Jammu And Kashmir Sees Longest Anti-Terror Operation This Year, Several Left Homeless

In Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian, the longest-running anti-terror operation this year has left a trail of destruction. It took security forces three days to flush out two local terrorists in a village, about 60 km from Srinagar.

Several families were left homeless in three days as the security operations ended on Monday. Smoke is still billowing out of the debris at the encounter site in Rawalpora village.

Vilayat Lone, alias Sajad Afghani, was one of the terrorists shot dead; he was a resident of Rawalpora village. His father's home is among the houses burnt down in fire during the encounter.

Police have recovered a US-made M4 rifle and other arms and ammunition from the encounter site.

During the encounter, police said, terrorists were given a chance to surrender but they refused to come out and lay down arms. Over the last few years, destroying houses - where terrorists take shelter - has been used as an effective strategy to capture or kill terrorists.

Villagers, however, say they become vulnerable. Sixty-year-old Ghulam Mohammad Lone said his three-story house was destroyed in fire. 

He is also pained over the loss of his livestock in the blaze. "Whatever my father and my grandfather and I had built was destroyed. My cow, my three sheep and other belongings were burnt," said Ghulam Mohammad Lone.

At Rawalpora village, seven families have become homeless.

Twenty-year-old Nusrat and her two sisters are now without a shelter. She says they are orphans and don't have any means to rebuilt a home "No terrorist was in our home. We had no links with those killed in the encounter. We have no breadwinner," she said.

Locals have now started crowdfunding campaign to rebuild homes. A large number of people are visiting Rawalpora village to offer help and make donations.