SRINAGAR, July 17: The Indian army has been “far more effective” this year in containing the alleged infiltration of militants into its part of Kashmir from the Pakistani zone, a senior army official said on Thursday, as nine more died in the restive province.
“Infiltration (of militants) is going on, but we have certainly made our efforts to prevent infiltration far more effectively,” said Lt-Gen V.G. Patankar, the outgoing army chief of the Kashmir valley.
“We are able to prevent infiltration far better than (before),” Patankar told reporters at army headquarters here.
“Militancy today is more calm and under control than it was in the previous year,” he said.
The infiltration of militants across Kashmir’s Line of Control has been the main cause of friction between India and Pakistan since Muslim rebels launched a separatist insurgency in 1989.
Patankar, who is being replaced by a new army chief in two days, said security forces have also been able to contain the insurgency and also urged the government to continue development in the restive region.
“We are well on our way to achieving a situation of peace,” he said.
“The situation has gained a momentum and we will have to sustain this momentum.”
Later in the day some 24 militants surrendered before Patankar at the headquarters of the Kilo Force, the army’s counter-insurgency unit active in north and central Kashmir, officials said.
Patankar said the militants would be rehabilitated and given a “second chance”. He claimed more rebels would give themselves up.
The surrendered militants were from the northern districts of Baramulla and Kupwara, where overnight Indian troops shot dead four Muslim fighters in two encounters, a police spokesman said.
Also overnight, suspected Muslim rebels shot dead three Hindus including a woman in the village of Nalli Hadhok in the southern Doda district, police said.
One of the slain Hindus was part of a village defence committee, a militia set up to protect Kashmir’s minority community.
ALLEGATION: India said on Thursday Pakistan in violation of its promises was sheltering “terrorists” after a guerrilla leader in Azad Kashmir warned of major suicide attacks against India.
“This shows that Pakistan continues to give shelter and support to terrorists... There is a gap in what Pakistan says and what it does,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.
The spokesman was replying to a question on a warning on Tuesday by Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin of “large-scale” suicide attacks if the international community does not step in to resolve the Kashmir row.—AFP