Early Times Report
Jammu, May 29: It's almost clear. Reports from New Delhi suggest that "during its previous stint, the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government did want to involve the Kashmiri separatists in a dialogue process but on the condition that the separatists would acknowledge it publicly". "Carrying out a dialogue behind the curtains was not going to bear any fruit. The talks could not fructify. With the return of the BJP to power, the Centre's policy in Kashmir is unlikely to see any major shift, security operations being its major component," reports from the corridors of power in New Delhi further said.
No less than 91 terrorists, including at least 8 top commanders belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen, have been liquidated this year.
The view of the government is that the "recruitment by terrorist groups had been the lowest since 2016, the year Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in encounter".
At the same time, the authorities in the state, according to reports, are reaching out to people and "due to their efforts the recruitments were at an all-time low.
"We are trying to turn around the situation. We don't arrest and remand everybody. If a youth has been involved in stone throwing, we don't immediately slap a case against him but engage with the community. Community leaders, religious teachers and family members are made to stand as guarantors for the youth at the local police station. This acts as a deterrent," K Vijay Kumar, Jammu & Kashmir Governor SP Malik's Security Advisor, was quoted as saying.
He also reportedly said: "For every youth, 10-30 people were standing as guarantors and the community bond was effective".
"Five months into 2019, the recruitment is not more than 33. Last year, only in the month of April were there 30 recruitments and in the whole of last year, around 200 had joined," a senior Jammu & Kashmir Police official was quoted as saying. He added that "of the 33 recruited, four were arrested and three were weaned away from militancy through counselling and community participation".
It needs to be underlined that the liquidation of Zakir Musa, chief of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Ansar Ghazwal-ul-Hind group, has to an extent brought down recruitment. As per reports, "barring one (Hizbul commander Riyaz Naikoo), most of the vintage commanders have been eliminated" and it has the potential of "impacting the recruitment". |
