The major terrorist strike at an Army base at Mohura in the Uri area in northern Kashmir in the early hours of Thursday, which is one of the most deadly in years, as well as the terrorists engaging J&K police in Srinagar’s Soura locality, shatter the peace and the trend line of relative calm and normality in evidence for many years.
But none of this changes the ground situation in Kashmir which can be defined quite simply that, as a historical fact, local support for extremist insurgency is a thing of the past. Nevertheless, it is apparent that jihadists from across the LoC are able to get through and burrow in, and there is sometimes no awareness of it on the Indian side.
There has indeed been a persistent effort at incursion by Pakistan-backed terrorist elements for several weeks, but these were believed to have been neutralised.
Clearly that was a mistaken impression. It is now evident that well-armed jihadist fighters had sneaked in with sophisticated weapons and just lay low, waiting for the right opportunity to strike.
This presented itself in the wake of two rounds of highly successful polling for the Assembly election, with the voting percentage crossing 70 per cent.
It would have been a “blot” on the terrorists if they had not been able to strike even when brisk, transparent, and free and fair polling seemed the order of the day.
The desperation to strike would have increased on account of the currently disturbed nature of India Pakistan relations.
In the circumstances, the security grid on our side seems to have been deficient. The country needs to reflect on this. Politically, the separatist groups had not given insistent calls to boycott the election, as they usually do.
In an indirect manner they are thought to have spurred their followers to cast their ballots. Syed Salahuddin, the Pakistan-based extremist Kashmiri leader, had also hinted lately that boycotting the state poll may help the Hindu Right.
This turn of events would have made the Pakistan Army, and the jihadist outfits that take a cue from it, see red. This is the backdrop to the desperate assault in Uri in which a lieutenant colonel was among the fallen soldiers.
The level of the weaponry used and the complex military tactics of the jihadists speak of a highly trained and motivated team which crossed into India for this particular mission.
They were in the nature of special operations troops. The invaders were all neutralised. But those who maintain the security grid must have a lot of questions about their inner working that need answers. Staying on high alert until the elections are done later this month is only one of the necessary tasks.
