Police says more than 200 active militants in J&K
Qaiser Dar
Srinagar 22 October (KNB): Since January this year, 12 policemen and 130 militants were killed till July 15 after the government restored low speed in Jammu and Kashmir.
Officials stated, “Out of 130 militants killed this year, 110 were killed in south Kashmir alone, among 130 militants 48 militants were killed in the month of June.”
The official data available to Kashmir News Bureau (KNB) reveals that, So far, in this year 12 J&K policemen have been killed, including inspector Mohammad Ashraf of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district, who was shot dead on 19 October.
The official data states that 10 policemen were killed in the valley in the year 2015.
According to reports, Jammu and Kashmir Police witnessed the highest number of casualties among its men in the year of 2016.
After the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, a prolonged unrest in the Valley gave the militancy hundreds of new recruits. The same year 59 Policemen were killed.
The data shows that following the year of Burhan Wani’s killing, 31 Jammu and Kashmir Policemen were killed in the year 2017. While in 2018 and 2019, only 12 policemen lost their lives in the valley.
The counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir slowed down across the valley for nearly six months after J&K State was downgraded into two Union Territories on August 5.
Not launching a counter insurgency operation after August 5, 2019, was a temporary tactical decision as the army, paramilitary forces and the police were on the law and order deployment to thwart large-scale protests, senior officials stated.
Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh said, “From 1 September 2019 till now, 13 police men and 27 other security forces personnel were killed in militancy related incidents”.
As per the official records, from August 5 to March 2020, only 22 encounters were reported across J&K in which 44 militants were killed and from January 2019 to July last year, security forces killed over 154 militants.
The police officials stated that the Valley now has somewhere between 160-170 active insurgents and including 100 militants active in south Kashmir.
“More than 200 militants are believed to be active in J&K and the operations will continue,” officials said. (KNB)