Srinagar city is not militancy free: J&K police

Acknowledging that militants were moving in Srinagar to receive funds and medical treatment, Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday declared that the city was not militancy free.

“Srinagar can never be free of militants till militancy is there. They (militants) keep on coming to the city for several purposes. At times they come for medical treatment, meeting with each other and sometimes to receive funds,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of a wreath-laying ceremony of a CRPF man who was killed in an encounter on city outskirts yesterday.

He said that if there is no encounter in any district, that doesn’t mean the area or the district is militancy free.

“Let me clarify, there have been no militant attacks in Srinagar. All the three (encounters in last 45-days) were the outcome of proactive action of police and the CRPF where leads were developed and militants hiding in the city were tracked down and killed,” Kumar said.

“Yesterday, also a lead was developed and when the suspected spot was zeroed in, the militants fired indiscriminately in which one CRPF was hit who later succumbed,” the IGP added.

The Kashmir police chief said that one Islamic State of Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK) commander for Anantnag district Zahid Das, who along with four other militants were involved in series of attacks on police and CRPF including the one at Bijbehera, recently, was killed in Malbagh encounter yesterday

“He was a big criminal for us. His killing is a big success,” he said. “Zahid’s two other associates were recently killed in Bijbehara and two more militants of his group are on the run and they will be killed soon.”

Asked about the 12 top commanders of Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, who are on police radar the IGP said, “We have already announced their names and they are being tracked down.”