As he deftly places his fingers on the trigger of a Self Loading Rifle, it is time to overcome the hostility of the rough terrain and a sagging morale. Virtually cut off from rest of the civilisation, Kumar and his team are fighting to shrug off the fatigue caused by fighting in the tiny inaccessible hamlet on the Peer Panjal.

The lives of Kumar and his team revolves around the number of militants they kill or the number of agonising casualties they face in this godforsaken place where habitation is hardly visible. Tales of fighting it out in the hardest of conditions are reverberating in some of the inaccessible areas of Udhampur and adjoining Doda districts. ``For months, we are virtually cut off from the rest of the world. The only contact we establish is when we receive somesupplies either through choppers or through our men who trek hundreds of kilometres for days together,'' says an army jawan posted in the Mahu Mangat area of the Doda district.

Some find it difficult to bear the hardships, but for some it is a continuous exercise to keep themselves in a right frame of mind. Jagrup Singh of BSF, posted in Dewal Marg, peps up his sagging confidence by counting the number of militants he has killed.

But deep down, there is a mounting frustration. ``At times, it surely is frustrating, but we won't give up,'' he says. Forty seven-year-old Prabhat Singh, Sub Divisional Police Officer, Mahore ,in-charge of the Special Task Force feels he has had enough. ``I have spent most of my life in jungles, chasing militants. It does get on my nerves and I want to just bid adieu. But, the challenge is really addictive and every time we get a message about the militants, it is time to toughen up, to perform what is nothing short of a miracle.''