Srinagar, Jun 19: Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday said that militants were carrying out odd attacks on the security forces at the behest of their handlers “across the border as they have lost the battle”.
“These attacks are nothing new in this place, but we have subdued it over the past six months. I believe 100 percent that they (militants) are under pressure from across (the border) to do something,” Malik said in an apparent reference to the Pakistan.
“They (militant handlers) feel that they have lost as the terror infrastructure they had raised in last 10 years has been dismantled,” he said on the sidelines of a function here. “That’s why they carry out an odd attack. In such cases, the initiative obviously lies with the attacker, but still we assure you that we will uproot this menace very soon.”
The Governor asserted that the recruitment of new militants had stopped, while stone-pelting incidents after Friday prayers had also ended.
“You have seen how previous governments have tackled the militancy in Kashmir. You are also a witness to our administration and how we tackled the militancy problems in the Valley,” Malik said.
“People have realised that they won’t get anywhere through all this,” he added.
Malik said militants were giving up arms and returning to the mainstream now. “The youth (militants) are coming back (to the mainstream). In fact, few days ago, two youths have come back from the terrorist fold,” he said.
The Governor said the ground situation in Kashmir was good and a way would be found to deal with the militant attacks. “Even US, UK and France have not been able to stop such incidents. We will find a remedy to it,” he said.
He also said that Pakistan was duty-bound to share the intelligence inputs about the militants with the Government of India but also cautioned about how many attacks was Pakistan able to stop on its own soil.
“Pakistan is duty-bound to share intelligence inputs with us. But it also remains to be seen that how many attacks they (Pakistan) was able to stop in its own backyard,” Malik said.
