The Army on Wednesday said militants hiding in the Manigah area of Kupwara district, where an operation was carried out for a month, have fled.
“We did carry out the operation for a long time. We lost an officer but also got two militants. We did not get all of them,” said Lt. Gen. Satish Dua, General Officer Commanding of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps.
The Army recently called off the operation that started on November 13.
“The terrain is such that beyond a point we don’t want to inconvenience the locals. We have our own modus operandi of continuing the search for the militants,” Lt. Gen. Dua said.
The Army, which saw a major attack close to the Line of Control (LoC) at Tangdhar on November 25, fears more infiltration attempts as all the passes are not under the snow yet. “The passes are getting closed now. However, the snow level at some places is not prohibitive. In fact, there are chances that before a fresh snowfall, they [militants] might make a few attempts to infiltrate,” said the Army officer
On the three civilians missing from Kupwara district since November 17, Lt. Gen. Dua said: “Whenever any such incident takes place of the police or the judiciary has taken cognisance, the Army institutes an investigation. Our own investigation is on, and if any one is found to have done something wrong, the Army will not play favourites. We are absolutely committed to zero tolerance of human rights violation.”
Sources told The Hindu that the civilians — identified as Ghulam Jeelani Khatana and Mir Hussain Khatana of Dardepora and Ali Muhammad Sheikh of Trehgam — have been working with the Army as porters.
The investigations, however, do not confirm that the three have crossed the LoC. The families, however, allege that the trio went missing after a Territorial Army man sought a meeting with them on the phone. The accused, Manzoor Ahmad Khawaja, has been detained and is being interrogated.
