‘We have not kept anti-militancy operations on hold, reveal top JK security officials’
Srinagar : The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Government of India has asked the Jammu and Kashmir’s security grid not to “lower the guard in times of Covid-19 pandamic and to carry out operations on the basis of specific intelligence inputs about presence of militants in a particular area”.
The directions from the MHA to continue the anti-militancy operations have put the speculations to rest that the J&K security forces had put the anti-militancy operations on a halt in view of the pandemic Covid-19 that has already claimed two lives while as 70 cases have been tested positive in the J&K UT.
Sources in the MHA revealed to Kashmir Indepth News Service(KINS) that there are clear cut directions that anti-militancy operations can’t be kept on a hold as that may allow the “militants to re-group and instead all the security agencies operating in the J&K UT have been strictly advised to go after militants”. The security forces have been directed to work more on technical and human intelligence while going after the militants.
“For a time being, Cordon and Search Operations (CASOs) are being ignored in view of the Caronavirus,” a senior official disclosed. “But there is no truth in the reports that anti-militancy operations are on a hold. We are working on leads and wherever we get inputs about militant presence after assessing intelligence or leads, we will launch operations.” the official said.
Pertinently, no encounter was reported in Kashmir ever since the first case of Covid-19 Pandamic was witnessed in Srinagar area on March 18. However, suspected militants carried out two attacks in Southern Kashmri where first a civilian was shot at who recently succumbed at SKIMS Soura and the latest on April 01 at Damhal HanjiPora Kulgam where two civilians were shot at who later died on the spot.
A senior security officer told KINS that cases have been registered in both the incidents and investigations are on.
Asked whether the flow of information about militant presence had gone down due to the Caronavirus scare, he said: “Anti-militancy operations are on and will be conducted on the basis of specific intelligence. We don’t want to create unnecessary trouble for the people who are facing a big challenge in the form of Covid-19. We have not lowered the guard and all installations are maintaining the alert to foil all the bids by militants. We will take on militants whenever we have credible leads. We are avoiding unnecessary CASOs, patrolling, searches etc in view of the Covid-19.”KINS)
