Jammu and Kashmir: Surge in attacks brings fear to calmer parts of Himalayan territory

Like Pakistan, China too shares a disputed border with India in the Himalayan region. Known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC), it falls close to Ladakh, a mountainous territory to the east of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to reports, India’s stand-off with China in the Ladakh region since 2020 has compelled it to send additional troops to the cold desert. These forces were reportedly pulled out from Jammu, leaving the region vulnerable to militant activities.

For long, India’s strategic community has feared the prospect of a two-front war along its northern and western borders. Experts believe that any military collusion between Pakistan and China will stretch India’s defences.

“The thinning of troops [in Jammu] is making an impact. The militants are taking advantage of it,” said Lt Gen Deependra Singh Hooda, a former military commander.

Lt Col Suneel Bartwal, an army spokesperson in Jammu, told the BBC that the army had been conducting a series of “joint and co-ordinated operations” with police to eliminate “foreign terrorists”. He added that a number of measures had been taken to enhance synergy between various security agencies in the region.

Some experts also point out that India’s intelligence network in Jammu is less developed than in Kashmir due to its relative calm and fewer incidents of violence since 2002.

Political analyst Zafar Choudhary says for the past three decades, counter-insurgency specialists have been stationed in Kashmir and not in Jammu.

“They [forces] have understood the terrain and topography of the Kashmir valley over the years, [but] not much of Jammu,” he says.