Infiltration Declined By 45% After Surgical Strikes, Says Rajnath Singh

NEW DELHI: Suggesting that the surgical strikes carried out by the army in Pakistan occupied Kashmir in September last year had had lasting positive benefits, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said infiltration of terrorists from across the border had declined by 45 per cent after the strikes as compared to the previous six months.

Speaking on the NDA government's achievements in the last three months, Mr Singh said there had been significant improvement in the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere and vowed to stamp out terrorism from the state.

"I completely trust the security forces and the people of Jammu and Kashmir.... I assure that we will end terrorism in Kashmir," the minister said. Mr Singh did not spell out a time frame. As he was speaking in the national capital, army personnel were engaged in another bloody gun-battle with the terrorists on the Jammu Srinagar national highway. At least six soldiers were injured in the gun-battle.

Later, in response to questions, the minister recalled that the Kashmir problem had been there since 1947 and could not be resolved in a few months.

"This problem is since 1947. It can't be resolved overnight (chutki mein). It will require time, but we will come out with a permanent solution. We are moving ahead in that direction," the Minister said.

He counted the inability of the ISIS to gain a foothold in the country though India has the world's second largest population of Muslims as an achievement. "We have been successful in countering the challenges posed by the ISIS," he said, announcing the arrest of over 90 ISIS sympathisers across the country over the last three years.

Reeling out statistics showing the decline of violent incidents in the country's hotspots - Jammu and Kashmir, Maoist violence affected areas and the Northeast insurgency - Mr Singh said the government had achieved big successes over the three years of Modi government. There has been a decline in Maoist attacks by 25 per cent as compared to the previous three years, casualties have gone down by 42 per cent but surrender by Maoist cadres had gone up by 185 per cent.

More recently, Mr Singh said the central government had come up with a fresh doctrine, Samadhan, to counter the menace of Left Wing Extremism, the phase used by the government to refer to Maoist violence. At the heart of this policy was to expedite development activities for the local population including providing them better employment opportunities. In this context, the government had, for the first time, taken the initiative to rapidly expand banking facilities and opened hundreds of bank branches and ATMs.