J&K youth join militancy; funds flow from Gulf

Large inflow of hawala funds from gulf countries and more Kashmiri youth getting sucked into militancy are dangerously stoking terrorism in the Valley in a fresh test for security forces in their anti-militancy operations.

This assessment has been made by security analysts with former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief A.S. Dulat summing up the situation to say, “There are dark clouds on the horizon and some things seem to be not right.” He has been associated with the Kashmir desk in the home ministry in various capacities since 1990.

While Jammu and Kashmir authorities appear to adopt a reticent policy on the emerging situation and the state police is stumped by the new challenges, security sources said that militants are concentrating on two axes in South and North Kashmir.

An axis from Tral, Batapora, Panjgaon and Yaripora in south Kashmir is witnessing a dominance of terror group Hizbul Mujahideen, while in the other axis from Palhalan to Sopore this group and few militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed are calling the shots, say police officials, who have been on the forefront of fighting militancy.

The worrisome aspect, the officials say, is that in both the axes the leadership is in the hands of Kashmiri boys, who have joined the ranks of militancy recently, the sources said. Security analysts said that local recruitment, which had come down to a trickle, has picked up suddenly from January this year.

The killing of two militants Javaid Ahmad of Redwini Bala village and Idrees Ahmad Nengroo of Budroo village of Kulgam in their home district a week ago has come as an eye-opener for security agencies as Ahmad had joined Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) a year back while Negroo only a month back, the sources said. Both of them were killed in a chance encounter with security forces in Kulgam areas of south Kashmir last week.

Since March 2015, nearly 50 boys have reportedly vanished from the Valley with Awantipora in south Kashmir accounting for nearly 15 of them followed by Kulgam (nine), Shopian (seven), Anantnag (eight) and 11 from North Kashmir.