Says militant recruitment falls by 30 percent, people reluctant to provide shelter to militants

Srinagar: In 2022, at least 227 people were killed in Kashmir in incidents of violence including gunfights, attacks, and targeted killings. More than seventy-five percent of the slain were militants, most of them locals.
The information was given out today by the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, as the year ended.
“93 successful encounters were carried out this year, leading to the killing of 172 militants, 42 of them foreign and the rest of them local militants,” Kumar has said.
As per the police reports the worst hit has been Lashkar-e-Toiba (The Resistance Front). The outfit has lost 108 of its recruits in different gunfights during the year. “35 members of Jaish-e-Muhammad, 22 of Hizb, 4 of Al-Badr, and 3 others of the Ansar Ghazwatul Hind have also been killed in these gunfights,” Kumar has said.
Though the recruitment to militant outfits has, “come down by 30 percent,” a total of 100 local youth picked up arms in 2022. The police maintain that 65 of these fresh recruits have already been killed, 17 have been arrested, and 18 of them are still active.
“The life span of a newly recruited militant has come down drastically, which is evident from the fact that 58 of the 65 new recruits killed, were killed within a month of picking up arms,” Kumar said, “This means 89 percent of the new recruits lasted less than a month,”
Moreover, he said, that there were two “remarkable” changes in 2022, pertaining to reluctance shown by people providing shelter to militants, and parents “not feeling proud” of their wards joining the militant ranks – even as 49 properties were attached in “terror-related cases” this year.
“People are openly working with the police to get their wards, who join militant ranks, back,” Kumar said, adding that most of the militant commanders have been killed and the number of active militants in Kashmir has come down to two digits.
On the other hand, the militants have continued their strikes on government forces, killing as many as 26 force personnel in different attacks. Fourteen of the slain forces personnel belonged to the Jammu and Kashmir police.
“Most of the militants involved in these killings have been neutralized,” Kumar said.
“Unidentified gunmen” have struck regularly as well, in different parts of Kashmir, creating panic among the general minorities and politically affiliated locals. The police report suggests that a total of 29 civilians were killed in 2022.
“21 locals have been killed by militants this year, three of them Kashmiri Pandits, and an equal number of other Hindus. The rest were Kashmiri Muslims,” Kumar said, adding that eight non-locals were also killed during the year.
He also commended the police force for achieving, “100% success on the law and order front,”. Kumar maintained that there were only 26 minor cases of law and order in 2022.
“Which is a drastic down spiral, if compared with 2897 such cases in the year 2016,” he said, adding that there have been no Hartals, no stone pelting incidents near gunfight sites, and no internet shutdowns during the year.
He said that the challenge now was to counter “Pakistan sponsored online terrorism, like fake news, propaganda and targeting journalists and civilians through Pakistan based news agency KMS, Telegram channels, and an online portal named Kashmir Fight,”
Kumar said that all law enforcement agencies are working together to counter the challenge.

Suhail A Shah