Major Operation To Fight Militants

Nettled by the criticism of the BJP-led government's handling of the Kashmir situation, Union home minister L K Advani has given the green signal for a major counter-insurgency operation in Jammu and Kashmir. The results of the operation should be apparent shortly, home ministry sources say.

A high level of coordination is being maintained between the various security forces involved in the operation, with the result that the forces are having an upper edge. The Jammu and Kashmir police has also been closely involved in the operations, senior officials said yesterday.

Stating that the operations are "going ahead full swing", a senior official said the objective was to eliminate Pakistan-trained terrorists and mercenaries hailing from other countries.

 

Advani met the J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah yesterday, and later said: "We are satisfied with the progress we are making. Daily eight to ten militants are being eliminated. The process of attrition is on. There is no other solution but just to eliminate the terrorists. We have an upper hand now because of the intelligence breakthroughs we have had".

Official sources say intelligence sharing among the security forces had led to significant gains, and was an important element of the operation. One of the fallout of this was the killing of the deputy chief of Hizbul Mujahedeen, Ali Mohammad Dar last Sunday. There is also "good coordination" with the civil administration, the sources said.

Referring to his talks with Abdullah, he said the chief minister was "very satisfied" with the meeting he had with Planning Commission deputy chairman Jaswant Singh.

The Centre, he said, will bear all the security-related expenditure in Jammu and Kashmir and there would be no burden on the state government.

Advani said for the first time in the last several years, tourist traffic to the state had been "good" and lauded security forces and the state police for the successful completion of the largest-ever Amarnath yatra in which 1.5 lakh pilgrims participated. "Leadership of the state police is sound", he said.