Report Wire

Tag: jammu and kashmir militancy

  • After three-month thaw, an uptick in militancy in Kashmir; June, July see 16 encounters

    AFTER a semblance of tranquility alongside India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir, militancy-related violence has witnessed a spike within the Valley over the past six weeks, together with a rise within the participation of overseas terrorists in assaults on safety forces.
    In 2021, 86 militants had been killed throughout J&Ok. In June and July alone, 36 militants or 45 per cent had been killed in 16 encounters. July has been significantly energetic, witnessing 10 encounters in 20 days, wherein 20 militants had been killed, of which 4 are suspected to be from Pakistan.
    In all this 12 months, the safety forces had been engaged in 36 operations, and of the 86 killed, 80 had been killed in Kashmir and 6 in Jammu. Also half the militants killed had been from LeT.
    In these operations, 15 safety personnel and 19 civilians misplaced their lives this 12 months in militancy-related incidents.
    Notably, the information obtained from authorities sources reveals overseas terrorists (from Pakistan) weren’t concerned in any encounter with safety forces till April. Between April and June, 4 overseas terrorists had been killed in encounters with terrorists. In July, one other 4 FTs had been killed, taking their rely to eight.

    ExplainedSpike not anticipatedThe altering dynamics of militancy in Kashmir coincides with shifting sands within the area’s geopolitics, significantly Pakistan’s personal significance and developments in Afghanistan. It is assumed that uncertainties in Afghanistan early this 12 months and strain from FATF had pressured Pakistan to return to the negotiating desk. Those pressures have eased now.

    India and Pakistan had determined to honour the ceasefire after the DGMOs of the 2 international locations met and issued a joint assertion on February 25. This was seen as a big thaw within the relations between the 2 international locations and was anticipated to translate right into a drop in infiltration and terrorist actions in Kashmir.

    The peace throughout the Valley may, nevertheless, maintain for simply a few months. Sources stated 4 infiltration makes an attempt had been made within the final week; whereas one was foiled, three succeeded and as many as 20 terrorists are learnt to have entered Kashmir.

    In phrases of recruitment, until July 15 this 12 months, 69 people joined the militant ranks in contrast with 85 within the corresponding interval final 12 months. Much of the recruitment has been from the three South Kashmir districts of Kulgam, Shopian, and Pulwama. Overall, in 2020, 174 people turned militants in contrast with 143 in 2019.
    When contacted, Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir, Dilbag Singh stated technological interventions have helped curb recruitment within the Valley in addition to intensification on counter-terrorism operations regardless of Covid-19 pandemic. “We intercepted several people before they could join any terror outfits… In many cases, parents have come to seek help in finding boys that have gone missing. So public trust has increased,” he stated.
    The J&Ok Police information additionally reveals that militancy-related incidents – direct or grenade assaults – are down from 120 within the first six months of 2020 to 84 this 12 months. Further, whereas J&Ok had recorded 937 incidents of ceasefire violation in 2020, this 12 months solely 95 incidents had been recorded, virtually all from earlier than the February 25 settlement.
    According to intelligence studies, there are over 200 terrorists energetic within the Valley with 40 per cent of them having infiltrated from Pakistan. “We are expecting an increase in direct involvement of FTs in attacks in the near future,” the officer stated.

    A senior safety institution officer stated a lot of this needed to do with Pakistan’s altering significance within the area’s geopolitics. “Earlier, Pakistan’s hands were forced in part due to the pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which has continued to keep it in the Grey List. However, with developments in Afghanistan where Taliban is set to take control of the country, Pakistan is being seen as a necessary ally to have for both the Western and regional powers. The FATF pressure too has reduced considerably,” the officer stated.
    In 2020, a complete of 225 militants had been killed by safety forces working in J&Ok. In the course of 103 operations – 90 in Kashmir and 13 in Jammu – 207 militants had been killed within the Valley whereas 18 within the Jammu area. However, the variety of J&Ok police officers killed this 12 months is up. Compared with 15 in 2020, ten policemen have been killed this 12 months together with a sub-inspector, a constable and SPOs.

  • For 8 months, a father in J&Okay has been digging for lacking son’s physique

    A SHOVEL and a spade in hand, he units out from his two-storeyed home. Depending on what he final heard, he chooses a spot and begins digging.
    Manzoor Ahmad Wagay has been digging the earth for the previous eight months now. What he hopes to seek out at some point is his son’s physique — the son who would have been 25 years previous in just a few days.
    On August 2 final yr, Territorial Army soldier Rifleman Shakir Manzoor was travelling between the Balpora and Bahibagh military camps in Shopian space. Since it was Eid day, he stopped to have lunch along with his household on the way in which again and left residence at 5 pm.
    “That is the last time I saw him,” says his father, 56.
    The final time anybody heard from Shakir was about half-an- hour later, when he known as the household and mentioned he had run into some mates and that they need to not fear if his officers known as to ask his whereabouts.
    “I think he had been kidnapped already and he just wanted to talk to us one last time,” says Wagay.
    Hours later that day, Shakir’s charred car was recovered from a area within the neighbouring Kulgam district, about 16 km from his village.
    About seven days later, his garments have been present in a ditch 3 km from the home. Wagay breaks down as he holds out a pair of beige trousers and a brown shirt lined with dried blood and dirt. A chunk of the shirt was discovered contained in the burnt car as effectively which, the household believes, may have been torn within the scuffle of the kidnapping.
    Every week after the killing, an audio clip circulated on social media made unverified claims that “the soldier’s killing and denial of his body to his family was retribution for a similar policy adopted by J&K authorities for militants killed in encounters”.
    On the information, Shakir stays lacking. Amritpal Singh, Superintendent of Police (Shopian), says the “case is under investigation and efforts are on to trace the body”.
    Wagay is satisfied that his son has been killed. “A woman had seen about four men torturing him. Given that and the blood on his clothes, I don’t think he could have survived,” he says.

    Every different day since then, the daddy would hear a couple of sighting from days in the past and take his shovel and head over. At first, native residents would help in his search. But in an space lined with orchards so far as the attention can see, it has been an ordeal.
    Shakir was born to Wagay and Ayesha after 4 daughters. He was the one one with a job and helped out the household after becoming a member of the Territorial Army in 2016, though, the household says, he wished to change into a physician.
    Today, the search has left the household in extreme monetary pressure that has additionally led to Shakir’s youthful brother Shaan (20) dropping out of school in Aligarh. Shaan’s cellphone is filled with pictures along with his older brother together with one from final Eid, in the identical garments they later recovered from the ditch. It was Shaan who first raised the alarm after Shakir’s cellphone was discovered switched off.
    “At some point, we heard that an arrested militant had told authorities that they had buried him next to a canal. So we hired a JCB machine and started looking for his body near every water body we could see,” Shaan says.
    “Police record him as missing. If the search had been conducted more thoroughly in those first few hours, maybe we could have found his body, since he was not killed for at least the first three days,” Wagay says.

    Of the 4 militants suspected of getting kidnapped him, Wagay says he has visited the households of three to ask them the place his son has been buried. “They just say that they are not involved,” he says.
    The father searches for hours day by day and returns to a distraught household. He has now widened his search via the three districts round his village. “I just want to be able to bury my son. Bas hamein yeh tasalli hogi ki woh sukoon se dafn hain (We will at least have the satisfaction of knowing that he is buried in peace).”
    Looking again as soon as extra, he can’t assist however add: “The best apple in the orchard is the one that gets pecked by the birds.”

  • J&Okay: Drop in regulation & order incidents however uptick in militant recruitment

    IN ITS FIRST full yr as the most recent Union Territory of the nation, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed an uptick in recruitment to militant ranks; the variety of regulation and order incidents, nonetheless, dropped considerably through the yr.
    According to police knowledge for the final three years, the variety of regulation and order incidents in J&Okay plunged 75 per cent to 143 in 2020 in contrast with 584 in 2019. Militancy-related incidents additionally dropped 5 per cent to 243 in 220 in contrast with 255 in 2019. The fall is critical compared with 2018, which witnessed 417 militancy-related incidents.
    The variety of recruits becoming a member of militancy within the UT has, nonetheless, seen a 22 per cent rise to 174 in 2020 from 143 in 2019. Of the 174 recruits, 76 militants had been killed and one other 46 arrested. Just 52 stay lively, knowledge with the J&Okay Police exhibits.
    When contacted, Director General, J&Okay Police, Dilbag Singh, instructed The Indian Express that 2020 marked a big enchancment within the state of affairs on counts of terrorism, regulation and order and safety. “If you look at the past decade, the situation is better on all parameters since 2016. I would say a lot of improvement has been made on law and order and security as well as terrorist violence. Several militant commanders were killed in a single year and civilian and police casualties were brought down,” he stated.

    Between January and December 2020, as many as 225 militants had been killed by safety forces working in J&Okay. In the course of 103 operations — 90 in Kashmir and 13 in Jammu — 207 militants had been killed within the Valley whereas 18 within the Jammu area.
    Officials stated 46 prime commanders of varied militant outfits had been amongst these neutralised in 2020. These embody Riyaz Naikoo and Junaid Sehrai and Dr Saifullah of the Hizbul Mujahideen. Lashkar’s Sajad Haider, Burhan Koka from Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind and commanders of the newly-carved The Resistance Front had been additionally amongst these killed in 2020, an official with J&Okay Police stated.

    The knowledge additionally exhibits that 36 civilians and 45 safety personnel succumbed to military-related actions in 2020. The casualties are decrease than the earlier yr. The variety of J&Okay police personnel killed as a result of militant exercise has additionally seen a 24 per cent decline. In 2020, as many as 61 police personnel misplaced their lives.
    Meanwhile, ceasefire violations throughout the LoCs (Lines of Control) have elevated by over 50 per cent, recording 930 incidents in 2020. Over 9,500 cordon and search operations throughout J&Okay had been carried out up to now yr.