Srinagar: Pakistan has adopted a new technique of sending arms and ammunition to Jammu and Kashmir using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and several such incidents have been detected in the recent past, Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh said on Thursday.
He also said less than 200 militants are currently active in Jammu and Kashmir, and just 26 militants could enter the Union Territory from across the border so far this year.
“Pakistan has been trying to send arms and ammunition to militants through drones (UAVs). We have detected several such incidents in the past,” Singh said.
The police chief said such incidents of Pakistani UAVs carrying weapons were detected in Kupwara, Heera Nagar, Kathua and Rajouri.
Another modus operandi of Pakistan to dispatch weapons through trucks to Jammu and Kashmir was unearthed in Punjab in the past, he said.
“There has been a huge shortage of weapons for the militants operating here,” the police chief said.
The DGP said Pakistan has intensified cross-border firing this year so that militants could be pushed into Jammu and Kashmir.
“There has been 75 percent more firing from across the border in the first seven months of 2020. There were 487 incidents of firing from Pakistan till July this year in comparison to 267 such incidents in the same period in 2019. The firings are cover to infiltrate militants. So far, just 26 militants could infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Singh said due to sustained anti-militancy operations, the security forces have been able to curtail the number of active militants in Jammu and Kashmir to less than 200 now from 300 to 350 militants a few years ago.
Referring to local youths joining militancy, the DGP said 80 such youths have joined different militant groups this year of which 20 are now active and the self-life of such militant is now a maximum of 90 days.
“Eighty local youths have joined militancy this year so far of which 38 were killed and 22 arrested. Just 20 of those who have joined militancy are active now,” he said.
The police chief said as many as 150 militants were killed in 2020 so far, of which 30 are foreigners and another 39 are top commanders. “The terrorist groups are leaderless and facing a huge shortage of weapons,” he said.
Claiming success of the anti-militancy operations in last two years, the DGP said it has happened as the security forces have gone against the militant “support structure — the Jamaat-e-Islami (JK), Hurriyat and their members and the Over Ground Workers (OGWs)”.
Most of the leaders of the Jamaat and Hurriyat and OGWs are under custody and their funding has been halted, he said.
Singh said a Terror Monitoring Group (TMG) has been set up with representatives from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department and a few other organisations, and the body is continuously working to curb funding of militants and their supporters.
“Almost all links of sending money through hawala, western union money transfer and in tiffin boxes of couriers were shut,” he said.
The police chief said security grade has been improved along the International Border and the Line of Control and as a result, six encounters have taken place along the borders so far this year.
He said there were 76 casualties and 107 injuries in the security forces in first seven months of 2019 in Jammu and Kashmir, while there were just 36 casualties and 102 injuries in the security forces in the same period in 2020.
Militancy incidents were also down by 70 percent — from 198 in first seven months of 2019 to 124 in the same period in 2020, the DGP said.
