94 youths turned militants this year, the highest in last seven years
Srinagar: The security forces have launched a massive offensive against militants, but apparently that has failed to dissuade local youth from joining militancy. This year so far nearly 100 Kashmiri youths have joined militancy, the highest in the last seven years.
A senior police officer said 94 local youth had joined militancy this year and a majority of them belonged to four districts of south Kashmir – Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian —- which have remained on the edge ever since the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in July 2016.
“Over 75 per cent of those who joined militancy this year are from south Kashmir districts,” the police officer said, wishing not to be named. “As many as 13 youth have taken up arms in north Kashmir and at least eight from central Kashmir. Among those who took up arms, 21 have already been killed in different encounters while 11 have been arrested,” he said.
In fact, the once zero-militancy district of Srinagar has also witnessed local recruitment this year.
He said most of the new local recruits had either joined Hizbul Mujahideen or Lashkar-e-Toiba, the two dominant groups operating across Kashmir.
Last year, when Kashmir witnessed a five-month-long unrest after the killing of Wani, at least 88 youths had joined militancy. As the number of local youth joining militancy has been rising steadilyin the past several years, the security forces had launched “Operation All Out” to flush out militants in Kashmir.
While the offensive against the militants is on, the recruitment of local youth remains a major concern for the security establishment, which has been frequently appealing to local militants to surrender.
“Recruitment of local youth into militancy continues to pose a major challenge,” Kashmir’s Inspector General of Police Muneer Khan recently said. “This is the reason we have been targeting the militant leadership as they are the ones who lure youth into militancy.”
This year at least 169 militants have been killed in the Kashmir hinterland and along the Line of Control. Those killed included 12 top commanders of militant groups.
A senior Army officer said the local recruitment was “alarming”. “In a sense it is alarming. It is an indicator of youth being disillusioned that is how I look at it…,” the officer said.