Defence expert Lt. Gen. Rameshwar Roy on Thursday spoke on the developments in the Pampore encounter and said that the security forces will neutralize them in time in order to minimize casualties.
"See, first of all we must understand that whenever the terrorists are got caught in the cordon of security forces, you know that the numbers are very small and they are not more than two to three, whereas the security forces are much more than that. So, once they have been trapped, then security forces are not in a hurry to neutralize them," Lt. Gen. Roy said.
The reason is very simple. The moment you try to neutralize them, they are well hidden where they are. You will suffer more causality. Therefore, the efforts of the security forces remain to neutralize the security forces without suffering any causality to our own troops. This is the reason why these operations take time. In any case, what's the hurry? Let them exhaust all the ammunitions and rations they have," he added.
"In Pampore at present, they are trapped in a building, which has more than 60 rooms and they are shifting rooms from one to the other. If the security forces enter room by room, there will suffer more causalities, so what is the hurry?" he added.
The massive siege on the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) building in Pampore, Jammu and Kashmir, continued for the third day on Wednesday as security forces neutralised two terrorists and continued operations to flush out the remaining extremists.
Around three terrorists have been holed up inside the EDI building and counter operations have been underway for over 48 hours now to neutralise them.
The government building now lies in an almost destroyed form as it is peppered with bullets and heavy gunfire. Several floors in the multi-storeyed building now lie damaged following several explosions.
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"It is believed that one terrorist has already been killed and that they have shifted to 6th and 7th floor. So, security forces will take action depending on when they are in a tactically better suited position to neutralize all these terrorists without suffering any casualties to all troops and this is how all these operations are conducted. So, I think there is no need for people to speculate," Roy said, while speaking to ANI.
Reiterating what Lt. Gen. Rameshwar Roy said, another Major General (retd.) SR Sinho who is also a Defence expert said that the Pampore complex is very big and is in close proximity to a large number of civilians, so the security forces are carefully taking steps forward.
"I believe the encounter between the terrorists and the security forces which started on Monday morning is still going on. It is very clear that the EDI complex in Pampore is a very big complex, seven storied building with several rooms and not only that, as I said, and the area is very vast. Some terrorists are holed up in this building and security forces are not taking risks. That is why they are going slow in this process. Another reason is that this area is surrounded by a large number of civilians that is why they are careful not to inflict any causality and no civilian deaths. I think it is going on and I think this counter encounter should finish today," Sinho said, while speaking to ANI on Wednesday.
The terrorists, who had entered the EDI complexes in the wee hours on Monday, had fired upon the security forces triggering an encounter.
According to reports, the terrorists arrived at the EDI complex from the rear using a boat on the Jhelum. An army jawan and a policeman were injured in the operation. Security forces used mortar shells, light machine guns and other small arms to flush out the terrorists but so far have only neutralised two.
This is the second time this year that the EDI complex has come under fire, as in February the terrorists had taken shelter in the main building after attacking a CRPF convoy on the highway at Pampore.
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