102 terrorists killed in 47 successful operations in 2021 so far: Kashmir Police Chief

Kashmir valley has seen a steep decline in terrorist incidents, infiltration, and civilian killings in 2021 so far, while police and security forces carried out 47 'successful' counter-terrorism operations killing 102 terrorists, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar, said on Tuesday. This year, in various successful operations, 102 terrorists have been neutralised, including some top terrorist commanders, including JeM commander Sajjad Afghani, Adnan Ismail alias Lamboo and Usman. Chief of Al-Badr terror group, Abdul Ghani Khawaja, LeT Chief Abbas Shiekh and others were killed.

“Counter-terrorist grid continued to maintain dominance and deny any space to terrorists. Synergised technical and human intelligence-based joint operations between JKP and Army have been the hallmark of these anti-terror operations,” said Vijay Kumar. He added that the security situation in the Valley is stable. “The counter-terrorism operations are quite effective, and the potential of terrorists has significantly reduced after carryings successful operations with minimal collateral damage”.

'Made in Pakistan' weapons recovered

Apart from neutralising terrorists, in these eight months, Pakistan made weapons, IED's and explosive hauls, too have been recovered, plus other "warlike and logistics stores" in huge quantities by police and security forces. This clearly indicates the nefarious designs and intransigence of enemy state to continue abetting terrorism here," he said. "Like other years, this year too, police and security forces have cracked down on overground workers (OGWs) of terror outfits who throw grenades/ carry hit and run incidents or work as couriers. We tried to take this oxygen support system (OGWs) out of terror ranks by arresting them." 

The police chief further said that despite several attempts by Pakistan, cases of infiltration this year so far are the lowest. Due to alertness on borders, Pakistan had to rely on local recruits to run or fund this chain of local terrorists; Pakistan has been using narcotics as a major financing tool in Kashmir.

Narcotics captured

Huge quantities of charas or cannabis, brown sugar and other forms of narcotics were recovered from Kupwara, Handwara and Baramulla of North Kashmir. "There is a lot of drugs and narcotics being pumped into the Valley from across the border. It is quite clear who is pumping drugs and narcotics here. Our focus is not only on fighting terrorism but also on fighting drug trafficking and drug abuse," the Police Chief of Kashmir Zone said while evaluating the big seizures and arrests that the police department made in 2021 in Valley.

Image Credits: PTI