NEW DELHI: Former occupied Jammu and Kashmir police chief Kuldeep Khoda haswarned of a “cult” being born in the state with more educated youthsgetting enthused to join militancy and picking up the gun becoming an”attractive and glamorous” option.
The “dimensions and dynamics” of terrorism are changing, Khoda, the longestand amongst the most successful police chiefs of the state, has said in ablog.
Examining the reasons for increasing number of youths joining militancy, hesaid, “When political grid is inactive, even if security grid gets results,common man on many occasions becomes a victim of favoritism andnepotism. Frustration of common man with the system he is in, has to findan exit route.”
“In other states, he added, where system failures may be more acute, theexit route for frustration takes the form of dharnas, strikes, arson andthe like.”
“But in the Valley, with militancy now firmly entrenched for the last threedecades, taking up the gun is not only a readily available option but anattractive and glamorous one as well,” said Khoda, who served as chiefvigilance commissioner of the state before retiring last year.
The glamorisation of militancy has attracted many well educated boys intoits ranks, he said.
“Earlier unheard but now a reality is that large number of educated youthare getting enthused to be part of the ‘movement’ and to spearhead it. Alocal Ph.D scholar studying in Aligarh Muslim University, a faculty memberfrom Kashmir University who subsequently got killed in an operation, an MBAson of a prominent separatist, are some of the recently recruited educatedyouth.
This, he said, is changing the dimensions and dynamics of terrorism.
“A cult has been born. Whether it will grow to assume a menacing role willlargely depend on our response,” he said.
He said the conflict zone was usually associated with conflict of interestsbetween those managing the security grid and political grid.
After the launch of Operation ‘All Out’, some important militant commandersgot neutralized with 213 militants killed in 2017, he said.
This achievement of the police and security forces cannot be underestimatedand most of the intelligence leading to successful and surgical operationsflows from the police, Khoda added.
“But the success of operations gets diluted when the neutralized number ofmilitants gets replaced by fresh recruitment. Last year witnessed localmilitant recruitment at 126, the highest during the last more than twelveyears. This year, during first four months with around 50 local youthgetting into militant cadres, last year’s number is likely to getsurpassed,” he warned.
Khoda, who served as police chief from 2007 to 2012, said the number ofmilitant incidents plummeted from 1,438 in 2006 to 124 in 2012.
The number of casualties of security forces came down to 15 (the lowestduring 28 years of militancy) from 182 during the same period. This figurerose to 47 in 2014 and to 80 in 2017, he said.
“Trend in militants killed depicts similar pattern, 591 in 2006, 72 in2012, 110 in 2014 and 213 in 2017. If all the three strong parameters ofsecurity situation viz number of militancy incidents, security forcescasualties and terrorists killed are showing an upward trend, it does notrequire rocket science to understand which way we are going and how ourtactics on dealing Kashmir situation is delivering,” he said.
“Unrestricted use of social media. Every militant’s funeral draws thousandsto the venue. It is not uncommon to see gun wielding militants appearing atthe scene and playing on the minds of youth.”
“The event and its management more than makes up for the losses interrorist cadre by way of fresh recruitment of a few more than lost. Thecalibrated release of videos on social media projecting terrorists asmessiahs and brave hearts of the community serves as a catalyst inattracting youngsters to join the jihad’,” he warned.