Id over, Centre to go after terrorists

The Centre on Sunday decided to withdraw the conditional ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir which was announced last month in the wake of the holy month of Ramzan. The security forces will now launch a massive offensive against terror groups active in the Valley immediately with top intelligence and security officials claiming that tracking down militants responsible for killing of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari and Army jawan Aurangzeb is a “top priority” for them.

This newspaper had reported last week that the Centre was unlikely to extend the ceasefire in J&K after Ramzan in view of the sharp increase in terror incident during the holy month.

Even the state unit of the BJP, which is in coalition with the PDP government in J&K, was also not in favour of extending suspension of operations, particularly after the killings of Bukhari and Aurangzeb.

Security sources claimed that the entire network in the Valley has been activated to track down those responsible for the killing of Bukhari and Aurangzeb and they were hopeful of achieving success in the next few days. The cordon and search operations in the Valley will also resume from Monday.

The Central government had on May 17 decided that security forces will not conduct offensive operations in J&K during Ramzan.

Home minister Rajnath Singh, in a statement issued on Sunday, reiterated that the security forces had been directed to take all possible action to ensure that terror outfits do not resort to violence and killing.

The Centre on Sunday decided to withdraw the conditional ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir which was announced last month in the wake of the holy month of Ramzan.

“It was expected that everyone will cooperate in ensuring the success of this initiative. While the security forces have displayed exemplary restraint during this period, the terrorists have continued with their attacks, on civilians and security forces, resulting in deaths and injuries,” home minister Rajnath Singh said.

Security and intelligence agencies claimed that there was a sharp increase in terror related incidents during the month-long ceasefire as 66 such cases were reported as compared to 25 the month before that.

However, security sources admitted that there was drop in civilian casualties during the period. Intelligence reports suggest that terror groups like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed had used the ceasefire period to consolidate and re-group their operatives in the Valley and this could pose a serious threat in the days ahead, particularly to the Amarnath Yatra.