Amid COVID-19 outbreak, aggressive counter-terrorism strategy must in Kashmir, says PoK activist

A political activist has demanded aggressive counter-terrorism measures in Jammu and Kashmir as Pakistan-based terrorists are making attempts to infiltrate into the Valley with an aim to create mayhem amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Amjad Ayub Mirza, a political activist and author from Pakistan occupied Kashmir said, "The martyrdom of five 'jawans' of the Indian Army during an encounter with Pakistan-based terrorists in Kupwara in Noth Kashmir on March 5 should not go unnoticed."

Five army soldiers were killed during a gunfight with militants in Kupwara on Sunday. Five militants were also killed in the fight.

The encounter broke out on the intervening night of April 3 and 4 when a militant group infiltrated from across the Line of Control in Keran sector of north Kashmir.

The militants had entered the Indian territory from Shamsabari range and were hiding in 'Gujjar Dhok' (temporary shelter for nomads) in the Poswal area of the sector, a senior Army spokesperson earlier said.

He told ANI that for decades successive governments in J & K have failed to chalk out a comprehensive counter-terrorist insurgency strategy. Hence, they have lost credibility in the eyes of the Kashmiris.

He added, "This incompetence of successive governments in J & K has also created a psychological state of helplessness among the Kashmiri population. Secondly, the so-called liberal intelligentsia that fails to see the role of Pakistan-China involvement in the terrorist insurgency in Kashmir is another obstacle in the endeavour to create a national consensus for uprooting and pushing terrorism back into Pakistan.