Rajouri Killings: Communal Divide to Terror, Intel Note Goes Deeper into Chenab Valley’s Issues | Exclusive

While the killings in Rajouri on Sunday and Monday led to fears of terror returning to the so-far-safe Jammu, CNN-News18 has accessed the intelligence note on the incidents, which hints at attempts to create a communal divide in the Chenab Valley.

On Sunday evening, terrorists opened fire on three houses in Dhangri village in Rajouri, killing four civilians and injuring six. On Monday, an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by the terrorists went off and two children, who were cousins, were killed and six persons were injured. The incidents, barely 14 hours apart, have triggered protests across the district.

According to the note, the successive developments in Rajouri over the past year have created fears about the revival of otherwise long-dead terrorism in Chenab, which equals Kashmir in geographical size.

The area was largely free of militancy over the past one-and-a-half decade.

The note listed the major terror attacks in Rajouri in 2022:

• Four blasts took place in Kandi Koteranka belt of Budhal in Rajouri district in March-April, targeting a police station and non-local labourers, among others. The blasts were cracked by police with the arrest of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s top commander Talib Hussain Shah and his associates from village Tuksan in Mahore tehsil of Reasi district later.
• Five Army soldiers were killed while two fidayeen were killed after an attack on an Army camp at Pargal village in Darhal area of Rajouri on August 11, 2022.
• Two civilians were killed outside an Army Gate in Rajouri on December 16, 2022.
• Prior to 2022, the terrorists had thrown grenade on a Bharatiya Janata Party leader’s house in Rajouri town on August 13, 2021, in which an infant was killed and seven others were injured.

SPREAD IN CHENAB

South Kashmir and Chenab Valley are adjacent to each other, so the rise in terrorism in the former has started to rub off on the Valley.

“The terrorism in the UT operates in a certain historical and political context. It will always find a conducive environment for its growth unless steps are taken to address this context. The rise of the BJP as the dominant political force in Jammu province has strained the communal ties and in turn sharpened the divergence in the ideological affiliations of the two communities," stated the note.

Muslims hurtled politically closer to Kashmir and its politics and Hindus got drawn to the nationalist discourse championed by the BJP, stated the note. This division, in turn, will determine the outcome of the polls in the region, whenever held. Despite being a region where Muslims enjoy a modest majority, the BJP won 2014 Lok Sabha seat from the area by consolidating the Hindu vote in its favour. Muslim votes were split into the Congress, National Conference and the PDP.

THE SKEPTICISM

The note states that Muslims have a reason to be skeptical about the government-backed armed groups of Hindu villagers called Village Defence Committees (VDCs). The VDCs are supposed to bar the entry of terrorists into their villages and also take them on.

There have been six major massacres of Hindus by terrorists in Chenab Valley over the past three decades: 17 killed at Sarthal in April 1993; 16 at Barshalla in January 1996; 17 at Sumbar in May 1996; 25 at Chapnari in June 1998; 35 at Kalaban in August 1998 and 22 at Kulhand in May 2006.

While there is a tendency to attribute the renewed drift towards terrorism in Chenab Valley to the spillover from Kashmir, there are also very powerful local factors that keep Chenab on the edge. Both Hindus and Muslims have a reason to be deeply skeptical of each other, stated the note.

“The mutual suspicion between the communities is something on which much of local politics thrives. Hindus harbour a deep fear about the revival of terrorism in the region. Arming of one community to fight the terrorists from another community has over the years taken its toll on the inter-communal relations. And the potential fresh wave of terror is likely to make things worse," stated the note.

There have been some attempts to revive terrorism in Chenab over the past few years, but they didn’t succeed. “It needs to be investigated how two terrorists entered the village, planted IED and killed six people."

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