Prevalent situation hampers anti-militancy operations: DGP

Asks officers not to give any breathing space to enemies of peace

By: Umaiser Gul

Kulgam: Jammu and Kashmir police chief, Dilbagh Singh Thursday said that the ongoing situation due to Covid has affected the anti-militancy operations in the Union Territory to some extent as many policemen and security forces have tested positive for the virus while there is a huge deployment of policemen on roads to enforce lock-down.

Director General of Police (DGP), however, said that the anti-militancy operations are not on a halt and it was not like police have given a free-hand to militants to roam around as operations are being conducted on the basis of “specific inputs” in areas.

Talking to media men at Kulgam after touring many South Kashmir areas to review the security measures, the DGP said that during the review, special focus was laid on enhancing the anti-militancy operations across South Kashmir.

“COVID pandemic has affected anti-militancy operations to some extent. But it is not like we are leaving areas free for militants to roam around. Many policemen and security forces personnel have tested positive for the virus,” DPG said.

He said that despite the fact that police is fighting Covid pandemic and enforcing lockdown through its deployments on roads and streets across the Valley, “specific lead based anti-militancy operations” are being conducted in South Kashmir and other parts of Kashmir.

Replying to a query that whether the local militant recruitment has gone down, the DGP Singh said that police never wants boys to join militancy. “Police have been working hard to prevent misguided youth to return. In Kulgam, a group of youth who were about to join militancy were brought back and united with their families,” he said, adding that “similarly, in other districts of south Kashmir, many such groups were prevented from treading a wrong path.”

However, the DGP said that militant outfits like Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al-Badr are getting “oxygen” from across the LoC to lure new boys into the militancy fold. “Unfortunately, the recruitment is still taking place, but the graph is very less compared to previous years,” he said. “Police have been doing a lot on this front to plug it completely and I believe more steps need to be taken to stop it fully.”

He said that police have been able to persuade many youth even during live encounters to surrender. “Young boys get ready to surrender but older ones aren’t ready. Efforts are on from our end to reach out to misguided youth to help them come back,” he said. About the total number of militants active in South Kashmir, DGP Singh said that since the number of militants keeps on fluctuating with the time, at present there are about 100 odd militants active in southern districts of Kashmir.

He said the role of the police force is doubling with each passing year as new offices are being set up, new posts being created and new equipment being installed at police stations. “DPLs are being enhanced on modern lies and staff too being equipped with the latest gadgets. Police force will soon get the latest weaponry as well,” the J&K police chief said.

Meanwhile, Singh visited the twin South districts Anantnag and Kulgam where he chaired security review meetings with the jurisdictional officers and took stock of the situation in these districts.

He also inaugurated 13 different facilities for police officers and personnel in district Kulgam.

Accompanied by IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, the DGP was received by DIG SKR Abdul Jabbar and SSP Anantnag Imtiyaz Hussain at Anantnag and was given guard of honour on his arrival. In the afternoon, the DGP visited district Kulgam, he was received by SSP Kulgam, Gurinderpal Singh and other jurisdictional officers.

DGP chaired the officers’ meetings at both the district headquarters which were attended by the concerned district SsP and other senior officers. After getting a briefing from the concerned district SsP regarding the security scenario and police response on COVID-19 front in these districts, the DGP addressed the jurisdictional officers.

In his address, DGP stressed upon officers to be vigilant and not to give any breathing space to the enemies of peace who are looking to create disturbances. He said that the peaceful atmosphere in Jammu and Kashmir has been achieved after a lot of hard work and sacrifices by police and security forces and added that more efforts are required to consolidate the peace in J&K.

DGP further complimented the police personnel for handling different challenges successfully and stressed upon them to continue work with the same dedication in the future.

Singh said that JKP along with other sister agencies have succeeded in creating a sense of security among the minds of the people and impressed upon the officers to work with full professionalism, sincerity and in a dedicated manner for the welfare of the people while taking due care of their security.

He advised the police to continue their fight against the drugs and book all those involved in this menace as it has emerged as a major threat in recent times.

DGP while reviewing the J&K police’s response to the second wave of COVID-19 directed the officers for implementing all the precautionary measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19 infection.

He said that in these crucial times adopting government directives are necessary for safeguarding the lives from Corona infection. He said that PHQ has sanctioned a relief of over Rs. 44 lakh in favour of 882 personnel who got infected in 2nd Wave of COVID-19.

The meeting at Anantnag was attended by DIG, SKR, Abdul Jabbar, SSP Anantnag Imtiyaz Hussain, ASP Anantnag Nikhal Borkar and SP Ops Anantnag Parvaz Ahmad, and in Kulgam the meeting was attended by SSP Kulgam Gurinderpal Singh, all SDPOs of Kulgam and other jurisdictional officers.

DGP later in the afternoon inaugurated newly constructed facilities which included Equipment Warehouse, Armory at DPL, Block II office Complex, Additional SP residence at DPL Kulgam, Modernized Police Control Room, Power and Control Centre, renovated office Block at DPO, Mess and dinning Bock, Modernized Barracks for Jawans at PC Camp in Amnoo Kulgam, Command Post at Jawahar Tunnel, DySP Ops residence at Devsar, SDPO residence cum office at DH. Pora.

The newly constructed Administrative Block at DPL that was also inaugurated today has been named after DySP Aman Thakur who laid down his life in the line of duty during an encounter at Turigam, Kulgam on February 24 in 2019. The Block consists of DySP DAR office, DySP DAR staff room, Training Hall, RI office, Lo office, Manshiyat, Conference Hall, Mini Auditorium and Cafeteria. (KNO)

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