EArly Times Report
Srinagar, Sept 13: The mechanism of ‘contact tracing’ is not only used in the case of the coronavirus pandemic, but also to weed out terrorists and prevent people from taking up arms against the establishment, the Indian Army has shown in Jammu and Kashmir.
As per this new strategy adopted by the Army in the Kashmir Valley, friends and family of local terror recruits or those neutralised in encounters are traced and counselled to not take up arms.
Efforts are also made to contact the kin of youths who are considered vulnerable to radicalisation so that they are also counselled to show their brethren the right path.
Correct guidance at the right time can help prevent misguided youths from taking up arms, Lt General BS Raju, who heads the strategic XV-Corps in Kashmir, said, adding that during his term as the head of the ‘Victor Force’, which includes several Army units that look after the four districts in South Kashmir, these efforts had paid off.
The four terror-stricken districts in South Kashmir are Pulwama, Anantnag, Shopian and Kulgam.
“The army always believes in breaking the chain and that was a task that I along with my team undertook from the very beginning,” Lt General Raju told news agency PTI.
He said that the results of ‘contact tracing’ have been encouraging and “several prospective militants have been weaned away from terrorism”, but refused to divulge further details. The Army officer also didn’t elaborate on the number of locals who picked up arms in 2020, and said that “numbers are only notional and the aim is to counter the idea of picking up the gun”.
|
