Newsletter 12 April

April 12, 2021
 Team

Top 10s of the Week

  1. China refuses to disengage at Gogra, Hot Springs in eastern Ladakh
  2. US Navy conducted an exercise in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone
  3. Turkey, India look to revitalize ties after Kashmir low as the US changes Afghan strategy
  4. Bastar Naxals attack: Naxals released the soldier from their captivity
  5. US govt issues notification for sale of F-16s to Pakistan
  6. Supreme Court rejected the plea to stall the deportation of Rohingyas from Jammu
  7. Iran’s Chabahar port likely ready by May as India speeds up work: US report
  8. India and Vietnam hold maritime security dialogue
  9. RBI Governor Das: Covid surge, lockdowns can hit demand, delay normalcy
  10. Pakistan, Russia agree to boost defense ties

No breakthrough in India-China military dialogue on disengagement in eastern Ladakh

There was no breakthrough yet again in the marathon 11th round corps commander-level talks, lost in 13 hrs, between India and China on Fri, with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) went unfruitful because PLA digging in its heels on even completing the stalled troop disengagement process at Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh as a step towards the proposed de-escalation along the frontier.

Point to Note:

  • No joint press release issued this time, like the previous one
  • The long-awaited talk held after 50 days of the last one, was not even confirmed at the last moment from Beijing.
  • While the Indian side insisted on complete disengagement for complete de-escalation, but PLA refuged on it.
  • The statement issued on both sides separately underscored the ‘peace’ on LAC.

 “The two sides agreed on the need to resolve the outstanding issues expeditiously following the existing agreements and protocols…,” Indian army spokesperson Colonel Aman Anand said on Sat.

In a press release by the PLA spokesperson said, “India should cherish the de-escalation and cooling in the border area, in an apparent reference to the disengagement of troops from the most contentious area (for Whom! Of course, not for India?) of the Pangong Lake in Feb”.

What is Ground Picture as per Media

However, sources said, “no action plan could be finalized”. “PLA did not agree to troop pullback from the friction sites at patrolling points (PPs) 15, 17, and 17A in the Hot Springs-Gogra-Kongka La area, where it is also maintaining considerable strength in the rear areas. De-escalation at Depsang is nowhere on the horizon”.

  • China remains deployed in significant strength at Gogra, Hot Springs, and Kongka La areas, with a large PLA logistics facility from a motorized infantry division, an artillery brigade, and air-defense unit also remain deployed in the area.
  • Almost a year after China’s furtive land grabs, Indian and Chinese forces remain locked in multiple standoffs.
  • Despite the shattered peace, India’s defense ministry says it has agreed with China to “jointly maintain peace in the border areas.”
  • China’s inflexibility hasn’t been unexpected – the Indian Army has accounted well for China’s unpredictable posture at the talks- but the apparent duplicity in agreeing that disengagement is the way forward while not agreeing to do it has posed a fresh challenge to forward movement.

Background

  • The India-China standoff in Ladakh, which began in April 2020 with the PLA incursions along the LAC, has nearly completed a year. The Ladakh winter has receded, bringing curtains down on the first-ever instance of forwarding deployment by India and China through the region’s bitter cold season, and disengagement has been achieved at two friction points, including Pangong Tso.
  • However, the PLA’s continued deployment within the Indian perception of the LAC at other standoff sites — the Depsang Plains, Demchok, Gogra, and Hot Spring — continues to remain a matter of huge concern for New Delhi.
  • The last corps commander 16-hour talks were held on Feb 20th, the two sides agreed to broader parameters for further disengagement in Ladakh. The teams were supposed to meet again shortly after discussing the developments with their respective higher authorities.
  • While India and China agreed to pull back troops from the southern banks, many in the establishment felt that India should not give away its bargaining chip — Kailash Range — which it occupied last Aug in a late-night operation that caught the Chinese by surprise.
  • However, the advisory group of the Indian establishment, ‘China Studies Group’ were of opinion that more ‘cards’ will be needed to bargain on remaining disputed points, and merely capturing the heights are not enough.
  • Among the areas where the standoff continues, the two sides had agreed to de-escalation and disengagement from Gogra and Hot Springs in July last year but this was never implemented in full.
  • There are also legacy issues in Depsang Plains and Demchok, where the tensions date back to 2013, much before April 2020.

Besides Diplomacy:

Indian Army strengthens mountain strikes corps looking after China border

Further strengthening its deployments along the Northern borders, the Indian Army is adding around 10K more troops to its only mountain strike corps responsible for looking after offensive operations along the Eastern sector has now been assigned to the 17 Mountain Strike Corps headquartered in West Bengal’s Panagarh, ANI reported.

Go Deeper

Gogra or Patrolling Point (PP)-15): The Chinese intrusion in Gogra took place in May last year after the PLA violated the LAC at Pangong Tso and tensions emerged in the Galwan Valley. While the Indians used to patrol up to PP-15, the Chinese moved a platoon of soldiers 3 km inside the Indian perception of the LAC.

  • Simultaneously, they maintained considerable strength on their side of the LAC, providing a strong back-up to the soldiers who transgressed the LAC inside the Indian Territory. Therefore, the latter had to maintain mirror deployments from their side of LAC.
  • Following the disengagement agreement reached in the wake of the 15 June 2020 Galwan Valley clash, the Chinese were supposed to move back to their side of the LAC but moved limited.

Hot Springs: Just like in PP-15, the Chinese came within the Indian perception of the LAC here, blocking PP-17 and PP-17A in the larger Hot Springs area. In July, the Chinese had agreed to pull back from this area, but again did not fully implement.

  • In the wake of the second round of talks, the only location where the Chinese completely implemented their disengagement commitments was in Galwan Valley and that is mostly because of bitter weather conditions.

Depsang Plains: Depsang Plains, which comes under Sub-Sector North, is a key area that has witnessed Chinese strong-arm tactics and is associated with wider strategic ramifications than Gogra and Hot Springs.

  • The tensions at Depsang Plains can be traced to 2013 when the PLA carried out an 18-km incursion into the area, which is close to the strategic Daulat Beg Oldi base. Tensions here escalated during the 2017 Doklam standoff and as per ThePrint, the issue in Depsang Plains relates to China blocking Indian patrol parties from accessing 5 PPs — 10, 11, 11A, 12, and 13.
  • To reach these points, Indian patrol personnel have to walk through an area referred to as “bottleneck”, which is too narrow for vehicles.
  • Less than a km after the bottleneck is an area called ‘Y’ junction, which has two routes — one going to PP 10, 11, 11A, and 12, and the other directly to PP 13.
  • The Chinese have set up cameras in this area and block Indian patrols with the vehicles they drive in from their side. There have been claims that the Chinese have also pitched tents on the Indian side, but the Army denies it.

Demchok: The area has always seen face-offs because the perception of the LAC differs vastly on both sides. The Chinese have, in the past, objected to activities of Indian herders accessing local grasslands, claiming it was their territory. The Chinese have over the years built permanent facilities for soldiers in areas India sees as its territory.

What to See

“Having squandered its leverage by vacating Kailash Heights, India comes a cropper. China has used never-ending talks to consolidate the gains of its aggression. It refuses to pull back from Depsang, Hot Springs, Gogra, and Demchok or return to pre-April 2020 positions in Galwan. In the talks, China has been taking India round and round the mulberry bush. While fortifying the territorial gains of its April 2020 stealth aggression, the PLA cheekily tells India to “cherish the positive trend of de-escalation … and work with China to safeguard peace…” Brahma Chellaney

US Navy conducted the exercise in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone

The US Navy’s 7th Fleet conducted what it calls a Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) drill through India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on Apr 7th. A ‘strong’ and ‘unusually’ worded release from the Fleet HQ in Yokosuka, Japan, said that the destroyer USS John Paul Jones asserted ‘navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands, inside India’s EEZ or continental shelf’ without requiring India’s prior consent, consistent with international law.

Why is the News

While the US press release said, “India’s demand for prior consent for military exercises or maneuvers in its EEZ was a claim inconsistent with international law.”

The ministry of external affairs (MEA), said that India’s stated its position on the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea) is that ‘the Convention does not authorize other States to carry out in the Exclusive Economic Zone and on the continental shelf military exercises or maneuvers, in particular those involving explosives, without the consent of the coastal state.

The MEA responded on April 9th, and said it had ‘conveyed its concerns regarding this passage through our EEZ to the Govt of the USA through diplomatic channels.’

The warship was ‘continuously monitored transiting from the Persian Gulf towards the Malacca Straits’.

Background

The US has used FONOPs over the past four decades as a way of asserting its right to sail through the EEZ of several coastal countries but its explicitly worded statement issued by the Fleet has caused dismay in New Delhi.

  • While attention has been focused on the FONOPs that the US has used to challenge China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea, what has gone unnoticed is a deliberate US policy to simultaneously conduct operational assertions through the EEZ of even close allies like Australia, Japan, and South Korea.
  • A study of the annual statements between 1992 and 2021 placed before the US Senate by the Department of Defense reveals only 10 occasions over the last 30 years that the US has not conducted ‘operational assertions’ through India’s EEZ.
  • In the last such drill, in 2019, India was among 21 other countries, including Taiwan, through whose territorial waters the US sailed its warships.
  • The US Department of Defense identifies “excessive maritime claims” by coastal countries to unlawfully restrict the freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the sea as reasons for its FONOP drills.
  • UNCLOS, which came into effect in 1994, recognizes the rights of coastal nations to exploit the resources of a 200 nautical mile belt of coastline outside their territorial waters.
  • The US is yet to ratify it as 168 other countries have, because of Section XI of UNCLOS which governs the mining of deep seabed resources.
  • In 2010, India had petitioned the UNCLOS, asking for its EEZ to be extended from 200 nautical miles to 350 nautical miles, which would greatly increase the area for the exploitation of natural resources. This proposal has yet to be accepted.
  • Interestingly, the USS John Paul Jones,which left the Persian Gulf, also carried out a FONOP drill through the territorial waters of the Maldives.
  • The US issued a similar statement on the FONOPs through the Maldivian EEZ. The US and the Maldives signed their first framework agreement last Sept.
  • Earlier, in 2012, the US had proposed a Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, with the Maldives, which was a precursor to the US stationing its forces on Maldivian
  • New Delhi was then not in favor of the agreement and it died a quiet death but is believed to now favor closer
  • ties between the US and Maldives to checkmate China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean region.
  • “The irony is that the Chinese, who are signatories to UNCLOS, violate it all the time, and the Americans, who have signed it but never ratified it, expect everyone else to stick to it,” says Rear Admiral Sudarshan Shrikhande, former ACNS Foreign Cooperation, and Naval Intelligence.

What to Watch

It is this change that India will likely have to figure out in the days ahead.

…Could it be, for instance, a way of telling the Chinese that FONOPs are not China-specific but a principle that the US follows across the world, even with strategic partners?

How Indian Media Reported

US Navy sails in Indian Exclusive Economic Zone; asserts it is right, India’s claim wrong-The Tribune

US Navy Holds Op Inside India’s Exclusive Economic Zone “Without Consent”-NDTV

US Navy conducts exercise in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone- The Hindu

Turkey, India look to revitalize ties after Kashmir low as the US changes Afghan strategy

What Happened

The Turkish foreign ministry issued a statement on Sun, condemning the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh in which 22 Indian security personnel were killed. “We are saddened to learn that many Indian security personnel was killed and many left injured after a terrorist act targeting security forces in the state of Chhattisgarh in India,” the statement said.

Behind the News

  • India and Turkey are beginning to look at revitalizing bilateral ties even as Ankara is all set to play a key role in the Afghan peace talks under the Joe Biden administration.
  • The downswing in bilateral ties between India and Turkey first began when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the Modi government’s Article 370 move and urged New Delhi to resolve tensions with Pakistan through dialogue and not through “collision”.
  • While this is not the first time that Turkey has issued statements expressing concerns for mishaps in India, Sunday’s condemnation assumes critical because this time Ankara has commented on an issue that concerns India’s domestic security concerns.
  • Turkey had earlier extended its sympathies during the Uttarakhand glacier burst incident in Feb, the Kozhikode plane crash in August 2020.
  • on March 29th External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the ‘Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process’ ministerial conference at Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in which both sides vowed to “improve” their relations with a focus on economy and trade.

Dig Deeper

When ties hit nadir between New Delhi, Ankara

  • After criticism of Erdogan, Prime Minister Modi canceled his trip to Turkey in 2019 as tensions between both countries started to soar.
  • Also, in Feb 2020, during his visit to Pakistan, Erdogan had stated that Ankara will support Islamabad on the Kashmir issue and likened the situation of Kashmiris with that of his country during World War I.
  • After the Pulwama attacks in Feb 2019 and the subsequent airstrikes by India in terror camps in Pakistan, Ankara has tried many times to play the mediator between both sides.
  • Bhadrakumar, a veteran diplomat and India’s former Ambassador to Turkey explained that India needs to revive its ties with Turkey keeping in mind “China’s role there”.
  • It is business as usual between Ankara and Beijing despite tensions concerning the Uyghurs’ issue between the two.
  • Turkey has signed a massive loan deal with China when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was on a visit there last month.

Turkey’s role in Afghan peace talks

  • Turkey is now expected to play a significant role in the Afghan peace talks as the US is once again looking to leverage Ankara’s role due to its deep networks with Taliban leaders.
  • Besides, Biden is also looking to enhance Turkey’s role as it continues to be a key NATO ally.
  • In his proposal to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on the peace talks and US’ withdrawal of troops from that war-torn country, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken had suggested that Turkey host a senior-level meeting to finalize the peace agreement with the Taliban as well as their negotiations with the Afghan Govt.
  • Subsequently, Turkey had announced that it will host the meeting in April even as it will appoint an envoy for this purpose.

The Afghan peace process has only provided new rigor and energy into the conflict. Although India’s entry into the Afghanistan great game has provided huge leverage for the Indian security and diplomatic community, India cannot risk turning a blind eye towards the inflow of ideas and tactics from Afghanistan and must be equipped to deter and counter these new tactics, said AG Shivamurthy.

BASTAR ATTACK: what happened so far?

Bastar Police Chief Said ‘No, our forces weren’t lured into a trap’

Naxals released the soldier from their captivity

CoBRA jawan Rakeshwar Singh Manhas who was kidnapped by the Naxals during the Bijapur attack on Apr 3, has been released by them, the director-general of the CRPF has confirmed.

According to the initial input, the CoBRA jawan was released in the presence of the two mediators appointed by the Govt — Padma Shri Dharmpal Saini and Gondwana Samaj head Telam Buraiya— and hundreds of villagers.

While some of the media said the above story but some sources said that a Naxal has been released against the jawan and the state govt misused the name of Saini.

However, other facts are also important

  • The family of Manahas along with some locals jam the national highway at Jammu on the day of release
  • He is not for the 1st time caught by Naxals
  • Phone call regarding his kidnapping came on 2 local journalists only who usually involved in publishing their stories.

Demand for negotiator

Naxals had on Tue, sent a 2-page letter to the CRPF confirming that the CRPF jawan was in their captivity and the letter said the CRPF jawan will be handed over only to the government-appointed mediator.

In the past, the Maoists have used hostage crisis to their advantage, often releasing the captive after negotiations, to show how kind they are.

Dig Deeper

Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached Chhattisgarh

On Mon in his first visit to Baster, to hold a high-level meeting in connection with the Maoist (Left Wing Extremism situation) attack in the state’s Bastar region that claimed the lives of 22 security personnel and 31 others injured in a gunfight, while one still in captivity, with Maoists between Jonaguda and Tekalguda villages along the border of Sukma and Bijapur districts on Sat.

Meeting

Shah along with CM Bhupesh Baghel, senior officials of the state police, and the Central Reserve Police Force will attend the meeting, on agenda as to how to deal with the situation, the official informed.

Shah will then leave for the Basaguda camp of the CRPF in Bijapur and will have an interaction with the CRPF and state police personnel there.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the CRPF chief’s statement that the operation was not an intel failure as around 30 Maoists were killed.

“If there was no intelligence failure then a 1:1 death ratio means it was a poorly designed and incompetently executed operation. Our Jawans are not cannon fodder to be martyred at will,” Rahul wrote on Twitter.

On Sat, a 600-member strong team of Maoists and their sympathizers — suspected to have been led by notorious Maoist commander Madvi Hidma —ambushed a security team, killing 22 security personnel in one of the worst attacks linked to Left-wing extremism.

Madvi Hidma: A most wanted least known is tribal and around 40 years old with 40 Lakh of bounty on his head. He is known for his lethal ambushes and leads a pack of 180 to 250 Maoist fighters.

He heads the ‘People’s Liberation Guerrilla Battalion number one and is also the youngest member of the CPI (Maoists) supreme 21-membered ‘central committee.’ A few unconfirmed reports suggest he has been appointed as chief of the central military commission. There are no recent pictures of Hidma available.

  • In April 2010, 76 CRPF personnel were killed in a similar ambush in Sukma’s Tadmetla.
  • In 2017, 25 police commandos were killed in an attack
  • In 2019, 16 commandos were also killed in the western state of Maharashtra in the lead-up to India’s election in 2019, in a bomb attack that was blamed on the Maoists.
  • In 2020, 17 police from a commando were killed in an attack by more than 300 armed rebels.
  • March 23, 2021- 5 soldiers were killed in an IED blast at Narayanpu

The militants — who say they are fighting for rural people and the poor — have battled Govt forces across eastern India since the 1960s. However, they never allowed any development of infrastructure in the area including schools, roads, etc. Thousands have been killed in the fighting.

Restoring faith, a tall order for the State

  • To win a battle, you need to know the adversary. It’s not a separatist movement, it doesn’t demand a different state.
  • Some veteran rebels still harbor the dreams of a revolution, but an overwhelmingly large number of Adivasi foot-soldiers take up rifles to save their ‘jal, jungle aur jameen’ (but from whom?). One can say that the Naxals ‘brainwash’ the Adivasis, but why can’t the State convince them that their rights will be duly protected? asked Ashutosh Bhardwaj, writer of ‘The Death Script’. However, he fails to mention how a state can talk to a man with firearms in hand.
  • Moreover, the Maoists who support the Naxals don’t reveal how can they obtain such sophisticated weapons?
  • And what is the harm if the system wants to create an interface between Adivasi and the world? Of course, two opinions could be possible on it, but no one can deny the dialogue, without any ‘middleman’.

Meanwhile in Pakistan:

US govt issues notification for sale of F-16s to Pakistan

The total cost of these F-16 is estimated to be nearly USD 700 million, said the federal notification. It added that the Government of Pakistan had requested this sale. Amidst stiff opposition from India and top American lawmakers, the US Govt has formally published federal notification for the sale of 8 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.

What the US is Saying

This proposed sale contributes to US foreign policy objectives and national security goals by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner in South Asia.“

India has ‘opposed the sale of F-16 to Pakistan’, saying it disagreed with Washington’s rationale that such arms transfers help to combat terrorism.

Republican Senator Rand Paul has asked colleagues in the Senate to join him in opposing the sale of F-16s to Pakistan.

What Pakistan is Saying

Pakistan Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told Defence Writers Group this week that Pakistan had initially requested 18 F-16s, but because of the “financing problem” it is purchasing just 8.

“In the last 5- years Pakistan air force has been saving US assistance to be able to finance these F-16. That is why the administration has recommended that these should be sold because it is a very critical part of our counter-terrorism operation (really?),” Aziz said.

When asked if this is to be used only in the tribal region, he did not rule out otherwise.

“This is part of our fleet. For the last two-three years they have extensively been used in tribal areas,” Aziz said.

“Right now the specialized need is the counter-terrorism operation, for which we are heavily dependent of F-16.” According to the notification published in the federal register, the proposed sale improves Pakistan’s capability to meet current and future security threats.

How India will See

This sale will increase the number of aircraft available to the Pakistan Air Force to sustain operations, which can of course be used against it. But the point to underline is, whatever phrase selection made to warn the Beijing, the Biden administration ‘apparently’ doing nothing which can affect the interest of former one. 

Pakistan, Russia agree to boost defense ties

Russian FM calls on PM, COAS; Lavrov, Qureshi discuss the Afghan peace process, Kashmir issue, trade potential, and IGC meeting in Moscow

What is News: Pakistan and Russia on Wed agreed to boost cooperation in diverse areas including defense and counter-terrorism, decided after the talks between the delegation-level talk headed by SM Qureshi from Pak side while Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov from their side, at the Foreign Office, Islamabad, besides, an in-depth discussion on the situation in war-torn Afghanistan, Dawn reported.

Driving the News: Washington wants to withdraw the troops from war-torn Afghanistan because it considers it as an avoidable burden and thus Moscow wants to sets its interest in the region, whereas Islamabad is a neighbor and Taliban Sympathizer and that’s why it is in the loop. Also, the financial condition of both countries is not very safe.

What They Have Said:

  • While speaking at a joint press conference, Lavrov said Russia was ready to build further counterterrorism potential through the provision of ‘military equipment to Pakistan. “This is in the interest of all states of the region”.
  • He expressed satisfaction over the 46% increase in bilateral trade but noted that there was a potential to increase and diversify it (Military equipment’s?).
  • Expressing concern over the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, Lavrov said Pakistan and Russia had agreed to facilitate the parties for an agreement to put an end to civil war in Afghanistan through an inclusive political dialogue. He said: “We have provided 50K doses of anti-Covid vaccine to Pakistan and intend to provide 150K more”.
  • Qureshi said the two sides had agreed to hold the intergovernmental commission (IGC) meeting this year in Moscow.
  • He added that Russia had acknowledged Pakistan’s ‘successful campaign against terrorism and extremism, while He didn’t forget to brief Lavrov about the current situation in India-held Kashmir (only to the media!).
  • Pakistan appreciated Russia’s efforts in promoting the Afghan peace process, including through the hosting of the recent meeting of the extended troika in Moscow.
  • The Russian foreign minister also met Pakistan’s military leadership during his visit to the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, where enhanced defense and security cooperation and regional security,
    • particularly the Afghan peace process, came under discussion.

    What to watch: How much Islamabad can invest in defense procurement while struggling with Financial Action Task Force and how Moscow will maintain its strategic relations with New Delhi?

Pak's treacherous plot: One Kashmiri made to kill another in Kashmir

Once paradise on earth, it lost to the staccato of gunfire, snuffing out innocent lives almost every second day. Over the years only graveyard breezes blow in the Valley of Kashmir. Murder tours region in different guises, masquerading as gun-toting ‘well wisher’ – armed by Pakistan – speaking the language of Jihad, Allah and fate rolled into one.

The harsh reality is that Azadi, which Kashmiris use to enjoy in pre 90’s era, has been snatched and their lives shackled by do’s and don’t death and destruction. Dance of death that started in the ’90s with the arrival of the first AK 47 from across the border continues.

Branding other as a collaborator, mukhbir (informer),  RSS henchman, sarkari aadmi is a ploy used by Pak-sponsored terrorists to justify their act of violence against fellow Kashmiri brethren and get away with murder and other heinous crimes. But one reality no one can deny: Pakistan is using one Kashmiri to kill another Kashmiri in Kashmir. 

Killing their own

  • Last Friday, the victim was Mohammad Saleem, a Territorial Army man,  who had come on leave to his native place Jablipora in Bijbehara to spend few days with his parents.
  • Scores of incidents have been reported so far, where the victims and assailants were local Kashmiris.
  • Father’s unending search for son’s body of his 24-year-old son, Shakir Manzoor, a soldier in TA, who was abducted and later killed by terrorists
  • It was last year, on Aug 9, Shakir Manzoor, after celebrating Eid with family was returning to his unit, when terrorists en route intercepted his car. At gunpoint, they took Shakir to a nearby village while his car was set ablaze.
  • One of the terrorists identified as Abu Talha later in a purported audio message claimed responsibility for Shakir’s abduction and killing.

Kashmiris targetted for ensuring peace and prosperity in Kashmir

In June 2019, a local army soldier, Manzoor Ahmad Beigh was shot dead by the local terrorists at his residence in Sadoora, Anantnag.

In May 2017, Lt Umar Fayaz, a 22-year-old army officer from the Shopian district, who was on leave, was abducted by militants from his relative’s house.

3 Milletent killed in Shopian encounter; another raging in J&K's Anantnag

In the past 48 hours, the security forces killed 12 militants in encounters at separate locations in Jammu and Kashmir. The identity and group affiliation of the slain militants are being ascertained. 3 Milletent killed in Shopian encounter on Sat.

7 Milletent killed by security forces in J-K's Shopian ANI

  • A total of 7 Milletent were killed in an encounter with security forces in Tral of Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian.
  • J&K Police, Indian Army, and CRPF in less than 12 hours without suffering any own fatalities. Entire Ansar Ghazwat Ul Hind terror group wiped out of Kashmir by forces, as per media report.
  • The encounter between security forces and terrorists started in Shopian on Thu where terrorists were holed up inside a mosque.
  • The JnK Police had last night sent the brother of one terrorist and a local Imam inside the mosque to persuade the terrorists to surrender.
  • Chief of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH) terror outfit has been trapped while 3 unidentified terrorists have been killed by the security forces in an ongoing encounter, police said in the evening.

New terror outfits plan revenge attacks on security forces in Kashmir-ANI

  • Newly-floated terror outfits, entrusted with the task of gaining ground in Kashmir valley by Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen are planning revenge attacks by targeting ground commanders and troops of security forces in Kashmir involved in the major successful operations of late.
  • According to a top Govt official, information through interception and local ground intelligence has been gathered to validate the latest intelligence.
  • On Fri, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH) chief terrorist Imtiyaz Shah was killed in an encounter between terrorists and security forces.
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