Says only court can decide SIT probe
Srinagar: Terming the funeral of separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani as the “biggest challenge” of 2021, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar on Friday said next year’s challenge would be to deal with the “hybrid” militants.
He said 25 “hybrid militants have been identified who would be cateogroised soon. The challenge is a ‘hybrid’ militant. We have coined this name in January 2021 and Google has accepted it. There is no record about them in police stations or with any sister agency. Even parents have no idea about them. We are now identifying them. Their digital equipment is analyzed and we get to know about him. The challenge next year would be these hybrid militant,” Kumar said at a press conference in Srinagar.
He said it was observed that through digital equipment young boys carry out attacks on police men and security forces.
“These boys aren’t categorized anywhere neither do we have their photographs in police stations,” the IGP said.
The IGP Kashmir said that the second major challenge will be to prevent policemen from becoming soft targets.
The IGP said the other priority would be neutralizing the foreign militants.
“Neutralization of foreign militants and demolition of militant infrastructure would the priority in 2022,” he said.
Kumar said as of now there are total 168 active militants in the Valley and among them 83 are foreigners and 85 are locals.
“The active strength of militants in north Kashmir is 65, in central Kashmir, there are 16 and in south Kashmir, there are 87,” he said.
The IGP said the biggest challenge this year was holding the peaceful funeral of Syed Geelani
“There was no law and order incident and the burial remained peaceful. So I count this as the major achievement for the year 2021,” the IGP said.
Only court can decide SIT probe: IGP
Amid widespread criticism over the Hyderpora gun battle in which two civilians were killed, IGP Kashmir advised politicians not to incite people on the issue.
The Inspector General of Police said the Court is the only authority to decide on the Special Investigation Team report.
“In a democratic set up, politicians, family members and the media can say to the court that they are not satisfied with the investigations and can demand a probe by a higher agency. But they have no right to term the police probe as false,” Kumar said.
