No change in anti-militancy operations in Kashmir, reveal security officials

‘We continue to act on specific inputs to catch militants, many on our radar, 125 militants killed this year so far’

Srinagar, July 15 (KNO) : Top security officials Monday revealed that there was no change in the anti-militancy strategy in Kashmir and the specific human intelligence operations will continue despite the ongoing annual pilgrimage of Amarnath Yatra.

Since past over a week, Kashmir witnessed no encounter triggering a question whether the security agencies in Kashmir have decided to put the anti-militancy operations in Kashmir on a hold in the wake of ongoing Amarnath Yatra and the tourist season.

The Yatra that started on July 1, is going on peacefully and in the first fortnight, 1.80 lakh yatris have performed the darshan at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath located in the Himalayan mountain range in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

At the same time, Kashmir has also witnessed a surge in the number of tourist arrival while official figures released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) have suggested that there was a significant improvement in the overall situation in Kashmir as stone pelting incidents, local militancy and the infiltration has shown a considerable dip this year there by creating a peaceful atmosphere in Kashmir.

“There is absolutely no change in the security forces’ strategy against militants. We will continue to act against militants. Information continues to flow and we are launching specific intelligence both human and technical intelligence based anti-militancy operations in the Valley,” a top security expert told KNO, wishing not to be named. He said that there was no change in the security grid’s plan. “We are fully capable to conduct both, peaceful Yatra as well as the anti-militancy operations.”

He said perhaps the left over militants have gone into hiding given the series of successful operations against them that saw the killing of `125 militants this year so far including the 35 militants, who were from the Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit. “Among the slain were at last 25 top commanders of various outfits which caused a major dent to militancy,” he said. “Many militants are on our radar and they will be eliminated soon.”

He ruled out that anti-militancy operations were on a hold due to ongoing Yatra and tourism season. Another officer said that acting on an input, a cordon and search was launched in a village in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district. “However, no contact was established with the militants. So the operation as called off,” he told KNO.

Pertinently, the MHA recently claimed that there was a 40 per cent decline in the local militant recruitment while as street protests too had gone down. The infiltration according to security officials this year is also zero, as already reported by the KNO, first time in last one decade.(KNO)