New Delhi, Dec 13: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Thursday said the militant outfits Hizbul-Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba still remain to be the “dominant” militant groups operating in “some parts of Jammu and Kashmir” despite the situation showing improvement.
Stating this at the Home Ministry’s Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting here, Shinde said “these militant groups are mostly operating in districts of Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipore, Anantnag and Pulwama in Kashmir and Poonch, Ramban and Rajouri in Jammu region.”
“This issue is being addressed from the security point of view and also taken up diplomatically with Pakistan,” he said.
Referring to the ‘counter-measures’, he said the State and Central governments have taken many steps to address the problem. “Many steps have been taken to tackle this challenge and neutralize the efforts and capabilities of militants and others to disturb peace in the State by inciting people towards violent agitations and protests against the duly-elected institutions and authority,” Shinde said.
The PCC members deliberated in detail on the current security scenario in the State, infiltration, border encounters, incidents of stone-pelting and hawala-funding. “The coordination amongst security agencies, modernization of state police forces, visit of the All-Party delegation to the State, reports of interlocutors and action on these reports were also discussed in the meeting,” the sources said.
The issues of rehabilitation of displaced persons and surrendered militants, and also the speedy implementation of Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Programme and Package for Return and Rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants to the State, were also discussed.
The meeting was informed that the level of militancy, which was at its peak during 1990s and started declining from 2003 onwards, is “at lowest in terms of incidents as well as causalities of the civilians and security forces.”
Shinde attributed the improved conditions to the “coordinated efforts of various security agencies and desire among the people of the State for peace.”

Lastupdate on : Thu, 13 Dec 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:00:00 IST