Kashmir

Three districts in Kashmir have zero active militants, says ADGP Kumar

SRINAGAR — Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar on Saturday said that three districts in Kashmir including Bandipora, Kupwara and Ganderbal have zero active militants currently even as two prominent militant organisations, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed, have gone headless after security forces neutralised their operatives and commanders.

The Kashmir region that comprises 13 police districts has 81 militants at present with 29 being local while 52 are of foreign origin (Pakistanis), he said.

He was interacting with a group of visiting journalists at the police control room here. We are very hopeful of eradicating terrorism from Kashmir in the next two years, he said.

Officials said Farooq Nalli, a Hizbul Mujahideen top operative, has been the only active commander since 2015 and he is on the radar of the police, the Army and the CRPF.

Police officials said the achievement in neutralising senior militant operatives can be gauged from the fact that while there were 80 top commanders in Kashmir about two years ago, there are only three now. Apart from Nalli, the two others are inactive.

Kumar added that there were about 15-18 active “hybrid” militants. Most of these “hybrid” militants are located in South Kashmir area comprising Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag districts, officials said.

“We have busted as many as 119 modules this year,” ADGP Kumar said. According to latest police data, there were 99 local recruitments in militant ranks in Kashmir this year. — (PTI)