{"id":181008,"date":"2025-08-10T19:23:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T14:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/?p=181008"},"modified":"2025-08-10T19:23:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T14:23:15","slug":"article-kulgam-operation-a-case-study-in-indias-incompetence-and-propaganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/2025\/08\/10\/article-kulgam-operation-a-case-study-in-indias-incompetence-and-propaganda.html","title":{"rendered":"Article: Kulgam Operation: A Case Study in India\u2019s Incompetence and Propaganda"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By: Arshad Mir<\/strong>
\nIn the occupied Jammu and Kashmir\u2019s southern Kulgam Operation district of Kulgam, the Indian Army has been conducting a massive operation in the upper Akhal region for the past two weeks now. The operation involves a huge deployment of army troops, paramilitary forces, police personnel, and elite Para commandos, along with bomb-proof, armored, and high-intensity lighting vehicles, as well as choppers and drones, all used on a war-like scale.
\nThe scale of the operation is evident from the fact that the Northern Command chief, Lieutenant General Prateek Sharma, and Police Chief Nalin Prabhat have both visited the area, assessed the situation, and motivated the troops. The Indian Army claims that militants are hiding in the dense forests of the region, leading to a prolonged encounter.
\nAs in numerous similar past operations, the local population has been forcibly evacuated, while the media has been kept 10 kilometers away, making it impossible for independent sources to report on the developments. Whatever the Indian Army feeds to its media becomes the \u201cnews.\u201d
\nEven so, this operation has exposed the Indian Army in several ways and raised numerous questions that, if no one else, the Indian public should at least be asking.
\nThe operation, which began last Friday, has seen multiple claims by the Indian Army of having inflicted damage on the alleged militants. For example, on August 8, the Chinar Corps of Indian Army stated in a press release that two alleged militants had been killed and two Indian soldiers injured. However, due to the rains and dense, inaccessible forest, neither the bodies of the slain militants were recovered nor could they be identified.
\nOn August 9, another press release claimed that two soldiers and one \u201cterrorist\u201d had been killed, yet again without the recovery or identification of the militant\u2019s body.
\nThis is not the first time the Indian Army has had to conduct a weeks-long, full-scale military operation against what it describes as \u201ca few trapped militants.\u201d There are many similar examples:
\nIn January 2009, the Indian Army carried out a nine-day operation against such \u201ctrapped militants\u201d in which it confirmed the deaths of four of its soldiers (including one JCO) and claimed to have killed four Mujahideen. Yet, it admitted that their bodies were not recovered from the encounter site. The operation was ended on the tenth day.
\nNearly 13 years later, in October 2021, a similar operation was launched in the Dera Ki Gali forest area of Surankote tehsil, Poonch district. This operation lasted for two weeks. By the Indian Army\u2019s own account, nine of its personnel, including two JCO’s, were killed. The operation saw heavy use of troops, Para commandos, paramilitary forces, helicopters, drones, and other war equipment.
\nIndian newspapers such as The Hindu reported at the time:
\n\u201cDrones and advanced weaponry are being used to locate terrorists hiding in the forest, but there is no clear information on the ground situation. The army has only issued written statements so far, and journalists are not being allowed within 11 km of the encounter site.\u201d
\nThe prolonged nature of the operation and the lack of tangible results led to speculation in the Indian media that:
\n\u201cIt is possible that the prolonged deployment of the Indian Army in eastern Ladakh due to tensions with China has weakened the counter-infiltration grid along the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir.\u201d (The Hindu)
\nTo cover up, the Indian Army even fed the press a story, saying:
\n\u201cThe area consists of dense forests, and according to experts, the intensity of the firefight suggests that a large group of terrorists is present. Some experts believe the ground operation is possibly being led by Pakistani Army officers.\u201d
\nThe then Indian Army Chief, General M.M. Naravane, visited the area, assessed the situation, stayed for two days, and then returned to Delhi. After this, the army began its so-called \u201cfinal action\u201d, which turned out to be the staged killing of Zia Mustafa, a citizen of Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir, who had been imprisoned in Kot Bhalwal Jail for 14 years.
\nThe army claimed that Zia was being taken to the area to identify his \u201cassociates\u201d who opened fire resulting in the killing of Zia.
\nWas it possible that Mustafa had maintained contact with his \u201cassociates\u201d from jail, and that they had been operating in the same area for 14 years, still recognizable to him? Was there no change in the militant ranks over such a long period?
\nWas the mighty Indian Army so incompetent that it could not eliminate Mustafa\u2019s \u201cassociates\u201d in 14 years?
\nAt the time, neither the Indian media nor the public asked these questions, and they still are not being asked today regarding Kulgam operation.
\nBefore even questioning whether these encounters are genuine, one must first ask about the competence of the Indian Army.
\nIs it acceptable to any that the world\u2019s second-largest army by manpower and the fourth-strongest in weaponry, with nearly seven decades of counter-insurgency experience in occupied Jammu & Kashmir and India\u2019s northeastern states, is so inept that it requires days or even weeks to neutralize a handful of poorly armed, untrained militants, despite having them completely surrounded?
\nWho will answer this Himalayan-sized question that where do these Mujahideen or \u201cAtankeez,\u201d besieged for weeks, get their food, water, and ammunition to keep fighting? How do they meet basic physical needs, including sleep? Are they robots?
\nWho actually are they? Where do they come from? Where do they get their training and weapons? How many have ever been to Pakistan?
\nIf the Indian government genuinely wants to know, and to prove it to the world, why not invite an international agency to investigate? At the very least, determine what proportion of Kashmiri youth have taken up arms since 9\/11, whether they are locals or outsiders, and, most crucially, why have they picked up arms in the first place?
\nIt is important to recall here that when Mehbooba Mufti was Chief Minister of J&K, she presented detailed written answers in the state assembly showing how much and what type of weaponry had gone missing from government armories in recent years, and how many weapons had been snatched from police and security personnel. Has there ever been a serious investigation into where these weapons went, who obtained them, and who within the system was selling arms from government stockpiles?
\nIf, according to Indian allegations and propaganda, all of this is orchestrated by Pakistan and these are \u201cterrorists\u201d sent from Pakistan, then why are they almost always killed in military operations instead of being captured alive, especially when capturing them could substantiate India\u2019s narrative and accusations?
\nA recent example is the fake encounter at Dachigam, Srinagar, wherein the three killed “terrorists” were accused of murdering tourists in Pahalgam. They were declared Pakistani on the grounds that voter cards and chocolates were recovered from them, although Pakistanis do not have voter cards, and chocolates could not possibly remain fresh for such a long time. There was no investigation, no judicial process, no forensics, no DNA testing, no credible identification, merely the declaration that they were Pakistani. And if someone in Parliament questions how they were determined to be Pakistani or how this encounter is beyond suspicion, they are silenced with: \u201cDo you not trust the statement of our Army, Home Minister, and Defence Minister?\u201d
\nYet, on numerous occasions, the Indian Army, government, and media have themselves claimed that infiltration has stopped entirely. For example:
\n\uf0b7In October 2007, Lt. Gen. T. K. Sapru, Commander of 16 Corps (Nagrota), said that due to effective fencing and surveillance, infiltration had been brought down to \u201calmost zero.\u201d (Source: UPI)
\n\uf0b7In June 2011, Lt. Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain, Commander of 15 Corps, said that for the first time in 20 years, infiltration into the Kashmir Valley was \u201czero\u201d and that no militant had crossed over that year. (Source: The Indian Express)
\n\uf0b7In 2015, Lt. Gen. Subrata Saha, Commander of 15 Corps, stated that for the first time since the beginning of the insurgency in Kashmir, not a single infiltrator had entered the Valley in the past seven months. (Source: The Indian Express)
\n\uf0b7In April 2021, The New Indian Express reported that for the second consecutive year, infiltration across the Line of Control during the first three months of the year was \u201czero,\u201d owing to advanced anti-infiltration measures and heavy snowfall in winter.
\nSo why continue blaming Pakistan?
\nIs it simply an easy way to cover up incompetence, or the perfect method to \u201cjustify\u201d military spending?<\/p>\n

If, from 2007 to 2021, a span of 14 years, Indian Army commanders publicly confirmed no infiltration, then whom did the army kill in its operations, and on what basis did the government keep accusing Pakistan?
\nIndia\u2019s 2011 census estimates the number of Kashmiri youth aged 16\u201330 to be 3.4 million. The Indian Army recently claimed that only 80 militants remain active in Jammu and Kashmir. If we calculate the percentage, 80 out of 3.4 million is just 0.000024%. Is this minuscule percentage enough to justify imposing a 1-million-strong force over the entire Kashmiri population and subjecting them to relentless oppression?
\nDoes it make any sense to deploy a million troops and wage massive, round-the-clock, costly operations against only 80 fighters?
\nDoes this not prove that India\u2019s real fight is with the entire Kashmiri nation, since all Kashmiris seek freedom, and militancy is merely used as a pretext?
\nIt is said that in the past 35 years, at most 60,000 Kashmiri youth have ever taken up arms, just 1.76% of the total. Yet, even with 1 million troops, draconian laws, and absolute freedom to commit atrocities, India has failed to eliminate even this small fraction in three and a half decades. Where, then, does the responsibility for this failure lie?
\nIs this not shameful incompetence? And is propaganda against Pakistan simply a way to hide it?
\nHow long will India continue to shield itself behind accusations against Pakistan and falsely portray the Kashmiris\u2019 legitimate, indigenous movement as foreign-sponsored terrorism?
\nThe tendency of India\u2019s political and security establishment to implicate Pakistan in every domestic problem is part of a calculated narrative designed to inflame public sentiment, silence dissenting voices, and mask its own failures. While this may bring short-term political gains, in the long run, it damages India\u2019s credibility. Repeated baseless accusations not only raise doubts about its investigative and governance capabilities but also give the impression that the \u201cworld\u2019s largest democracy\u201d cannot solve its own problems. In this way, India only exposes its own shortcomings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Arshad Mir In the occupied Jammu and Kashmir\u2019s southern Kulgam Operation district of Kulgam, the Indian Army has been conducting a massive operation in the upper Akhal region for the past two weeks now. The operation involves a huge deployment of army troops, paramilitary forces, police personnel, and elite Para commandos, along with bomb-proof, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":181020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}