Five soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer (JCO) were martyred on Monday in a gunfight with the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.

Lt Colonel Devender Anand, defence ministry spokesman said, “Five soldiers including JCO, who suffered critical injuries in an encounter with the terrorists, were evacuated to a nearby medical facility, but they succumbed to injuries. “The operation is still going on in the area”.

Earlier, following specific information, the Army had started a cordon and search operation in villages close to Dara Ki Gali in the Surankote area of Poonch district. Hiding terrorists, believed to be 4 to 5, fired at the surrounding troops resulting in critical injuries to five soldiers, including the JCO.

Three terrorists eliminated in Shopian

Three LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) terrorists were killed in an encounter that started between the terrorists and the security forces at Tulran Imamsahab area in South Kashmir’s Shopian district on Monday evening, officials said.

“Three terrorists of LeT (TRF) killed. Identification being ascertained. Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition recovered. Search going on,” police said.

“Out of three killed terrorists, one terrorist has been identified as Mukhtar Shah of Ganderbal, who shifted to Shopian after killing one street hawker Virendra Paswan of Bihar,” a tweet by Kashmir police quoting IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said.

A second gunfight has started between terrorists and security forces in the Feeripora area of South Kashmir’s Shopian district on Tuesday, officials said.

Defence analyst Brahma Chellaney identified Pakistan’s victory in Afghanistan achieved by installing its proxy Taliban, as the emboldening factor responsible for the latest upsurge in terror activity in the troubled region of J&K.

But likes of Brahma Chellaney or Sushil Pandit are the rare exceptions, that prove the rule.

What is wrong with Bharat’s strategic community?

We at HinduPost have maintained the same stance for the 5+ years that we have been operational. Pakistan is engaged in a civilizational conflict with us, of which Kashmir is just one theater. Bharat needs to break all ties with the terror nation of Pakistan and embark on a long 20-30 year project to isolate and defeat Pakistan militarily, diplomatically and economically.

No talks, negotiations or even war with Pakistan can succeed until their poisonous state ideology of Islamic jihad is uprooted. And while this multi-pronged cold war continues, we have to deliver disproportionate pain on the Pakistan Army and state for every act of terror it commits.

Or we can choose to be stuck in the never-ending cycle of terror attack ->outrage -> calls for talks -> cricket series -> a lull -> another terror attack.

Sadly, there is an influential section of elites in Bharat whose sole job is to keep the nation confused vis-a-vis Pakistan. In the wake of the Uri terror attack, we had listed out 10 narratives that Pakophiles and Hindu-hating elements push. And in all this, the barbaric persecution of Hindus in Pakistan is swept under the carpet by the same natsec ‘experts’.

It must be remembered that in February the Aman Ki Asha brigade was out in full force after Director Generals of Military Operations of both nations announced a ceasefire, resurrecting the long-forgotten 2003 ceasefire agreement. There were reports of back-channel talks too in the lead up to that announcement. Pak Army Chief Bajwa made some conciliatory noises, and the usual suspects in Bharat fell head over heels for it.

In a piece penned on March 25, 2021 for Shekhar Gupta’s The Print, Lt. Gen. HS Panag vouched for Pakistan’s noble intentions this time around by declaring “On peace with India, Pakistan won’t do an about turn this time. It has no one to turn to.”

He added, “We have the European Union model before us where a blood-soaked past has been long forgotten. Considering our own strategic limitations to force compellence,  there is no harm in moving forward with an economy-driven peace process. As per my assessment, Pakistan’s future is at stake and it will not do an about-turn because it has nowhere to turn to.”

This is a man who served in the Indian Army for 40 years. He was GOC in C Northern Command and Central Command.

Events of the last week have proved that the February ceasefire was yet another mirage in the game of smoke & mirrors that Pakistan has perfected over the decades as part of its ‘death by a 1000 cuts’ strategy. And our establishment ‘thinkers’ keep falling for it. Most likely USA nudged us into the rapprochement, to allow Pakistan to focus on events in Afghanistan.

Here is another much-celebrated ‘military thinker’, ex-Army officer Pravin Sawhney, reacting to a tweet by another Pakophile ex-diplomat Bhadrakumar –

The Indian Army urgently needs to be taught the history of the sub-continent, and asked to study Pakistani military doctrine which has been well captured by American analyst Christine Fair (no fan of Hindutva) in her book “Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army’s Way of War“. Our strategic thinkers need to pay attention to the systemic demonization of Hindus in Pakistani education, religious institutions, society and popular culture, and to the ethno-religious cleansing of Hindus taking place before our eyes.

Even an ordinary twitter user gets it, “Indian army treats the (Kashmir) insurgency as a crisis of state sovereignty, and not as a civilizational conflict. So that way, it becomes more of a law and order issue in the eyes of the top brass than an asymmetric war.”

Surgical strikes and Balakot airstrikes cannot be one-offs and have to be part of a continuous strategy to inflict disproportionate costs on the terror state of Pakistan. Sadly, our national security & strategic community continues to harbor delusions about the real nature of Pakistan. Some of them have their own axe to grind and prefer a Bharat which is weak, divided and confused.

(With IANS inputs)