-Men are away—daily wage work, orchards, road crews, even service jobs outside the district.
-Women stay closer to home. That’s when terrorists on recce or ration-hunting skirt village peripheries.
-First contact? Almost always with women.

-Fetching water, collecting firewood and fodder, grazing goats, walking to ration shops, anganwadis, shrines.
-These paths run along forest fringes and nullahs—the exact corridors terrorists prefer.
-Women’s repeated trips create a “high refresh rate” of micro-terrain awareness—fresh footprints, plastic wrappers, new shelters, unfamiliar faces stand out.

-ASHA workers, Anganwadi staff, SHG leaders, ration-shop committees. Mostly women.
-These networks meet often, cut across Gujjar, Bakarwal, Dogra, Pahari lines.
-Soft observations travel quickly—quietly—but effectively.

-Working-age men migrate for jobs.
-Male herders move out with flocks in season.
-Who’s left behind as the constant village “sensor layer”? The women.
-And that’s when small terrorist cells are probing routes.