The ‘global terrorist’tag on Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar would impact militancy in Kashmir,Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh said.
“It will have vitalramifications not only at the international level but in the Valley as well,”Singh said and added that the police will continue to deal with Jaish underlaw.
After the UN designatingAzhar as ‘global terrorist’, Singh said the outfit would now face more pressureand logistical and other problems.
“We are aggressivelypursuing counter-terror operations against Jaish in Kashmir and have killedover two dozen leaders and cadres in recent months. All this is bound to have acumulative effect, affecting Jaish’s position and capabilities in Kashmir,”Singh said.
Pakistan, Singh added,would now be required to freeze the funds and financial assets of Azhar,enforce a travel ban on him, and cut off his access to arms and relatedmaterials.
“When there is no accessto arms and related materials, it will impact outfit’s terror activities in theValley,” he said.
Azhar had created Jaishbarely three months after he was released by the government as part of a swapdeal to secure the release of over 150 passengers aboard an Indian Airlinesflight hijacked to Kandahar in 1999. The militant outfit has carried out most ‘fidayeen’attacks in Kashmir, many of which have inflicted high casualties of securityforces in valley.
The records availablewith police reveal that Jaish currently has around 45-50 leaders and cadres inthe Valley, of which two-thirds are foreigners. The records add that so farthis year over 72 militants have been killed and 12 have been apprehended.
It adds that post Pulwama suicide attack over 47 militants have been killed and out of them 28 belonged to Jaish.
General OfficerCommanding (GOC) of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen Kanwal Jeet SinghDhillon recently said after the killing of more than a dozen top commandersof Jaish, post Pulwama attack, no one inKashmir is coming forward to take over its leadership in the Valley.