Senior police and Army officers on Friday said that the last one-and-a-half years have been the most peaceful times in Jammu and Kashmir and with every successful anti-militancy operation, security forces are moving on the path of peace. “It gives me immense pleasure to say that the last full year and about five-and-a-half months of this year have been the most peaceful months that we had in terms of handling law and order in general and the law and order situations around the (anti-militancy) operation sites in particular,” Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh said. He was speaking at a joint press conference of senior officers of Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) here. Singh said the mission of the security forces is to stabilise peace in Jammu and Kashmir and they were continuously working towards attaining that. “During the last about five-and-a-half months, 100 plus terrorists have been neutralised, out of them 50 plus were from the Hizbul Mujahideen, around 20 of them from the Lashkar-e-Taiba, 20 from the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the rest from smaller outfits like Al-Badr, Ansar Gazwatul Hind. “Similarly, about a half-a-dozen successful operations have been conducted in Jammu region as well in which around a dozen terrorists have been neutralised. Our Pir Panjal range is very well under control, Doda-Kishtwar is almost nearing to be militancy-free with one terrorist remaining in Doda district and three in Kishtwar,” he said. The DGP said the security forces have been successful only because people of the union territory were cooperating. “I would also like to compliment our youth if they are not joining terror ranks despite huge provocations by Pakistan and the agencies involved in the terror business, credit goes to our youth, they have perhaps started seeing through the game-plans of these agencies which have brought violence, death, destruction to this beautiful place. “We would also like to help and assist those who have gone adrift as we have done in case of some people. Anybody who has gone adrift is willing to surrender, come out, handover his weapon, may be confidentially, we would welcome that and we would make sure to provide him whatever support he needs to lead a new peaceful life,” he said. Speaking about the situation, General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps, Lt Gen B S Raju said with every operation, the security forces are moving on the path of peace. “With every operation that is being concluded, we are moving on the path of peace. I can feel it on ground, there is a palpable difference that at the end of every operation, the next operation is taking place in much cleaner circumstances. “For this, I would also compliment people of Kashmir because they are believing in peace and it this belief which is leading to the successful operations and I am sure at the end of the next few months, we will be able to take this peace process forward and ensure that the normalcy is brought into the environment,” he said. Lt Gen Raju said so far this year, the security forces have neutralised 102 militants and “because of the professional manner in which these operations have been conducted, we have had just one or two civilian casualties, which means that the security forces have exercised extraordinary restraint and that is because we want to retain that connect with the people”. “And I would like to commit here that all of us will continue to conduct our operations in a manner where we cause minimal inconvenience to the environment,” he added. The GOC said of the 49 new militant recruits this year, 27 have been neutralised. “It doesn”t give us any pleasure to neutralise these young boys, but if anybody takes up arms and is causing harm to others, we will do what we are doing. But to stop this whole process, a large number of steps are being taken. “We make fervent appeals to militants to surrender before the operations commence. We have had limited success on this front, but where we have been very successful, and I must compliment the security forces here, is our ability to prevent new recruitment as well as to identify those people who are on the cusp of recruitment,” he said. The DGP said the militant recruitment in the valley has come down drastically. “It has come down because of joint efforts of the civil society, parents, police officers on ground who maintain a very close liaison with people whose wards are likely to drift away. We take many pre-emptive actions which are not brought to the fore deliberately just to ensure security of the youth concerned,” he said. On being asked about security forces focussing on the militant leadership, the GOC said they will ensure that no militant leader gains ground as it brings in more violence. “As far as the terrorist leadership is concerned, there is definitely a void taking place on a weekly basis, there are places where the district commanders are required to be changed because of the intensity of the operations that are being conducted and that will certainly bring a lot of disarray and we would like to ensure that there is no terrorist leader who gains ground…,” Lt Gen Raju said.
