Srinagar, November 30 (KNO) : The killing of 230 militants since January this year in Kashmir has triggered a hot debate as to whether militancy in the Valley was dying down. However, what puncture the claims about militancy losing its ground in Kashmir are the figures that suggest 250 militants are still active in the Valley. In the recent presser, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh said that this year so far 230 militants were killed which includes top commanders like Naveed Jhat, Umar Ganai, Waseem Wagay, Adil Lone and Basit Mir. November has been the bloodiest month of this year with 35 militant killings. However, the number of active militants continues to be 250 which suggest that there were at least 500 militants active in Kashmir.
Quoting official figures available with the KNO, said 230 militants have been killed in different parts of Kashmir so far this year. Last year, 207 militants were killed in this period. Now only three commanders are surviving who are also on the hit list of forces—- Hizbul Mujahideen’s operational commander, Riyaz Naikoo, Al Badr commander, Zeenat-ul Islam who was earlier with Hizbul Mujahideen and now has shifted to Albadr, Lateef Tiger who was an associate of Burhan Wani and Zakir Musa, the chief of Ansar-ul-Gazwat-ul-Hind. Sources said that Hizb has appointed new district commanders for Shopian, Anantnag and Pulwama.
A police official said that the number of militants keep on fluctuating in Kashmir. “It is not like we killed 230 and there will be 50 odd militants now. There have been some successful infiltration and also the new recruitment as well,” he said. “In the past two months, there has been no recruitment, but before that youth were joining militancy.” The official hinted at some successful bids by the militants stating that “militants in large groups may have managed to sneak in due as we have tough terrain, deep ravines and woods along the fence in Kashmir.” A top security officer said that the policy of forces in Kashmir is to target the top brass of militants as they are involved in the process of luring youth into militancy fold. “All the remaining commanders on a radar and will be zeroed in soon,” he told KNO.