People friendly anti-terror ops have yielded results in J-K: Lt Gen Dhillon

"remarkable" decrease in number of local youths joining various militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir has been a result of Operation 'Maa' launched by army, which also targeted leaderships of outfits "in a people friendly manner", a top army officer said. Lieutenant General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, who heads strategic Kashmir-based XV corps, started Operation 'Maa' whereby a local terrorist trapped in an encounter is made to talk to his mor in a bid to convince him to return to his rmal life.

"thing is lost until your mor can't find it," Lt Gen Dhillon said while explaining that results of operation were "worth ting".

"In all operations, we extend every opportunity to local terrorists to 'return'. Half way through, encounters are halted and parents or society elders are involved to urge trapped local terrorist to 'return'. This is Operation 'Maa' and we have been successful many times," Lt Gen Dhillon told PTI in a written reply.

However, details were t made available by army as this could jeopardise safety of former militants who are inching towards living rmal lives in national mainstream. He said effective operations, especially against leaderships of terrorist outfits, are result of determined pursuit of joint counter terrorist operations "in a people friendly manner".

According to a report compiled recently by security ncies, on an aver only five youths joined militant groups every month since special status of erstwhile state was revoked over six months ago and it was bifurcated into two union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh - whereas figure before August 5, 2019 was 14 per month.

Lt Gen Dhillon also believes that successful operations by security forces, which led to "elimination" of 64 per cent new recruits during ir first year of joining terror groups, has also acted as a deterrent.

"As a result, recruitment of local boys in 2019 has been nearly half in comparison to 2018 and joining terrorist tanzeems (organisations) has become a n-lucrative option for youth," he said.

report also said large garings at funerals of militants killed by forces has become a thing of past. w, only a handful of close relatives are seen during burials of terrorists killed in encounters with security forces, it said. Before August 5, 2019, funeral garings of killed terrorists used to be high and sometimes had more than 10,000 people, report pointed out, adding that such garings had become fertile grounds for recruitment of youths into militancy. However, re has been a sharp decline in such tendencies and has impacted recruitment of local boys in various terror groups which has come down drastically, report, which has been collated by various security ncies, said.

"re were instances (after August 5, 2019) when militants were buried and funeral was attended by just by a dozen of close relatives," it said.