Lying low for year, JeM rises again

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 15

Almost written-off from the insurgency landscape a few years ago, the Jaish-e-Mohammad’s (JeM) claim of responsibility for the deadliest-ever attack in the Kashmir valley has made it the biggest security threat in the region.

The JeM — which had almost vanquished several years ago with its manpower restricted to single digits across the Valley — is now present in most districts of the region. The group claimed responsibility for Thursday’s suicide car bomb – one of its hallmark attacks – in which over 40 CRPF men were killed.

A senior police official said the militant group had found itself on the back foot for the past one year since most of its senior commanders were killed.

“They were under a lot of pressure to act because most of their senior leaders had been neutralised and they were finding it difficult to carry out any major terror attack,” the official added.

The official said the last major attack carried out by the JeM was when its fidayeen squad had stormed the Sunjuwan Army camp in Jammu city in February last year.

A foreign militant, Mufti Waqas, who had masterminded the Sunjwan and several other fidayeen attacks, was killed in a brief gunfight in March last year following which there was a lull in terror activities.

In the past year, the JeM restricted to low-level activities, which included grenade and sniper attacks, several incidents of weapon-snatching and killing of policemen.

The Pulwama attack, however, marked the comeback of suicide bomber, which the JeM had first introduced immediately after its formation in 2000.

The JeM was formed by a militant cleric, Masood Azhar, days after he along with two others were released in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in exchange for the release of passengers aboard the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814. Azhar had spent six years in Indian jails before his release in December 1999.

The group had emerged on the militant scene in Kashmir within months after its formation and marked a dramatic escalation in the conflict. The first attack, which signalled its arrival, targeted the Army’s 15 Corps headquarters in Srinagar city, when an 18-year-old boy detonated a car bomb outside its main entrance in April 2000.

Jaish’s strength, however, had degraded continuously after it was banned by Pakistan following 9/11 attack and it was struggling for survival with only eight cadres left in the Kashmir valley in July 2013.

From being almost wiped out in Kashmir, Jaish-e-Mohammad recruited a large number of youth in the last two years. Of the 250 militants killed last year — one of the bloodiest years of the decade — more than 30 belonged to the JeM outfit.

The police estimate that dozens of JeM militants now operate in south Kashmir and around fringes of Srinagar city.

Carried out 2018 Sunjuwan attack  

• The Jaish-e-Mohammad’s last major attack was on the Sunjuwan Army camp in Jammu city in February last year
• A foreign militant, Mufti Waqas, who had masterminded the Sunjwan and several other fidayeen attacks, was killed in a brief gunfight in March last year following which there was a lull in terror activities