Jammu: Year 2021 saw the killing of a total of 182 militants, including 44 of their top commanders and 20 foreigners, in 100 anti-militancy operations by Jammu and Kashmir Police and security forces in the Union Territory, police chief Dilbagh Singh said on Friday.
The Director General of Police (DGP) revealed the number of total casualties of militants a day after the 100th anti-militancy operation by the police.
“A total of nine Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists involved in the attack on a police bus in Pantha Chowk were eliminated in the last 24 hours while a total of 20 foreign terrorists were killed during the year,” he said.
DGP Singh also said the year saw fewer infiltrations from across the border with the UT coming across no instance of any militant from Afghanistan infiltrating into the country.
“Last night, we completed 100th successful operation. In 100 successful operations, we have eliminated 182 terrorists of various outfits,” Singh told in the annual press conference of the J&K Police here.
He said “owing to the consistently successful anti-terror operations in the UT, a large area of J&K suffering from frequent terror attacks have been freed from the scrouge”.
“Out of the 44 top terrorists killed this year, 26 belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), 10 to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), seven to Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and one to Al-Badr,” the DGP said.
He said among the slain, 20 were foreigners, he said.
“These top terrorists were instrumental in spreading terror among people by plotting and engineering terror acts at the behest of Pakistan,” he said.
“After many years, a very low number of terrorists are active this time. The figure has come down after a long period,” he said.
The DGP said the year was also successful in terms of anti-terror operations and curbing infiltration from across the border.
“It was a successful year in terms of the guarding of borders. After a long time, the level of infiltration has come down. Only 34 terrorists were able to infiltrate the country from across the border this year. A lot among them have been neutralised and rest are being tracked,” he said.
Replying to a question on the major threat from “foreign mercenaries”, he said there is a threat from terrorism and weapons.
“We are fighting both whether a foreign terrorist or a local. There is a threat from both who hold guns in their hands to terrorise people,” the DGP said.
Referring to recruitments in militant ranks, Singh said “134 youngsters joined terror ranks in the Union Territory this year but 72 of them have been neutralised and 22 arrested.”
The DGP said “police have cracked down on the support system of the terrorists too in this hybrid terror era and arrested 570 over-ground workers and others.”
He said a total of 497 people were booked under the UAPA for their “involvement in support of terrorism” and other cases this year.
Referring to “terror activities” in the Jammu region, he said they are trying to revive terrorism in the region as evident from the discovery of underground tunnels from across the border and usage of drones in the border areas to drop arms and ammunition.
He said the “security forces have been chasing terrorists in Rajouri and one such is being tracked while another one has been killed recently. Rest have moved to Kashmir.”
Asserting that some people are engaged in “soft separatism” by cleverly supporting militancy, DGP termed Hyderpora operation “neat and clean” and asked political leaders questioning the ‘clean chit’ given to the forces to submit evidence to investigation panels.
He said he felt hurt over “irresponsible utterances” of a section of political leaders in Kashmir, adding that counting votes on the dead bodies is their mission.
“We definitely felt hurt over this kind of utterances. It is irresponsible on the part of certain people, who are not part of the investigation and do not know anything about the probe on the ground to make such remarks,” Singh said at a press conference here.
The top cop also said the utterances by the political leaders were in violation of law.
“We have made it clear that those utterances are somehow violative of law. May be at some stage, if people do not mend their ways, law will take its own course,” he said.
He also asked those raking up the issue to present the evidence before the investigation panels.
“… if anybody has any evidence, he can present it before two panels of the magisterial inquiry and SIT,” he said.
