No active local terrorist in 3 Kashmir districts; LeT, JeM headless: ADGP Kumar

Three districts in Kashmir have zero active local terrorists currently while prominent terror outfits LashkareTaiba LeT and JaisheMohammed have gone headless after security forces neutralised their operatives and commanders in multiple operations and encounters a senior police officer saidThe three terroristfree districts are Bandipora Kupwara and Ganderbal the officer said on Saturday However Bandipora and Kupwara have at least seven foreign terrorists present eachThe 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 saidThe number of locals joining terror ranks also fell to antime low of 99 over the last seven years he saidThe senior cop was interacting with a group of visiting journalists at the police control roomAlso Read 300 terrorists active in Jammu and Kashmir Army commanderThe 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 saidWe are very hopeful of eradicating terrorism from Kashmir in the next two years he assertedKumar said the LeT and JeM are currently headless after the security forces neutralised their ranks in multiple encounters and operationsOfficials 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 ForcePolice 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 inactiveKumar added that there were about 1518 active hybrid terroristsAccording to security agencies hybrid terrorists are those who are radicalised online and are given pistols to kill one or two persons identified or unidentifiedMost of these hybrid terrorists are located in South Kashmir area comprising Pulwama Shopian Kulgam and Anantnag districts officials saidPolice authorities said the terrorists operating in Kashmir are now operating in a module where they get a specific direction of attacking or killing one personWe have busted as many as 119 modules this year ADGP Kumar saidThe 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 activitiesWe 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 saidAnother concern for the police is the recent seizure of some Turkeymade pistols from terrorists which they said is an indicator that Pakistanbased handlers are providing weapons of that country to ultras operating in KashmirThe officer said there is also a fourth category of ultras in Kashmir whom they categorise as potential terroristsThese are those who are radicalised have joined or about to join the terrorist ranks but have not undertaken a terrorist actIn 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 saidWe can tell you that denying social sanction to terrorists their activities and radicalisation activities will usher peace in Kashmir the officer saidAccording to latest police data there were 99 local recruitments in terrorist ranks in Kashmir this year an alltime low over the last seven yearsOut of these 64 were killed and 17 arrested the data saidThe comparative figures are 136 in 2021 167 in 2020 140 in 2019 201 in 2018 147 in 2017 and 95 in 2016Maximum local terrorists according to data are killed within a month of their joining the terror ranks while some are neutralised in two to three monthsTwentynine civilians were killed by terrorists this year and these included three Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus each 15 Muslims apart from six nonlocal Hindus and two nonlocal MuslimsThe 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 2019A total of 169 terrorists 127 local terrorists and 42 foreign terrorists have been killed in Kashmir this year the data saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility 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