One of the key reasons for the low number of militants in kashmir is largely a firebrand counter-insurgency strategy of erasing militant traces by all means, the security experts say.
“Militancy in Kashmir has been witnessing a fall with figures of militants reducing to a decadal low. The number lies below 80, according to sources. The last such figure was recorded in 2013. One of the key reasons for the low number of militants is largely a firebrand counter-insurgency strategy of erasing militant traces by all means.”
The Director General of J&K Police, Dilbagh Singh, has said that the “shelf life” of militants has largely decreased to a great extent and this life span has been reduced to a “minimum of 24 hours to a maximum of 3-4 months”. In the recent figures released by the government in July, at least 64 per cent of the militants are being killed in less than a year.
The life span of a militant is counted from the date of joining to the date of being killed or captured. According to security officials who shared the recent data on militancy, only 26.6 per cent of militants have lived over a year. What happens with the remaining of them was a mystery.
In the same data, the government has said that nearly 28 per cent of the recruits were shot dead within one month while over 54 per cent were killed in first six months of joining. Nearly 60 per cent of militants are being killed in nine months only.
The army has gone all guns blazing especially after the social media glamourization of the militancy. People in the Hizbul Mujahedeen cadres would survive for years, even its young chief Burhan Wani stayed for years until killed in 2016. He had joined back in 2010.
His other associates, Subzar Bhat, Saddam Padder, and Zakir Musa, all lived for a few years but were eventually killed.
But the spree of hunting militants began in 2017, starting in 2017 when the Indian army began its Operation All Out in Kashmir. In this very operation at least 258 militants were shortlisted in the first go which belong to various factions of the militancy. Almost 130 local and 128 foreign militants were identified in this city operation.
It was in that year itself that forces started to give sleepless nights to the militants. In 2016, 150 militants were killed in the year. However, with the introduction of operation all out there was a massive jump and at least 213 militants were killed in the year 2017.
As Operation All Out progressed, militant recruitment was also high. Security officials warned that the funeral of the slain militants attracted thousands of youth to participate in them, which for many became a trigger, to join the ranks. Police had implied that these funerals themselves saw a larger recruitment spree as this was an emotional trigger for many sympathizing with the slain terrorists.
The administration took serious note of this and funerals at many places started to be disallowed, however, there was no major fall in recruitment. Following this, the second phase of Operation All Out was started and in the valley, next year that is 2018, at least 311 militants were neutralized. This included almost 250 those who were killed while 60 were apprehended
As per the reports in that year itself, at least 63 militants walked out alive from the encounters. Experts argued that the number of surrenders could have been more had the crowd not intervened with the counter-insurgency operations. “When you have stones being pelted at you while you are cornering a militant, it becomes very difficult to create an atmosphere of surrender for that militant,” a security official told this reporter. However, the operation all out initially seemed to be a zero-sum game.
But as it progressed, the life span of the militants got severely reduced. In May 2018, Mohammad Rafi Bhat, the most educated militant ever, who was a professor of sociology in Kashmir university was killed after 40 hours of joining the militants. There are more such cases. Shahid Khar, a resident of Redwani Kulgam, was missing since January 9 in 2020 and was killed in just 18 days.
In April last year, 12 militants were killed in 72 hours. This included a Faisal Gulzar Ganai, who had gone missing just 48 hours ago and was just 14 years old.
In August 2018, Khursheed Malik, who was killed along with another associate, had joined the ranks two days ago.
Data from June states that operations have picked up again after a subtle lull during a pandemic. As per the police data in June, 118 terrorists including 32 foreign terrorists killed in Kashmir in the current year. Last year in 2021, a total of 55 terrorists including 2 foreign terrorists were killed in the same period. Out of 118, 77 terrorists are from Pakistan-sponsored LeT & 26 from JeM outfit, IGP Vijay Kumar said.
This also depicts how thin have local groups like Hizbul Mujahideen become in Kashmir.
Courtesy : Umar Sofi