186 Militants Including 56 Foreigners Killed in Jammu and Kashmir in 2022, Recruitments Fall

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir police on Saturday said that as many as 186 militants including 56 foreigners were killed in the region with 172 militants including 42 foreigners killed in 93 encounters across the Valley.

The Kashmir Zone Police in a statement tweeted that there has been 37% less militant recruitment in the region where the security forces also claimed to have recovered as many as 360 weapons from the militants and their aides. 

The Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh in a press conference in Jammu said that compared to previous years, forces faced fewer causalities in the year 2022, 14 policemen and 17 security forces personnel were killed this year.

The Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar was quoted in a tweet stating that the highest number of militants killed were affiliated with Lashkar e Toiba outfit and their offshoot The Resistance Front, whose 108 militants were killed, followed by Jaish e Mohammad’s 35, Hizbul Mujahideen’s 22, Al-Badr’s four and Ansar Ghazwat ul Hind’s three militants.

The police added that in the year 2022, 100 fresh militant recruitments were reported to be 37% less than the recruitments reported last year and amongst the freshly recruited militants, 65 were killed, 17 were arrested while 18 continue to remain active.

 "This year, 100 fresh recruitments into terrorist ranks were reported showing a decline of 37% compared to last year. Maximum (74) joined LeT. Out of total recruitment, 65 terrorists neutralised in encounters, 17 terrorists arrested and 18 terrorists are still active," Kashmir Police Zone tweeted quoting Kumar.

Kumar added that 360 weapons were recovered during encounters and modules' busting which include 121 AK series rifles, eight M4 Carbine and 231 pistols. The police also claimed to have seized IEDs, sticky bombs and grenades averting major incidents.

The year 2022, however, also marked continued violence against individuals from minority communities, non-locals and members of the panchayat committees. The targeted violence also led to heightened fear and the migration of many non-local labourers and employees from the Kashmir Pandit community, who have been protesting and demanding a relocation outside the Valley. The ADGP said that 29 civilians were killed by militants in the year 2022 and all militants except two involved in the killing of civilians have been neutralised.

Of the 29 civilians killed, 21 were locals including six Hindus, three Kashmiri Pandits and 15 Muslims. Eight of them belonged to states outside Jammu and Kashmir. All the militants involved in these “terror crimes”, according to ADGP, were killed barring militants Basit Dar and Adil Wani.

He also said that 26 security personnel including 14 Jammu and Kashmir police personnel were killed in the attacks.

The police also tweeted that they have successfully achieved complete success on Law and Order cases. “From 2897 cases of L&O incidents in 2016 to 26 minor cases in 2022. No civilian lost life in firing while handling L&O problems in the last more than 3 years,” he said.

The police claimed success in bringing down the number of total actives in the region to double digits and also highlighted success in narcotics-related crimes. Unlike the previous years between 2014 and 2018, there are no active militants in the region currently, who gained prominence through attacks and social media presence. Most of the Hizb cadres, who dominated the militant landscape until 2020, have been killed. There is, according to security officials, negligible recruitment in the outfit with only Farooq Nalli as its prominent face. The security agencies are also investigating the whereabouts of its last known top commander Zubair Wani, who has been completely off the radar since he succeeded Riyaz Naikoo in 2020. The oldest surviving militant Reyaz Dar alias Sethri is one of the most wanted militants the security forces are after.

“Total number of active terrorists brought down to double digits. All Chiefs and Top Commanders of terror outfits neutralised except HM’s Chief Farooq Nalli and LeT Commander Reyaz Sethri and both would be neutralised soon,” he said.

 “Total 946 cases registered this year and 1560 persons were arrested. Besides 132 drug peddlers booked under PIT Act. Huge quantities of contraband seized including 11.8Kg Brown Sugar, 46Kgs Heroine and 200 Kgs charas,” he said.

Kumar was also quoted as saying that there was no major street violence or stone pelting incident, especially at the encounter sites or internet shutdown, or protest near a funeral procession in the year.

The Kashmir police also tweeted that the Cyber Police station in the valley received hundreds of complaints regarding online crimes like financial fraud, social media crimes, mobile missing, cyberbullying and sextortion in 2022. The ADGP, quoted in the tweets, said that the police were able to recover an amount of Rs 3 crores of the “gullible public” who were trapped in different financial scams and around 500 mobiles were also recovered.