SUMMARY
- A high-altitude encounter is underway in Bihali just days before the Amarnath Yatra, triggering major security alerts.
- The operation follows April’s Pahalgam massacre and India’s retaliatory Operation Sindoor across the LoC.
- Experts warn of shifting terror routes and sleeper networks in the Jammu sector, raising fresh concerns.
Amarnath Yatra on Edge: Bihali Clash Heightens Pre-Yatra Security Anxiety
An intense military engagement erupted in the rugged forested terrain of Bihali in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district on Thursday, marking the latest escalation in India’s widening anti-terror efforts. Named Operation Bihali, the joint action by the Indian Army’s White Knight Corps and local police units comes just a week before the scheduled start of the annual Amarnath Yatra on July 3—a pilgrimage drawing tens of thousands of devotees into the high-altitude heart of Kashmir.
The timing of the operation is no coincidence. Authorities are working against a ticking clock to prevent another catastrophic security lapse, like the one that unfolded in April in Pahalgam, where 26 civilians were gunned down by Pakistani terrorists. With India’s internal security services still recovering from the fallout of that attack, the encounter in Bihali underscores the unresolved tensions brewing beneath the Himalayan ridgelines.
Security officials revealed that contact had been established with a group of armed militants hiding in the area, believed to be part of an infiltrating cell potentially linked to the same network responsible for the Pahalgam bloodbath. The intelligence trail that led to Bihali reportedly involved intercepts from drones, satellite movement logs, and human intelligence fed by recent arrests.
Op BIHALI
— White Knight Corps (@Whiteknight_IA) June 26, 2025
Based on specific intelligence, a joint operation was launched by #IndianArmy and @JmuKmrPolice in the Bihali area of #Basantgarh.
Contact has been established with #terrorists. The #operation is currently in progress.@adgpi@NorthernComd_IA pic.twitter.com/bEbi8O0bu1
From Pahalgam to Bihali: Inside India’s Expanding Counter-Terror Matrix
- India’s Operation Sindoor targeted nine terror camps in PoK and Pakistan’s Punjab on May 7.
- Crackdowns post-Pahalgam have led to arrests of local collaborators providing shelter and logistics.
- Bihali’s topography resembles high-altitude hideouts used during the 1999 Kargil intrusion.
The Operation Bihali Jammu 2025 encounter is the latest node in a growing counter-terror strategy that has become increasingly assertive since the April 22 Pahalgam attack, where militants opened fire on unarmed tourists. That incident—carried out by Pakistani nationals, later confirmed by the NIA—triggered an intelligence and military recalibration on an unprecedented scale.
On May 7, India executed Operation Sindoor, a retaliatory strike deep inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and parts of Punjab, targeting nine known terrorist hubs. Over 100 terrorists were neutralized in coordinated drone and precision artillery attacks. These strikes—heavily publicized in Indian and global media—were meant to deter further cross-border infiltration. But the renewed encounter in Bihali suggests otherwise.
Strategically located near the pilgrimage route to the Amarnath cave shrine, Bihali’s forested and mountainous geography makes it a classic guerilla infiltration zone. The terrain has a historical resonance, evoking memories of high-altitude operations during the 1999 Kargil War, when Pakistani intrusions exploited similar topographies to devastating effect.
The arrest of two local men earlier this week for sheltering the April attackers has confirmed a disturbing reality: sleeper cells and logistics support networks remain active inside Jammu and Kashmir, despite multiple clean-up operations. Authorities believe these networks are vital to enabling the kind of long-distance infiltration and sustained terror planning that the Bihali cell was likely preparing for.
Tactical Calculations and Political Signals: What Operation Bihali Really Means
- Jammu region, once relatively calm, is now a frontline in the evolving militancy geography.
- Amarnath Yatra’s symbolic value makes it a perennial target for proxy actors.
- Operation Bihali sends a message to both domestic and international audiences.
The clash in Bihali is more than just a field operation—it’s a strategic signal. To India’s own citizens, it is a message of zero-tolerance ahead of a religious event whose security implications have long been entangled in Kashmir’s militancy narrative. The Amarnath Yatra, winding through volatile zones like Anantnag and Baltal, has been attacked before—in 2017, 8 pilgrims were killed in a similar ambush. This year, authorities are determined to preempt rather than react.
To Pakistan and its military-backed proxies, Operation Bihali is an extension of India’s “New Normal” doctrine: don’t wait to be attacked, act on intelligence, and neutralize threats in real time. With the LoC witnessing record ceasefire violations and drone infiltrations, India’s strategy appears to be shifting from defensive postures to proactive forest and border clearance.
To the international community—especially after the Iran-Israel conflict has redirected global attention—this is India’s way of asserting that terrorism within its borders remains a live threat, and that statecraft must adapt to a hybrid threat landscape: physical, digital, and ideological.
Between Mountains and Militancy: A Fragile Calm or the New Normal?
As Operation Bihali continues, it forces us to confront a hard truth: Jammu is no longer immune. While Kashmir has long borne the brunt of militancy, the spillover into Jammu’s districts like Udhampur signals a reconfiguration of terror geography, possibly influenced by tighter surveillance in traditional infiltration routes.
India may win the battle in Bihali in the coming days. But the war—in intelligence dens, on encrypted messaging apps, in sleeper cell safehouses—will continue. The question now is: How many more such encounters must unfold before the region truly breaks the cycle?
