Only ten local recruits have joined militant ranks this year, according to estimates of Jammu and Kashmir Police, making it probably the lowest since the militancy began in 1989. Last year witnessed a stark contrast, with 110 Kashmiri youth choosing the path of militancy. Most of them were killed in encounters with security forces.
The J&K Police chief Dilbagh Singh has expressed satisfaction at this steep drop in militant recruitment, attributing it to the understanding among Kashmiri youth of “the tricks and conspiracies of the enemy.” He asked the remaining militants to surrender, adding the doors of “ghar wapsi” were open for them.
The last time the region witnessed such a favorable security scenario was in 2013 when the number of militants dwindled to a mere few dozen, and casualties among civilians and security forces reached an all-time low. The situation changed dramatically after 2014, with a steady increase in the recruitment of locals into militant ranks each year. However, the troop surge that followed the scrapping of Article 370 in 2019 has gradually succeeded in reigning in the militancy. It didn’t happen suddenly though. While separatist parties have been pushed to the margins, militancy has remained a challenge.
In 2019, 119 locals joined the ranks of terrorism in Kashmir, a number that jumped to 167 in 2020, followed by 128 in 2021, and 110 in 2022. Since 2019, the number of security forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir has reached unprecedented levels, leading to a decline in stone-throwing incidents, pro-separatist protests, and shutdowns in the Valley.
However, it is also true that all is not hunky-dory yet. Besides, there is a possibility that the situation could go back to square one. This year has witnessed occasional surge in violence, some of it in Jammu districts of Poonch and Rajouri. Ten security personnel were killed in the twin districts in two successive encounters in summer. The security agencies believe that the militants operating in the area are highly trained and have most probably come from across the border. If anything, it shows that despite the drastic reduction in the number of militants in recent years, militancy lingers in some form. More importantly, militancy is now largely sustained by the infiltration. But with more counter-infiltration measures the situation could be brought under control. The government has now embarked on proactive counter-insurgency operations, deployment of police, Army, Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) and night patrolling and area domination, which are believed to have helped check infiltration to a large extent in the Kashmir region. And it is hoped that the strategy could pay dividends in Jammu too.
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