Jammu: Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh, on Friday said there were indications that militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba could be behind the drone attack on Jammu Air Force Station.
He said that at present the drone attack investigation was in progress.
“We’ve not reached any conclusive stage so as to say who is actually involved. But we have the past history of Lashkar using drones to drop weapons, narcotics on this side. It has a past record to drop ready-made IEDs to be planted at various locations. So we suspect that in this case also LeT may be involved,” he said.
Singh stated that on the very day when the twin attack at Air Force Station took place, the police had captured a module which was to be delivered an IED from across the border.
Responding to queries as to how big a threat the use of drones was and how it was being countered, the DGP said, “Drone is a big security threat. It has been used by anti-national elements. It has been used by militants to bring weapons and IEDs. We’re trying to take counter measures.”
With regard to the surge in anti-militancy operations and encounters in the Valley, the DGP said, “What our inputs suggest and what we’ve learnt on that basis, I would say that you would see more and more encounters taking place to eliminate the enemies of peace. Our effort is to eliminate all those who are targeting innocent people, those who are involved in militant or subversive activities and are working either at the behest of outside agencies or are colluding with them to make J&K a violence ridden place. So this process to eliminate them is on and will be further expedited.”
He admitted that the ceasefire agreement was actually being implemented on the ground but there was no let-up in other subversive activities on the borders.
On the question of recruitment of local militants in Kashmir, the DGP said, “Recruitment of local militants is on, though there’s a significant reduction as compared to the past. We’re making all out efforts to engage those youth who have been indoctrinated by these elements. In the wake of these efforts, I believe we’ll be able to bring local recruitment to zero in the days to come.”