Umaiser Gul Ganai
Qazigund, Dec 30: Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar Thursday said that for the first time in the past 30 years of militancy in Kashmir, the number of active militants in the Valley has come down to less than 200 while the number of local militants active is just 86.
Addressing a joint press conference at 2 Sector RR headquarters in Wuzur area of Qazigund, the General officer Commanding (GoC) of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lieutenant General D P Pandey, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that in the past five days, 11 militants were killed and in two operations since last night, six militants including two foreign militants were killed.
The IGP Kashmir, however, said that the rise in encounters doesn’t mean that militancy has increased as it was totally otherwise. “For the first time in the past 30 years of militancy in Kashmir, the number of active militants has come down to less than 200. It is also for the first time that the number of local active militants is 86 only,” IGP Kumar said.
GoC Pandey said that local militant recruitment has drastically come down as this year only 128 to 130 locals joined militancy compared to 180 last year. Chipping-in, IGP Kashmir said that this year out of 128 local militants who joined militancy, of which 73 were killed, 17 were arrested and only 39 are active only.
