It is not that Amit Shah is not unaware that Indian army men are sitting ducks for terrorists. On June 16, 2024, Amit Shah chaired a high-level meeting to discuss terror attacks in J&K. Since then terrorists have been attacking Indian Army soldiers with a vengeance. Ambushed and killed on a daily basis. A new terror outfit, Kashmir Tigers, a Jaish-e-Mohammed affiliate, has been taking credit for martyring Indian soldiers.

The “high-level meeting” did not help much except lulling the security apparatus in J&K into complacency even as the terrorists upped their ante and went about killing Indian Army soldiers as if on a 9 to 5 day in office. Indian Army soldiers continue to be ambushed and killed.

The “Doda terror attack” has prompted more people to ask, “Where is Amit Shah?” Indian citizens volunteer to join the Army. Amit Shah knows this but it can be assumed without much ado that the Union Home Ministry has been rather lackadaisical on terror attacks in the period since ‘June 16’ and after the high-level meeting which he chaired.

The killings of Indian Army soldiers in these terror attacks are casting a shadow on the Agnipath scheme, which is already under the scanner with the opposition INDI-Alliance going after it, all-guns blazing. Agnipath has the assent of the Indian Army top brass and Amit Shah is India’s Union Home Minister and not of Doda and Kathua.

If the terrorists have moved into the forest areas of Jammu they must be tackled there by the Indian Army. Terrorists, homegrown as well as foreign-trained, have their own strategies and cannot be second-guessed. The Army can only launch a cordon and search operation. After the Doda attack, it was in the Desa forests. Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group of the J&K Police were involved.

So, asking for Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s exact whereabouts after a terror attack is pointless; more important is to ask what went wrong with the government’s J&K policy? The June 16 high-level meeting outlined a number of steps to be taken to bring to a halt the terrorist attacks. The places most hit by terror attacks are Jammu, Doda and Reasi. Amit Shah spoke of “area domination” and “zero-terror” in the Jammu division like in Kashmir.

Whatever happened to both in the fight against terror in Jammu? Recent incidents of terror attacks speak of a degree of failure though the government says terror has “shrunk” in recent months and that terrorism will be rooted out soon. "Amit Shah emphasised seamless coordination amongst the security agencies, identifying vulnerable areas and addressing the security concerns of such areas,” a Home Ministry statement said.

The Kathua terror attack, which lasted all of two hours, does not support the statement. Soldiers fired 5000 rounds and repelling the terror attack cost not only lives, it also put a dent on resources including use of choppers to locate the terrorists and their forest hideouts.

What angers common folks, however, are tweets such as “J&K: The Indian Army uses a helicopter to carry out a search operation in the forests of Doda as the hunt for terrorists in the region is on. Four Indian Army personnel including an Officer have been killed in action during an encounter with terrorists in Doda.”

There is something diabolically clinical and abrupt in such messaging.

They, however, also ask questions of such luminaries like the Union Home Minister, how did the high-level meeting chaired by him help? What is his reply to the martyred officer’s mother Nobody is questioning the Modi government’s commitment to India’s security, but accountability at several levels has to be fixed, including at the ministry level.

In less than a month’s time, the Modi-led NDA government will be celebrating yet another anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 and there will be much bonhomie and congratulatory pats, but did the abrogation of Article 370 secure Jammu & Kashmir from terror attacks? Did it help the Indian Army in fighting terror, within the state and on the Line of Control?

Off and on we hear of “Army withdrawal” from J&K, suggesting that the abrogation of Article 370 had worked. But Army withdrawal does not gel with rising terror attacks. It does strengthen doubts that the LoC is not secure even after the abrogation of Article 370. Terrorists are slipping into India at an alarming rate. What happened to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Ghar Mei Ghuske Maarenge”?

The surgical strike and the Balakote airstrikes are vague memories. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gumption is lost and his confidence has evaporated. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is no longer a terrorist-slayer of the first order. Prime Minister Narendra Modi retained Amit Shah as Union Home Minister only to dispel growing public concern that Shah had lost his touch and had failed to put J&K in order.

The relatively poor showing in the Lok Sabha elections was another setback to the BJP/Modi government that is yet to wear off. It has put a target on the NDA government’s back. BJP’s NDA allies have nothing to worry about. The ‘Defence’ portfolio and the ‘Home’ portfolio were retained by the BJP ministers who had held them before.

Shah had said on June 16 that the fight against terrorism in J&K was in its decisive phase and had stressed that “we are determined to root it out as well." Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held a meeting and had asked officials to deploy the "full spectrum of counter-terror capabilities" in Jammu & Kashmir.

Modi and Shah have been talking tough, using words like “need for robust security cover” and “deliver strong response" besides “prevent resurgence at any cost” with “Area Domination Plan and Zero Terror Plan” in Jammu. Question is, does the security situation in J&K allow for holding elections, how can terror and elections go together, just like how terror and talks cannot go together. (IPA Service)