India’s Strategic Response to Kargil-Like Risks in Jammu: A Review

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In political news today, terrorist activities have been steadily increasing in the Jammu region this year and that is evident from the growing number of casualties among our security forces. Most of the attacks are taking place in the forested mountainous region of Jammu where it is easier for the terrorists to get natural cover in the dense jungles. The growing number of casualties among Indian security forces do suggest that adequate precautions against terrorists were not taken in the Jammu region because of the focus on anti-terrorist operations in the Kashmir valley.

For both the Indian security establishment and strategic planners, this is quite a new dimension in the proxy war against India that Pakistan is waging over Jammu & Kashmir.

It is easier for observers, who are not in the thick of the action in J&K to point out errors in the planning and preparation of our security forces in dealing with the Islamic jihad in J&K.

However, the death of young soldiers including officers is a very difficult pill to swallow and that is where indignation against people in charge of security operations in J&K comes to the fore.

Jihadi terrorist infiltrators are also getting killed and most of them are found to be Pakistanis as per recent political news. Observers say that this is a clear sign that native Kashmiri volunteers are no longer ready to stake their lives for the terror masterminds in Pakistan.

Did security planners in J&K overlook risks in Jammu region?

In July 2024 alone, the Indian army suffered 11 fatal casualties while the number of civilians killed by jihadi terrorist violence has gone up to 10 according to political news today.

What is more alarming is that suddenly there seems to be too many holes in India’s defence setup in J&K that the Pakistani terrorists are exploiting and exposing almost at will.

It is almost as if all the achievements of the Indian army in ending the decades old terrorism especially in Kashmir valley, the hotbed of terrorism in J&K, has come back to square one.

There seems to have been a lapse in the army’s operational planning wherein Jammu was not given enough priority while all the action was taking place in Kashmir valley and then in Ladakh.

The army commanders responsible for overlooking the security of the Jammu sector must have the honesty to admit that because of such poor decision-making by them so many young soldiers were martyred.

The same mistake was committed in Kargil 25 years ago

Security on the LOC be it in Pir Panjal, North Kashmir or Jammu cannot be compromised just because one or other sector needs more force deployment. In Kargil, the Indian Army had made the same mistake – leaving the LOC unmanned in winter.

The Indian Army alone has a troop strength of 1.2 million or 12 lakh soldiers while total troop deployment in J&K and Ladakh combined is around 3 lakh troops as per recent political news.

The Jammu sector apparently requires deployment of 25,000 troops to maintain the level of surveillance on the border, which can prevent large scale infiltration of the type that has taken place in this sector recently.

So, are the army commanders saying that they cannot get 25,000 troops out of an army of 12 lakh for a critically important part of the country with high threat perception? The reason for the Jammu lapse that is being spoken about in the media is that additional deployment in Ladakh on the Line of Actual Control [LAC] with China caused the shortage of troops in Jammu. If that is what the army commanders in J&K are saying then it is ludicrous. In that case, it can be said that such commanders are playing with the lives of young soldiers and the security of the nation.