59 joined terror after Burhan Wani killing

Srinagar: The Jammu & Kashmir government said on Tuesday that Hizbul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s killing six months ago gave impetus to militancy and, since then, 59 youths in the Valley joined terror outfits.  

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said in the Assembly that the government has notified a policy to encourage “misguided” youths and militants to abjure violence and “accept the integrity of India and its Constitution”.

There was ruckus in the House as lawmaker of Opposition National Conference (NC) Showkat Hussain Ganie called Wani a “freedom fighter” who died a “martyr”. Ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members alleged that the NC paid money to its workers to fuel street protests across the Valley following Wani’s killing by ecurity forces in July last year.  

In September last year, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had sought to glorify Wani by calling him a “freedom fighter” during his speech at the UN General Assembly, prompting India to react strongly, accusing the neighbouring country of sponsoring terrorism on Indian soil.

Mr Ganie also said that Kashmiris would continue to cross over to the other side of the Line of Control (LoC) till the issue of Kashmir was resolved. PDP’s Firdous Tak asked him to clarify before the House if it was his personal view or that of his party.

Without answering the query, the NC member said he stood by what he had said and again called Wani a “freedom fighter.” PDP member Saifuddin Bhat charged that the NC tried to topple the PDP-BJP government by inciting violence in Kashmir.

The government also said that after Wani’s killing, 76 civilians and two policemen were killed in firing and other actions by security forces and mob violence.

As many as 2,632 cases were registered by the police across Kashmir, and 463 persons arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA). However, 145 of them were set free by courts, while 318 are still in various jails across Kashmir, sources said.

Wani’s killing and the resultant unrest in the Valley dominated proceedings of the Assembly on the second consecutive day, leading to an intense uproar with Opposition NC and Congress members continuing their protest over civilian deaths.

Former chief minister and NC working president Omar Abdullah said that the government mishandled the situation. He termed the PDP-BJP alliance “unholy”.

BJP ally and minister for science and technology Sajad Gani Lone accused Mr Abdullah of resorting to theatrics,  and said that the Opposition was on a score-settling mission.

CPI(M)’s Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami urged Ms. Mufti to initiate a process of “sustainable and credible dialogue” on the Kashmir issue towards developing trust in people.

The CM said that the government would provide “misguided” youths and militants fixed deposits of `1.50 lakh, payment of monetary incentive for surrender of weapons and stipend for a period of 3 years at the rate of `2,000 per month from the date of surrender.

She further said that under the policy, 437 cases of surrendered militants were received from 2004 till date, and that out of these 216 cases have been finalised and monthly incentives of `2.68 core have been paid, whereas 219 cases were rejected.

Meanwhile, government sources corroborated that militancy-related incidents in Jammu and Kashmir increased last year in comparison to 2015. Sources said that against 151 incidents in 2014, there were 143 in 2015, which jumped to 243 in 2016. Also, there were as many as 16 cases of weapon snatching reported across the Valley in 2016, and only in one of these the snatched weapons could be recovered. The other incidents included two major attacks at Army camps in Uri and Nagrota in which 27 soldiers and officers were killed and about two dozen others injured on September 30 and November 29, respectively.

Both these incidents are being investigated by the NIA and in order to prevent the reoccurrence of such or similar attacks, security forces have initiated a series of measures including maintaining greater synergy amongst various security and intelligence agencies, and strengthening the counter-insurgency grid.