The Government of India on Wednesday negated the reports about the presence of the globally designated terrorist organization, ISIS in any part of the Kashmir valley.
In a written response to a question raised by Samajwadi Party parliamentarian, Amar Singh, in Rajya Sabha, the government said that the security agencies have not been able to establish on the ground that the ISIS was operating in any part of the valley. “As per the report, nothing has been established on the ground that ISIS is operating in any part of Kashmir valley,” the response stated. Singh had asked: “Whether it is a fact that ISIS has started pursuing a nefarious game plan to turn Muslim majority areas in J&K into a caliphate as per video issued by militant commander Zakir Musa and his Taliban-e-Kashmir unit;”
The response, however, affirmed that Zakir Musa has posted adverse material on social media and added that the former Hizb militant and aide of former militant commander Burhan Wani does not have a support of more than ten militants. “Ansar Gazwat-Ul-Hind (AGUH) formed and led by Zakir Musa, former Hizbul-Mujahideen militant has posted adverse materials on social media. There are reports that at present, Zakir Musa has the support of fewer than 10 militants.”
Zakir Musa or Zakir Rasheed Bhat, a resident of Noorpora area of Tral in southern Kashmir, before the killing of popular militant commander Burhan Wani, was his associate and after his killing had taken the command of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. However, Musa was named the head of Ansar Ghazwat-Ul-Hind, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, for the Valley in late July this year, after he parted ways with the Hizbul Mujahideen, and threatening to behead the Hurriyat leaders in the main city centre of Srinagar, Lal Chowk.
The government also made it clear that no organization like Taliban was operating in Kashmir. The ministry of state in the Home Affairs led by Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said, “No militant Tanzeem like Taliban is presently operating in any part of the Kashmir valley.”
To another question on the approval of Rs 25,000 crore for up gradation of internal security and the details of steps taken for modernization of Police Forces during the last three years, the ministry said: “The Government of India has, on 27/9/2017, approved implementation of umbrella scheme of ‘Modernization of Police Forces (MPF)’ for three years’ period from 2017/18 to 2019/20 with a total outlay of Rs. 25,061 crore which includes a central budget outlay of Rs 18,636 crore.”
It further stated that the States have utilised funds granted under the earlier Scheme for modernisation of police forces for various activities such as acquisition of improved and advanced weaponry to maintain internal security, enhanced training facilities with latest training gadgets, improved communication network and computerization of police offices, improved housing facilities for police personnel, construction of modern police buildings, to increase their operational efficiency, investigation skills and improved service delivery. Ministry of Home Affairs is implementing the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) project with the primary objective of interlinking all police stations for the purpose of sharing of crime and criminal data in an electronic eco-system by collecting data from all police stations in State Data Centers and ultimately aggregating all the data in a National Data Center. The scope of the CCTNS project has been further enhanced to integrate the data with other pillars of the criminal justice system namely Prisons, Prosecution, Forensics and Finger Prints and accordingly a new system – “Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS)” is being developed.
Under the new umbrella scheme for “Modernisation of Police Forces”, the response stated that special provision has been made to enhance internal security, law and order, women security, availability of modern weapons, the mobility of police forces, logistics support etc. Further, for upgrading internal security, the Government of India has taken various measures such as augmenting the strength of Central Armed Police Forces, establishment of NSG Hubs, tighter immigration control, effective border management through surveillance and patrolling, up-gradation of intelligence set-ups etc. The funds utilized by different states/UTs under Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) project is Rs. 1149.70 crore out of Rs. 1450.65 crore released till date. An amount of Rs 90,042 crores has been released to LWE affected States during the last three years and the current year. Similarly, the State of Jammu and Kashmir has been provided an amount of Rs.2458 crores. So far as the North-Eastern States are concerned, an amount of Rs.1125 crores have been released for the same period. However, no expenditure has been made for the purchase of helicopters and setting up of prisons during this period.