With Kashmir Valley witnessing a spurt in terrorist violence in the last few weeks, Army chief Dalbir Singh Suhag on Tuesday said “active” security forces have neutralised 78 ultras in the first six months this year. The figure stood at 36 for the corresponding period last year.
The Army Chief made this observation when asked that Kashmir, of late, was “active.” He said security forces are “active” and gave the statistics. Suhag’s statement came in the backdrop of surge in terrorist related incidents and rate of infiltration from across the line of Control(lOC) going up.
In fact, as compared to nearly nil infiltration bids in the first four months last year, the figure stood at 35 for the corresponding period this year. Moreover, at least 200 terrorists were now active in the Kashmir valley, officials said here.
They said lesser snowfall this year saw militants sneaking in through mountain passes in the first week of February. This trend generally starts in April end when snow starts melting enabling terrorists to cross over through ingress routes which remain blocked with more than 20 feet of snow for four months or so, they said.
Not ruling out more attacks on security forces convoys in the coming days besides increased infiltration bids aided and abetted by Pakistan Army and ISI, officials said 45 militants out of 78 slain militants were of foreign origin.
However, security forces were worried over the recent phenomenon of rise in number of local Kashmiri young men joining terrorist organisation like Hizbul Mujahideen. Efforts were on to prevent educated youth from getting swayed by propaganda by these organisations , they said.
Security forces also stepped up vigil all along the Amarnath Yatra route to ensure incident free month long pilgrimage. Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the security arrangements for the Yatra last week in Srinagar.