Director General of Police Dilbag Singh on Monday said 88 militants were killed and 280 others arrested so far this year.
Twenty-two of the militants, including six top commanders, were killed in the past two weeks, Singh said. “Our strategy to counter-Pakistan is two-pronged, which is to stop infiltration along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB) and tackle those who are active in the hinterland, besides stopping local youth from joining their ranks. Thankfully, we are successful to a large extent in this endeavour,” he told reporters here.
Referring to the killing of nine Hizbul Mujahideen militants in two back-to-back operations in the past 24 hours in Shopian district of South Kashmir, the police chief said the effort of the security forces is to control and wipe out militancy from Jammu and Kashmir.
“The 22 militants, especially the six top commanders who were killed in nine major operations in the past two weeks, had created fear among people. They have a long list of crimes to their credit like killing of innocent civilians after dubbing them as informers and attacks on security forces, entering homes of people forcibly. Their elimination will bring a big relief to people in south Kashmir,” he said.
Of these 22 militants, 18 were killed in South Kashmir districts of Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian alone, while three were killed along the LoC in Nowshera sector and one more in Kalakote sector of Rajouri district of Jammu region, the DGP said.
Complimenting police and other security agencies for the successful anti-militancy operations, he said so far 88 militants were killed in 36 anti-militancy operations, while 40 militant associates who were either openly working for militants or were part of their support system were arrested.
In addition, he said, 240 over ground workers (OGW) of militants who were instigating people to create law and order problems, providing logistic support and creating hindrance in conduct of search operations and arranging hideouts for militants were also arrested and some of them were booked under the Public Safety Act.
The police chief said all the security forces operating in Jammu and Kashmir are working on “mission peace” to provide better atmosphere to people.
“We are working overtime for the establishment of peace,” he said and lauded the forces for scuttling an attempt to carry out a Pulwama-type car bomb attack on the security forces last month.
“The IED was fabricated by Fouji Bhai, who was also known as Idris and Abdul Rehman, and was killed in one of the recent encounters. They attempted to strike with the car bomb on the highway twice but were unsuccessful both the times due to our alertness,” Singh said.
He said intelligence inputs revealed that JeM militants are planning more such attacks and accordingly “all the forces have been put on alert”.
In response to another question, he said the militants in the valley are facing shortage of weapons as those joining their ranks are being provided pistols and grenades instead of assault rifles but attempts are being made continuously to smuggle arms from across the border.
He said the Chenab Valley districts of Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar in Jammu region have almost been cleared of militancy once again.
“The Chenab Valley has reached a stage where it will be declared terrorism free-shortly. No militant presence is in Ramban, one militant namely Masood from Doda is active in Kashmir, while three militants — Riyaz, Jehangir Saroori, Mudasir — are active in Kishtwar and are on the run. We are hopeful of clearing the area of terrorism,” the DGP said.
The DGP Singh said Pakistan was trying to revive the Al-Badr group after floating “The Resistance Front” (TRF) in the recent past.
However, he said there was no information suggesting the Afghan Taliban joining militancy activities in the valley.
“Pakistan is trying to revive the Al-Badr terror outfit, which was decimated long back, over the past couple of months after forming the TRF, which we call the ‘Terrorist Revival Front’. They are trying to give it an indigenous colour,” the police chief told reporters here.
He said most of the people joining the TRF are from the LeT and JeM.
“The TRF militants who have been killed in the recent past have turned out to be members of LeT, JeM and Hizbul Mujahideen. We are alive to the conspiracies and attempts of revival are being taken care of,” he said.
“Pakistan is trying to consolidate the militant ranks and trying a new flavour to show that it is indigenous. It is trying to rope in more and more local youngsters. Luckily for us, our efforts and good rapport with the public have frustrated their designs,” the DGP said.