of Control (LoC) are to be found in the Tithwal/Tangdhar sector, which lies in the backyard of Sopore town.

Ever since armed conflict began in the Valley, separatist sentiments have run deep in Sopore. When the insurgency broke out in late 1988, Sopore became a hotbed of separatist activity; its geographical location, centered in the midst of north Kashmir, which shares a border with Pakistan, contributed directly to its prominence in the 'troubles'. According to a report published in April 2013, the Police believe that the conspiracy for most of the attacks across J&K, is hatched in Sopore, because the terrorists receive enormous logistic support locally. Sopore is also the home town of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, leader of the separatist All Party Hurriyat Conference-Geelani (APHC-G).

The terrorist writ ran over a wide area centered around Sopore for a long time. Terrorism survived and even thrived here, despite a continuous campaign by SFs to root it out. Indeed, according to partial data collated by Institute for Conflict Management, since, 2001 a total of 208 fatalities, including 57 civilians, 52 SF personnel and 99 terrorists, have been recorded in the Sopore area of Baramulla District. During the same period, fatalities in the entire Baramulla District stood at 724 - including 130 civilians, 144 SF personnel and 450 terrorists.

Sopore had also emerged as one of the epicenters of the orchestrated rage of the stone pelting campaigns of 2010, along with Baramulla and Srinagar. Though the escalation started in Srinagar in the last week of June 2010, it progressively swelled, with a large number of demonstrations erupting in Sopore.

Indeed, much before the street protests began in June 2010, then J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had noted, on March 2, 2010, "Militants are grouping in the Sopore area and Kulgam District. These areas are a challenge for us on the militancy front. We are taking extra measures to deal with the militants there."

The Pakistan-backed Islamist extremist-terrorist networks in Sopore have demonstrated their surviving capacities by forcing the disruption of the telecommunication network in Baramulla through acts of targeted violence. Sopore remains a persistent pool of subversion and unrest in a Kashmir that is increasingly rejecting violence. A focused strategy to neutralize the remaining extremist-terrorist strongholds in J&K is now necessary if the trends towards a growing peace are to be permanently consolidated.