Pampore attack: Militants taking advantage of vulnerable national highway, weak road opening party procedure

The attack on a CRPF bus in Pampore, Jammu and Kashmir, last week was the fifth such assault in less than a year when the paramilitary force vehicles and convoys ferrying security personnel along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was targeted by militant groups. Taking advantage of the laxed surveillance grid for protection of convoy movements, the strategic highway has become an easy target for militants to strike in Kashmir and inflict high casualties, sources said.

The national highway connecting Jammu city with the valley has stretches marked as 'vulnerable' owing to urban built up area, valleys and river on either side, with an increased possibility of an armed attack. To ensure that militants don't ingress or place IEDs on roads when force vehicles are moving along, a road opening party (ROP) procedure is followed with the army providing corridor protection. With the relative stable security situation in the valley, both these procedures, officials in Kashmir said, were relaxed in the past.

``The army used to provide corridor protection for CRPF's force movement and this would give a sense of back-up for the ROP. But this procedure is currently not followed as it requires additional troop deployment,'' said a CRPF official from Kashmir adding that personnel in ROP are overstretched and stressed performing the duty. Movement of vehicles and convoys is a daily affair, and ROP start the duty from early morning hours primarily tasked for surveillance of ducts to detect IEDs, ambush and prevent ingress.

As per the generic rules followed presently, the ROP comprising of a company secures a stretch of 3-5 km, with buddy pairs deployed at every 300-400 meters. Yet, militants from Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujaheedin, the two active groups in the valley, have struck repeatedly at CRPF and BSF vehicles ferrying troops along the highway (see box), with two attacks taking place in Pampore itself. There also appears to be a fixed pattern, with the attack taking place near to populated areas, militants throw hand grenades or deflate the tyres, making manoeuvring difficult for the troops sitting inside the vehicles.

The attack on Saturday took place at the spot of the national highway in Pampore running parallel with Jhelum river, in between the stretch where the ROP personnel were not present. "The militants took advantage of the terrain and chose a busy part of the stretch with built up area when the four vehicle convoy was passing.''

The two militants first fired at the CRPF truck slowing down the movement and later the front tyres of the bus carrying 40 personnel. Although both the doors were locked from inside deterring the militants to enter inside the bus, the wire-mesh on the windows turned out to be handicap for the troops sitting inside to maneuver weapons and fire.

The spike in attacks on force vehicles is reflective of a combination of factors: fixed timing of convoy movement, busy human, vehicular traffic on national highway, weaknesses in corridor protection or RoP domination, and lack of hardened vehicles (with bullet-proof plating on the side), giving advantage to the militants to wait on a stand-by, hit and run or conduct a fidayeen attack.

"Some diabolic military minds in Pakistan have identified the RoP as a major weakness, and its being exploited,'' said former GOC 15 Corps Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain adding that the actual procedure for RoP as laid down in theory is not followed anywhere in the Indian conflict theatres of Kashmir, North East or Naxal affected region, as it is expensive in terms of troop deployment.

The forces have overcome IED attacks on road since 2008 when a remote controlled IED blew up an army convoy killing 9. "The only way to prevent attacks on convoys, is to strengthen the ROP procedures and corridor protection, increase the density of the troops and carry troops in hardened vehicles,'' Lt Gen Hasnain said.