JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh on Tuesday said desperate attempts by Pakistan are on to spread terrorism to peaceful areas of the Jammu region but his force, along with other agencies, is alive to the threat and has foiled many such attempts in the past.
He also said that countermeasures have also been put in place to check growing drone activities from across the border in the Jammu region to drop weapons, narcotics, cash and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) besides the bombing of the airfield last month. “We are keeping a tight vigil as a result of which we have foiled 50 per cent attempts to smuggle weapons, narcotics and IEDs dropped through drones (in different parts of Jammu). The people who were involved in such activities (smuggling of weapons and narcotics) were not directly involved in militancy earlier but now they are being found directly involved,” Singh said.
Terming the use of drones to drop two bombs on Indian Air Force station, Jammu on June 27 as “shameful attack”, the DGP said police, Army and paramilitary forces have taken countermeasures on the ground to thwart such type of conspiracies. “They will continue with their conspiracies but we are determined to foil their plans,” he said. Responding to a question about growing terrorist activities in Jammu this year, he said the alertness of the police and other security agencies has thwarted attempts by terrorists to spread their tentacles to peaceful areas of the Jammu region. “The information (gathering) system of police is stronger than previously. We have worked on weak points and strengthened our security grid comprising border grid, highway grid and district grid. All these three grids are working satisfactorily and did not allow a foothold to those planning to spread terrorism to this region,” he said.
The police chief said Pakistan and its agencies are making attempts to mislead gullible youth and activate those who had remained in touch with them in the past to revive terrorism in different districts of Jammu province. “It is heartening to mention that all their previous attempts have been frustrated till date. We will continue our efforts to keep the region safe,” he said, citing the arrest of three youths who were recruited by the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist outfit in Kishtwar and provided weapons. “They were ready to join Jehangir Saroori, one of the oldest surviving terrorists in Chenab valley region, when they were arrested. One more youth is in contact with terrorists in Kashmir and is under our radar and he too will be nabbed soon,” Singh said. The DGP said the police completely wiped out Ghaznavi Force, a new terrorist outfit which was assigned the task of disturbing the communal harmony in Jammu region.
“The threat posed by Ghaznavi Force was neutralised and all its members were arrested (from Poonch) early this year. The mastermind was also nabbed soon after he returned from Saudi Arabia,” he said. He said similar type of activities like recruiting youth into militancy has come into notice in Reasi, Doda and Kishtwar and “we are keeping a strict watch as all old networks of Over Ground Workers (OGWs) have been dismantled across Jammu region and there are attempts to create new networks”. He said police timely recovered ready-to-use IEDs before the terrorists could give final shape to their nefarious designs. “Many targets have been chosen for the IED attack but police alertness foiled their designs,” he said.
Asked about the recovery of over Rs 2.81 lakh hawala money in Poonch district, the police chief said the efforts are on to completely choke the funding of terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. “Terrorist funding has been going on for a long time. Our effort is to choke this funding,” he said and referred to raids conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against banned Jamaat-e-Islami members at 56 locations across Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. He said strict action is being taken against anyone found supporting terrorism with money or something else.
“We have recovered Rs 1.5 crore from Handwara which was generated through Narcotic smuggling to finance terrorism. We have blocked many channels financing militancy,” Singh said.
