A Security jawan stands guard atop a vehicle in Srinagar during the 105th day of curfew and restrictions imposed to prevent protests after Friday prayers. (Photo: PTI)
Security forces will conduct Baramulla-like search operations in other parts of the Kashmir Valley to hunt down at least 28 over ground workers (OGWs) who have been identified following detailed investigations into the recent violence which had rocked the Valley for almost three months, killing more than 70 people.
The Union home ministry has also asked the security forces to launch a massive offensive to break the “network of OGWs”.’
OGW is a terminology used by the security forces in the Valley for sympathisers and those providing logistical support to the agitations, like the one witnessed recently, though they are not involved in armed operations against security forces.
According to information available with security agencies, sources said, these 28 OGWs had played a key role in instigating and mobilising stone-pelters during agitations in the Valley.
Multiple agencies, including National Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau, have been investigating the recent agitation and its source of funding. The home ministry, in a clear directive, has asked the security forces to ensure that agitation of the magnitude witnessed in the past few months should get repeated again at any cost.
The Baramulla raids were also necessitated as information available with security forces operating in the Valley suggests that subversive elements along with these OGWs were once again trying to trigger a fresh round of agitation in the Valley.
Incidents of stone-pelting and the agitation had subsided significantly following the Uri attach and subsequent surgical strikes by the Army across border. But now intelligence reports suggest that attempts were being made to start a fresh round of massive agitation.
Even though security forces detained 44 people during a search operation on Tuesday, the first of its kind in a decade, they could not trace the 28 OGWs.
Initial information had suggested that these OGWs could be hiding in some localities of Baramulla, but it seems they managed to give the security forces the slip. Though security agencies claim to have received important information during the Baramulla raids they could not track down the OGWs for whom the raids were primarily conducted.
