No "Active" Local Terrorist In 3 Kashmir Districts; Lashkar "Headless": Senior Cop

Three districts in Kashmir have zero "active" local terrorists currently while prominent terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed have gone "headless" after security forces neutralised their operatives and commanders in multiple operations and encounters, a senior police officer said The three "terrorist-free" districts are Bandipora, Kupwara and Ganderbal, the officer said on Saturday.

However, Bandipora and Kupwara have at least seven foreign terrorists present each.

The Kashmir region, that comprises 13 police districts, has 81 terrorists at present with 29 being local while 52 are of foreign origin (Pakistanis), Additional Director General of Police (Kashmir zone) Vijay Kumar said.

The number of locals joining terror ranks also fell to an-time low of 99 over the last seven years, he said.

The senior cop was interacting with a group of visiting journalists at the police control room here.

"The security forces have an upper hand now when it comes to containing terrorism and terrorists in the Valley. We are working to bring the figure of active, foreign and hybrid terrorists to less than 50 in the near future," the officer said.

We are very hopeful of eradicating terrorism from Kashmir in the next two years, he asserted.

Mr Kumar said the LeT and JeM are currently "headless" after the security forces neutralised their ranks in multiple encounters and operations.

Officials said Farooq Nalli, a Hizbul Mujahideen top operative, is the only active commander -- since 2015 -- and he is on the radar of the forces, including the Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) and sister forces like the Army and the Central Reserve Police Force.

Police officials said the "achievement" of the forces in neutralising senior terrorist 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" terrorists.

According to security agencies, hybrid terrorists are those who are radicalised online and are given pistols to kill one or two persons, identified or unidentified.

Most of these "hybrid" terrorists are located in South Kashmir area comprising Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag districts, officials said.

Police authorities said the terrorists operating in Kashmir are now operating in a "module", where they get a specific direction of attacking or killing one person.

"We have busted as many as 119 modules this year," ADGP Kumar said.

The JKP officials said their main area of concern in Kashmir is terrorists picking up "soft targets" like labourers coming from other states and Kashmiri Pandits, while they also have "detected" some women over ground workers (OGWs) assisting in some recent terrorist activities.

"We have, however, ensured that those who target labourers and members of the Pandit community are neutralised immediately and also that they are not kept safe as much as possible," a senior officer said.

Another concern for the police is the recent seizure of some Turkey-made pistols from terrorists, which they said is an indicator that Pakistan-based handlers are providing weapons of that country to ultras operating in Kashmir.

The officer said there is also a fourth category of ultras in Kashmir whom they categorise as "potential terrorists." These are those who are radicalised, have joined or about to join the terrorist ranks but have not undertaken a terrorist act.

"In 80 per cent cases in this category, the families of these potential terrorists inform the JKP and security forces about their doubtful activities, and we have been able to bring back 13 of them in 2022, some even after joining the ranks," another senior officer said.

"We can tell you that denying social sanction to terrorists, their activities and radicalisation activities will usher peace in Kashmir," the officer said.

According to latest police data, there were 99 local recruitments in terrorist ranks in Kashmir this year, an all-time low over the last seven years.

Out of these, 64 were killed and 17 arrested, the data said.

The comparative figures are: 136 in 2021, 167 in 2020, 140 in 2019, 201 in 2018, 147 in 2017 and 95 in 2016.

Maximum local terrorists, according to data, are killed within a month of their joining the terror ranks while some are neutralised in two to three months.

Twenty-nine civilians were killed by terrorists this year and these included three Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus each, 15 Muslims, apart from six non-local Hindus and two non-local Muslims.

The officials said security situation in the Valley has improved "drastically" as there have been "no bandhs, no major Internet shutdowns, no stone pelting incidents and zero killings of civilians" during operations of the security forces post the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

A total of 169 terrorists (127 local terrorists and 42 foreign terrorists) have been killed in Kashmir this year, the data said. PTI NES DV DV