Along the stony trails of the Chek Fatehkhan forests, the blood is still fresh. Shahzad Khan, a construction labourer, points at blood stains to show the path along which the bodies of the dead were dragged. After 30 hours of intense exchange between security personnel and militants, 2018’s bloodiest face-off between security forces and militants had just come to an end.

“On the day of Navroz, our land was covered in blood,” said Reshma, a local woman. Navroz marks the new year for both Shia and Sunni Muslims of Kashmir.

Halmatpora village, at the foothills of the dense forests of Kupwara district in North Kashmir, was filled with security personnel through March 20-22.  Around 4 pm, Tuesday, March 20, the day of Navroz, an encounter broke out in Chek Fatehkhan forests. The same evening, security forces suspended the operation after a few hours due to poor lighting and rough terrain. It resumed on Wednesday early morning and continued until dusk. It finally ended at 4 pm the next day (March 22) by which time the entire village had come to a standstill. Five militants, three soldiers and two personnel of the police’s counter-insurgency wing, Special Operations Group, were killed in the exchange.

Blood stains on the rocks 

Defence Spokesperson, Col Rajesh Kalia, said that the encounter was triggered when the militants fired at a joint party of the Army and Special Operations Group (SOG) of J&K Police.

The Official Line

Inspector General of Police Swayam Prakash Pani told Newslaundry that this was the biggest operation conducted this year in terms of death toll. [In 2017, six militants were gunned down in Hajin, North Kashmir’s Bandipora district.]

The two policemen who died have been identified as Deepak Thusoo of Jammu and Mohammad Yousuf of Kachhama, Kupwara. Of the three Army personnel who died, two have been identified as Ashraf Rather and Ranjeet Kholka.

Col Rajesh Kalia said that the five militants are yet to be identified. “They look like Pakistanis,” he said. Asked how he had come to that conclusion, he replied: “We know how to identify locals and these are surely not locals.”

Inspector General Pani, on the other hand, said, “We have enough incriminating material to prove that they are Pakistani.” The police are not liable to produce this evidence to anyone, he said. “They have come to Kashmir from Pakistan,” he added.  The five unidentified men have been identified as belonging to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Pani also said that the operation was successful because the militants were caught before they could enter the village. “Once they enter villages, they tend to find support,” he said. “We consider this a success because we intercepted their movements and conducted the encounter before they stepped in.”

Sesh Paul Vaid, Director General of Police, told Newslaundry that “war-like stores” were recovered from the militants.

The Local’s Take

“Look up these forests. Can you see anything?” asked 56-year-old Anayat Ullah Khan, the sarpanch of Halmatpora village, pointing towards the forests. “The security personnel must have some informants in this area. Otherwise, it is impossible to see anything through these dense forests,” he said.

Anayat Ullah Khan, sarpanch of Halmatpora village

Located along the northwest border of Kashmir, these forests touch the borders of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and to the north extend up to parts of Gilgit. Most of Kupwara district is covered by dense forests and mountainous terrain. This makes it an ideal region for infiltration.

Col Rajesh Kalia said that the Kupawara forests are inundated with multiple infiltration routes that run across India and Pakistan.

“None of us stepped out for two days. The sounds were unimaginable. The babies of our village cried all night,” said Reshma.

Anayat said that encounters were not common in his village. “This one happened after many years. Yes, there is a lot of infiltration but not so many encounters,” he said. As an afterthought, on a lighter note, he added, “Our children went and collected all the leftover mortars and shells from the encounter site.”

An unexploded mortar shell

Parts of an explosive device

Schools which were shut for three days have resumed. Unlike south Kashmir, where even a small suspicion leads officials to snap the internet, the internet in Kupwara was not cut off at any point during the past three days.

Exactly 24 hours after the encounter, life has returned to Halmatpora. Women are seen carrying firewood, the men are out in their fields and the children are playing in the courtyards.

Was Greater Kashmir accurate?

The most widely circulated local English daily – Greater Kashmir – published an article titled: ‘Kupwara Op biggest this year, 1000 personnel involved’. Without quoting names of any officials, the article read that “top sources claimed” that 180 soldiers, 50 para commandos rushed in by helicopters and vehicles, 200 SOG personnel, more than 200 policemen, and 200 CRPF personnel engaged in the encounter.

When Newslaundry reached out to the Army spokesperson to confirm this, Rajesh Kalia said: “Seems like it is Abid Bashir’s (the reporter) assessment. It surely was a big operation is all I can say.”

The IGP, SP Pani, said, “We cannot confirm these numbers. They are baseless.”

Kupwara heading for “rapid transformation”

According to the South Asian Terrorism Portal (SAPT), the last three months have already claimed 47 lives, including that of civilians, militants and security personnel.

In November 2017, the Centre said that Baramulla and Kupwara have been included among the 115 backward districts selected for rapid transformation by 2022. The initiative, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to create a “New India” in the next five years, identified the two districts in the state along with the relevant districts in the northeast because they were “affected by terrorism”.