Sam’eer
Srinagar | With local militants continue to outnumber the foreigners in the ranks of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba outfits, another militant outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad- is in the revival mode in the state.
While Lashkar and Hizb operate in a different way by carrying sporadic attacks, Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) mostly focuses on Fidayeen attacks. The latest attack on an Army camp in Kupwara’s Tangdar area has rung the alarm bells for the security agencies.
It is widely being debated in the security circles that JeM could easily recruit the local youth and could in turn use then as Fidayeens’ (suicide bombers)-as JeM mostly carries out Fidayeen attacks unlike Hizb and LeT.
Sources in police and army say it has become a major concern as the involvement of the local youth in future can’t be ruled out.
Militancy- after the 2010 summer uprising in which thousands of youths were detained and hundreds slapped with the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) – is witnessing a steep increase. While Lashkar and indigenous Hizbul Mujahideen have been on the scene, other militant outfits are also making their inroads in the conflict ravaged state.
Most of the youth who are presently active militants are also a result of frequent harassments by police and army. The three Bijbehara youth who got recently killed in an encounter at Aishmuqam , according to media reports, had joined militancy, after they were being harassed by Special Operations Group of J&K police.
The Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit which is headed by Moulana Masood Azhar, who was released in exchange for the passengers of a hijacked Indian plane in 2000, had claimed responsibility for the recent attack at an Army camp in Tangdar area of frontier Kupwara district.
Azhar had already operated in Kashmir in early 1990’s till he was arrested in February 1994.
The attack is seen as almost a first Fidayeen attack by the Jaish-e-Muhammad in last one year and almost a first in Kashmir region in almost over a decade.
Jaish-e-Muhammad was active in Kashmir between 1999 and 2004, and had later almost vanished from the scene after Adil Pathan and Chota Burmi were killed in Awantipora.
Post the attack the security agencies are worried that the JeM may tap into the growing alienation in the valley.
On December 5, 2014, the JeM had attacked the Mohura camp in Uri near the Line of Control.