IS presence in Kashmir is negligible but people are being radicalized on those lines: J&K DGP
| Jammu Kashmir Now | The facts and information abou 03-Jan-2019 |
The Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh Wednesday denied any big presence of IS in Kashmir. He said “In the past also, (IS) flags were carried and displayed publicly to show that there is very large presence of such elements. We will again say that IS presence is not that big in Kashmir but the fact that people are being radicalised on those lines that can’t be denied”. While referring to the incident of pulpit desecration in Jamia Masjid, he said that the incident was done as an “effort from IS elements to try and show their presence”. But the efforts are being made to “radicalise youth through IS ideology, followers of such an ideology are very few on ground”. He added “There is a very serious activity on part of anti-national and anti-social elements to radicalise a section of our youth to the extent possible”. He said “Ours is a very secular kind of culture where we extend due respect to our places of worship”.
He lamented that though security forces make its best effort to dissuade the youth to join terrorism but the presence of Pakistan makes it less likely that the youth will abjure the path violence. Even if the youth wants to leave terrorism, the situation becomes difficult. He said “In most operations, we have seen that there is a Pakistani element present in that group. So even if there is someone who is innocent or somebody who has just joined militancy, somebody who could have otherwise, maybe, surrendered, those elements do not permit that kind of a thing to happen. They are so close to each other with their guns. On many occasions, we call family members to call out their wards. But despite a family being involved, there was ‘no’ (surrender). It is not that we are not making efforts”. Without disclosing the exact number of youth, who were brought to mainstream, DGP said “many youth who were at the borderline of joining terrorist ranks were brought back”. He added “We had a number of modules of youth who were on the borderline of joining terrorism. We dissuaded them, persuaded them from joining that path. We took an action which was the linear most action possible in their respect”.
Regretting on loss of life in counter-terrorism operations, DGP said “Loss of any life can’t be worth praise. To term it as success doesn’t feel good,”