The new Army Chief reached Poonch on his/her first visit, General Upendra Dwivedi gave a special message to the army

New Delhi: New Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi chose Poonch-Rajouri area for his/her first visit after assuming office. On Wednesday, General Dwivedi went to the forward areas near the Line of Control in Poonch-Rajouri and talked to army officials. he/she reviewed the operational preparedness of the army and also gave necessary instructions. The first visit of the Army Chief here is important because this area has been the target of terrorists for some time now. For about two decades, these areas were generally considered peaceful. However, for the last 3-4 years, terrorists have been targeting security forces as well as common people and tourists here. Many questions have also been raised on intelligence due to the continuous terrorist incidents here. Last year, the then and current Defense Minister Rajnath Singh himself had also talked about strengthening the intelligence and had also assured the necessary cooperation for this.

Here the Indian Army forces – Romeo, Delta, Uniform Force were responsible for different areas, but four years ago when the tension with China on the LAC in Eastern Ladakh increased and the situation reached violent clashes, the uniform force was removed from here and sent to the LAC. The number of soldiers equivalent to three brigades was reduced from here. Due to the reduction in their number, the remaining forces also got the responsibility of those areas where the uniform force was deployed. According to experts, the terrorists also took advantage of this and worked to re-establish themselves in this area.

In the recent past, the Indian Army has deployed more soldiers in these areas to fill the gap, but even now the number of soldiers has not increased to the same level as before. Also, due to the gap of four years, the connection between the army and the people has also weakened. This has affected human intelligence. Now the trust of the people here does not match the old numbers, that is, there is not as much force as there was four years ago. Also, to win the trust of the local people and prepare a human intelligence network, one has to work continuously and live among them. It will take time to fill the gap that has come in four years.

The focus will have to be on bringing people together

Terrorists have carried out most of the attacks and ambushes in Rajouri-Poonch areas, which also indicates that the terrorists may be getting help from the local people. Terrorists have increased their activities in the South of Pir Panjal area. Rajouri, Poonch, Surankote, Sundarbani, Nowshera, all these areas fall in South of Pir Panjal. This area has also seen the period when the Hill Kaka area in the Pir Panjal hills near Surankote in Rajouri became a stronghold of terrorists around the year 2000. Then the army trained the local boys here against the terrorists and wiped out the terrorists by conducting Operation Sarp Vinash in 2003. Here again the same trust is needed between the army and the people.