J & K Suspends Anti-Militant Operations For A Week

The state government on Monday announced suspension of anti-militant operations in the valley for one week on the eve of the coming Id festival. The security advisor and local corps commander, lieutenant general J S Dhillon, told a press conference here we will not carry out any cordon and search operations in the valley for one week. We want the people and the militants to celebrate the Eid festival without any inconvenience. However, at the same time general Dhillon warned: We will take action if we see militants carrying guns. They can return to their homes without guns and be with their families on the occasion of holy festival.

The concession, according to the security advisor, shall not apply to foreign militants, who he said, have no business to be here. He further said that the overall situation has improved in the valley as the number of militancy related incidents have come down considerably. When asked as to why the troops continued to be deployed in large numbers, the advisor said pressure on the militants has to be maintained till insurgency is completely wiped out. Substantiating his claim, he said that in January 1995 there were eighty militancy related incidents which came down to seventy to January 1996 and to eighteen in January 1997. The advisor feels that the encounters with the security forces are rare and that the troops have to now look for encounters.

He disclosed that the foreign militants are also fed up and they are now going back, while those still in the valley are hiding in higher reaches and inaccessible areas. He also told the press conference that the foreign militants were indulging in extortion and harassment of the locals.

The security advisor confirmed that there is complete co-ordination between the security forces and the civil administration. He denied that there has been any estrangement between the National Conference government and the deployed forces.

When his attention was invited to the recent utterances of the younger brother of Farooq Abdullah and the state health minister Mustafa Kamal, in which he has been highly critical of the Armys role in the valley, the security advisor said those might be his personal views.