Conflict

Militant recruitment has ‘declined’ during past two months in Kashmir, says Lt General Bhatt

Srinagar: The General officer commanding (GoC) 15 Corps, Lt Gen A K Bhatt Saturday said that the militant recruitment has seen a decline during past two months.

Lt Gen Bhatt said that the recruitment of local youth in militant outfits has been persistent during past couple of years. “However, we have seen a drop in it (recruitment) in past two months,” he said.

“We believe that youth of Kashmir will follow right path and there will be even lesser recruitment,” he said while talking to reporters in a wreath-laying ceremony held for Major Somnath Sharma in Budgam.

Major Sharma was killed in Budgam on this day in the year 1947 at the Srinagar Airport.

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As per reports in October, the armed forces and their intelligence units in Jammu and Kashmir have suspected that a few highly skilled snipers could be active in the Valley, after an Army man and two paramilitary personnel were killed in long-range stealth attacks.

The recent sniper attacks, reportedly by Jaish-e-Mohammed militants, has emerged as a new source of worry for the agencies in Kashmir Valley.

These attacks in close occurrence of each other in the past month have prompted the armed forces to re-calibrate their strategy.

The first such attack took place at Newa in Pulwama, on September 18, when a CRPF personnel was injured. Officials thought it to be a one-off strike till the recent spate of sniper attacks that claimed the lives of a Sashastra Seema Bal personnel, an Army personnel in Tral, and a CISF personnel in Nowgam.

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Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Rajendra Prasad was shot in the face around 1 am, while guarding a power grid station, and succumbed to his injuries.

The militants using sniper rifle also carried out the attack on 42 RR camp in Luragam at around 9pm, killing sepoy Ngamsiamliana who was on guard duty, they said.

While responding to the recent attacks, Indian Army Chief Bibin Rawat chief said the security force was studying whether the attacks were carried out by snipers.

“Whether these attacks have been done by snipers or not, this is something we are still studying. But to say that snipers have infiltrated and that they have sniper weapons…We have not found any sniper weapon,” Rawat said.

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