Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): Over 100 terrorists including top commanders have been killed in encounters with security forces in J&K this year, and Army will continue with its operations to wipe out militancy from Kashmir to restore peace in the Valley, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Srinagar-based Chinar Corps, Lt. Gen. BS Raju said today.
Addressing a joint press conference at Army’s 15 Corps headquarters here, Lt Gen Raju said that over the past 24 hours, security forces were able to neutralise eight militants in two separate encounters in south Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian districts.
“In one of the encounters, where militants had gone inside a mosque, the forces on ground exercised extreme restraint and no damage was caused to the religious place. With every operation, we are moving on the path of peace. I can feel it on the ground that there is a palpable difference in the situation,” the top army commander said.
Flanked by Director General of Police (J&K) Dilbagh Singh, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar and IG CRPF Rajesh Kumar, the GoC said that successful operations are taking place with the active support of people. “In the next few months, we will try to ensure that the normalcy is restored in full across the Valley so that people resume all kinds of activities in a peaceful manner,” Raju said.
He said that this year so far, 102 militants have been killed in various operations. “There have been only one or two civilian casualties and that’s because of the extra-ordinary restraint exercised by the forces on ground,” he said. “This year, 49 youths had joined various militant ranks of which 27 were killed. It doesn’t give us a pleasure to kill young boys. But if anybody picks up arms we will do what we are doing.”
The GoC said that there was a limited success in persuading the youth who get trapped in encounters, to surrender. “But we have been able to prevent the new recruitment and to identify those behind the militant recruitment in Kashmir. My appeal to the people across Kashmir is to come forward and help us in preventing youth from treading the wrong path and to bring back those who have picked up arms,” he said, adding, “we assure them proper rehabilitation.”
Speaking on the occasion, J&K DGP Dilbagh Singh said, “During this year, there were a number of successful operations against militants and most of them were clean with least collateral damage. For that, I would like to compliment field officers who remain physically present during the operation,” the DGP said.
Seconding the GoC’s statement, the J&K police chief said that killing a local terrorist doesn’t bring pleasure to forces, nor to the slain militant’s family and the civil society. “But a person with a gun is a threat to everybody. There have been a large number of civilian killings and attacks on security forces, we can’t ignore that. We have to take required action and will continue to do that,” Singh said.
The DGP said that the new recruitment into militancy was going down drastically. “This is because of the joint efforts of parents, Police, Army, civil society and officers on ground, who maintain close contact with the families, whose children tread a wrong path,” he said. “The number of youth, who were on the brink of joining militancy, and were brought back on time, is huge.”
On the two anti-militancy operations in the past 24 hours in south Kashmir districts, the DGP said that both the operations were clean and there was no collateral damage. “At Meej, Pampore, local jamia masjid was used by militants, after they ran away from the target house. The field commanders exercised a lot of restraint and kept the area under cordon. They used slightly different tactics and ways to handle the operation and I am happy this morning the operation was over in a clean manner,” he said.
The DGP said that there was not even minute damage to the masjid. “I am glad to see local people hailing the security agencies for the clean operation and not causing any sort of damage to the mosque. Many videos are viral in this regard on social media,” he said. The DGP said that at Shopian district, five militants were killed and they belonged to Hizbul and Lashkar.
“This year, so far over 100 militants were killed. 50 belonged to Hizb and 20 were each from Lashkar and Jaish. Remaining belonged to Ansaar Gazwatul Hind and Al-Badr etc,” he said, adding that in Jammu region almost half-a-dozen militants were killed. “Doda district of Jammu is almost militancy free as there is only one militant active. In Kishtwar, militancy is on its last leg as only three militants are active there.”
The DGP also appealed to the gun-wielding youth willing to surrender to lay their weapons confidentially stating that they would get all the support to lead a new peaceful life. He said that in the coming days, security forces will give full chance to the militants who get trapped in encounters to surrender. “We will give them ample time to think and lay down weapons,” he said.
Also present on the occasion, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar, while replying to a query that whether militancy stands wiped out from South Kashmir, said that there are still 12 more days left for the month to end. “I had stated earlier that from next month, we will shift focus to north Kashmir. Let this month end first. In the remaining days, we will clean remaining militants from the south and accordingly move to the north,” he said.
Replying to a query about the situation in Ladakh, Lt Gen BS Raju said that Army’s 14 Corps is dealing with the situation there. “As far my information is concerned, the situation is under control in Ladakh,” he said.
On whether the new militant outfit ‘The Resistance Front’ was gaining ground in Kashmir, he said there is no organisation by this name and it was just a “social media entity and a combination of Jaish and Lashkar militants.”
The GoC added that frequent ceasefire violations on the LoC were an old strategy of Pakistan to push in more militants into the valley. “I can assure the people of Kashmir that there will be no misadventure allowed either on the LoC or in the hinterland,” he said.
-ARK
