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According to official statistics, 131 Kashmiri youngsters have joined militant groups this year as against 117 last year. Local recruitment figures stood at 214 in 2018 and 128 in 2017.

Srinagar: In a big concern for security establishments, the local militant recruitment in Kashmir has officially reached 131 since the beginning of this year, and it could reach as high as 180 by December-end according to internal assessment of security forces, ThePrint has learnt.

Security agencies also believe the numbers could go up further but lack of weapons is what is preventing recruitment by the militant groups.

It has also come to light that the long defunct militant group Al Badr, created in 1999 by Pakistan, has been revived again with the group getting 17 fresh recruits into its ranks in July and August. It had zero recruits for a long time now.

Security agencies are still trying to figure out why Al Badr has been activated even when Pakistan has floated militant fronts such as The Resistance Front and People’s Anti Fascist Front to claim attacks by militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

“The idea behind the two new organisations is to give an indigenous spin to the militant activities in Kashmir and to absolve Pakistan, which has been under heat due to the FATF sword hanging over its head,” a source in the defence and security establishment said.

The source added that the effort was to show that militancy in J&K is actually a fight against the government in New Delhi rather than a religion-backed fight.

These developments come even as the security forces eliminated nearly 180 militants in operations since the beginning of this year, including 169 in the hinterland, as of last weekend.

88 active militants in North Kashmir, 123 in south 

According to official statistics, 131 Kashmiri youngsters have joined the militant group this year as against 117 last year. The local recruitment figures in 2018 and 2017 were 214 and 128, respectively.

Of the 89 locals who had joined militant groups by August-end, 57 were eliminated by the security forces in encounters where efforts were made to first make them surrender by bringing in family members to appeal to the youngsters, sources said.

In north Kashmir, sources in the defence and security establishment said, there are 88 active militants in all and 66 of them are from Pakistan.

However, in south Kashmir, there are at least 123 active militants. According to the sources, only 25 of them are Pakistanis militants while the rest are all locals.

“The number of recruitment is very high. This is something that has been repeatedly flagged,” said a source, with another adding that it is estimated that the figure could actually reach 180 by the end of this year.

According to a study conducted by the Army on the profile of militant recruitment in 2018, 30 per cent of the recruits were in the age group of 16-20 years while 60 per cent were in the age group of 21-25 years. Only 10 per cent of the recruits were in the age group of 26-30 years.

In terms of education, the study showed that 20 per cent of the recruits were illiterate while 45 per cent had higher secondary schooling and 35 per cent were Matriculate.

The study also looked at the financial background and showed that 60 per cent of the militants came from the middle class while 35 per cent came from the lower middle class. Only 5 per cent of the militants came from well-to-do families.

Militants face weapons shortage

Sources said the militants are facing a shortage of weapons. “It is estimated that they are waiting for weapons and ammunition to recruit more,” said a source.

In many of the recent encounters, only pistols were recovered from the dead militants, indicating that the earlier commonly used weapon, AK 47s, are short in supply.

The fact that there are shortages of weapons is also borne out through the recovery list maintained by the security forces.

Since January this year, the security forces have recovered 172 pistols as against 142 AK series of assault rifles besides 5 American M4 and 2 M16 rifles along with 17 other weapons snatched from security forces in the past.

“There is great dearth of weapons and ammunition for the militants and hence Pakistan is trying to push in weapons into the Valley not just from the LoC side but also through the International Border on Jammu, Punjab and even Rajasthan side. Pakistan is also trying to drop weapons through drones,” a source said.

With inputs from ThePrint

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Srinagar: Unknown gunmen on Thursday evening fired upon ex militant at Kakapora area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

Official sources told GNS that Unknown gunmen fired upon Ex militant namely Tanveer Sofi at Kakapora near J&K Bank resulting serious injury to him. He was immediately removed to Srinagar hospital for treatment.

Soon after the attack whole area has been cordoned off.(GNS)

In a wide-ranging interview with an Indian journalist, PM Imran Khan’s security adviser says Kashmir must be on the agenda for talks.

Islamabad: Pakistan is prepared to sit down for talks with regional rival India, with whom it came close to an all-out military conflict last year, provided that Kashmiris are provided a seat at the table, Pakistan’s national security adviser has said.

“I will tell you very honestly, in the past year, we’ve gotten messages about a desire for conversation [from India],” Moeed Yusuf told Indian journalist Karan Thapar during a wide-ranging interview on Tuesday.

Yusuf advises Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on national security and strategic policy.

“We have got to think strategically. These are two countries, have terrible relations, we need to sit down like adults,” he told Thapar. “There are […] fundamentally two issues: Kashmir and terrorism. I want to talk about both.”

Yusuf also accused India of sponsoring armed groups that carry out attacks on Pakistani soil.

He said Pakistan had specific evidence linking India’s intelligence services to the 2014 massacre of more than 130 pupils in Peshawar, a 2019 attack on a luxury hotel in southern Pakistan, a 2018 attack on a Chinese consulate in Karachi and the recent merger of several Pakistani Taliban factions into a single group.

The interview, conducted at times in a combative tone, was the first time a senior Pakistani official had spoken to Indian news media since August 2019, when India revoked a special status for the portion of the disputed territory of Kashmir that it administers.

The Pakistani NSA said there was a need for the Kashmir dispute and issues around “terrorism” to be on the agenda for any future talks.

“There are three parties to the Kashmir dispute. There is Pakistan, there is India and there is the principal party, the humans called Kashmiris,” said Yusuf.

“If the Kashmiris can’t stand the sight of India, can’t bear to be in the same room as the Indians, how are we going to have a dialogue?”

Yusuf did not specify which group or individuals he meant specifically when he called for the “Kashmiris” to be a part of the talks.

Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, which both claim in full, but administer over separate portions divided by a Line of Control.

Last year, the two countries came close to another war, after Indian air strikes on Pakistani soil prompted aerial skirmishes that saw Pakistan launch retaliatory strikes and shoot down an Indian aircraft.

India’s action was sparked by the killing of more than 40 security personnel in a suicide attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pulwama town, an attack India blamed on Pakistan-based armed groups.

Pakistan denies allowing armed groups to use its territory for action against other countries, specifically India.

‘Fiction’ and ‘pipe dream’: India

In his interview, Yusuf also claimed India had sent a “message for a desire for conversation” with Pakistan, without elaborating further.

“But why is there a desire? In my reading, to talk, to get somewhere,” he said. “There has to be an enabling environment to talk.”

Relations between the two South Asian nuclear powers have remained frozen since India changed the constitutional status of Indian-administered Kashmir, absorbing the Muslim-majority territory into the country’s administrative and political mainstream – a move decried by Pakistan.

India’s government did not offer official comments on the interview.

However, in a report on Wednesday, India’s Hindustan Times newspaper quoted a top Indian official as saying Yusuf’s claims were “fiction” and not just “mischievous but also a pipe dream”.

“Officials added that New Delhi’s stand on holding any conversation with Pakistan had been consistent and was preconditioned on Islamabad taking concrete steps to build an atmosphere free from the shadow of terror and violence,” said the report, which did not reveal the identity of the official.

India’s intelligence agency targeted

Pakistan has routinely accused India of being associated with attacks on Pakistani soil, particularly in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

On Tuesday, however, Yusuf made specific allegations against India’s intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW or R&AW).

“[In] 2019, the Indian embassy funds were used, more than a million US dollars, to effect the merger [of Pakistan Taliban],” he said. “Congratulations to the RAW, they have succeeded in creating an organisation to kill Pakistanis.”

Yusuf accused RAW of being in contact with Malik Faridoon, a man he identified as the “mastermind” of the 2014 attack on a school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar that killed 132 children – one of the deadliest attacks ever on the country’s soil.

“We have records of eight phone calls, we have records of phone numbers, we have records of handlers who orchestrated this entire thing sitting in a third country,” he said.

He also linked RAW to the attack on the Chinese consulate in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi in 2018, and to an attack on a luxury hotel in the southern port town of Gwadar last year that killed five people. India denies the allegations.

Responding to Indian allegations that Pakistan had delayed the trials of those Pakistanis accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed more than 160 people, Yusuf said the law was taking its course.

“We have to follow the course of law, and India is not cooperating in the evidence it needs to provide,” said Yusuf. “Get the witnesses over, provide the evidence, I want to end this before anybody else.”

He made similar allegations regarding the slow pace of progress in the appeal of Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was convicted for spying and sentenced to death by a Pakistani court in 2017.

Yusuf also responded to a question on Pakistan’s silence on the issue of the alleged persecution of Uighur Muslims in China, a strategic ally and Pakistan’s northeastern neighbour, by terming the allegations “a non-issue”.

“Even our delegations have visited, we have seen and we are 100 percent satisfied that it is a non-issue,” he said. “The West can say what it wants […] we have zero concerns.”

With inputs from Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera’s Asad Hashim contributed to this report from Islamabad.

New Delhi: Amid an ongoing military stand-off with India, China on Tuesday said it does not recognize the “illegally established” Union Territory of Ladakh.

The remarks came a day after India inaugurated 44 key bridges in the border areas of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

Most of the newly-inaugurated bridges, including seven in Ladakh, are in strategically important areas and will help the armed forces in ensuring quick movement of troops and weapons.

Responding sharply to the opening of new bridges, the Chinese foreign ministry today said that Beijing stands against the development of infrastructure facilities that is aimed at military contention along the border areas.
“Based on the two sides’ consensus, neither should take action that might escalate the situation. That could also undermine efforts to ease the situation,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.

It added that it does not recognize the UT of Ladakh, which is “illegally” established by India, as well as the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
China also noted that the Indian side has been ramping up infrastructure development along the border areas and stepping up military deployment, which it termed as the “root cause” of tensions between the two countries.
The remarks came in the backdrop of US secretary of state Mike Pompeo revealing that China has amassed more than 60,000 troops on India’s northern border.

Amid the border standoff with China, India is expediting work on several key projects including on a strategic road linking Darcha in Himachal Pradesh with Ladakh that will criss-cross a number of high-altitude snow-bound passes.

Atal tunnel

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the world’s longest motorable tunnel, the Atal Tunnel at Rohtang, at an altitude of over 3,000 metres (10,000 feet).

The tunnel, completed at a cost of 3,200 crore, will be crucial in defending the country and will allow mobility of defence forces in case of a prolonged standoff with China.

Named after late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the 9.02-km long tunnel passes under the Rohtang Pass in the eastern Pir Panjal range on the Leh-Manali highway. It has reduced the distance between Manali in Himachal Pradesh and Leh in Ladakh by 46 kilometres and saved over four hours of travel time.

All-weather bridge in Arunachal

In April this year, India opened an all-weather bridge, which can take 40 tons of weight, in Arunachal Pradesh to enable faster movement of troops and artillery.

The bridge is located in a region that witnessed a months-long military standoff between India and China in 2017 over the Doklam plateau.

(With inputs from Times of India)

(This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Leaders agree on the need to put up a joint front.

National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah on Wednesday met Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti, released after 14 months on Tuesday, at her residence and extended an invitation to hold a meeting of all the signatories of the Gupkar Declaration, a pact to fight for the restoration of J&K’s special status.

The Abdullahs, once considered arch rivals of the Muftis, arrived at the official residence of Ms. Mufti at Gupkar on Wednesday afternoon. Party sources said the leaders discussed the situation in Kashmir and “agreed on the need to put up a joint front”.

Abdullah Junior, who described the meeting as a courtesy call, said: “It was only after the Supreme Court’s intervention that Ms. Mufti was released. Our visit today has nothing political about it. We met to find out how she was doing.”

Ms. Mufti thanked the Abdullahs. “It gave me courage listening to him [Dr. Abdullah]. I am sure together we all can change things for the better, she said.

In an indicator of cementing relations between the two major regional players, Mr. Abdullah said Ms. Mufti has accepted an invitation to attend the meeting of the Gupkar Declaration at his residence around 4 p.m. on Thursday.

“All the signatories of the Declaration will be meeting. The future course of action will be decided jointly,” Mr. Abdullah said.

The Declaration was signed by six political parties, including Congress, on August 4, 2019, just a day before the abrogation of J&K’s special status. It called for a joint fight to “safeguard J&K’s special status, Article 370 and 35A”.

Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone, a signatory of the Declaration, also met Ms. Mufti on Wednesday evening.

Mehbooba toughens stand

In an audio uploaded online, Ms. Mufti, toughening her stand, said the struggle will continue to get back what “the Delhi Darbar has snatched away by unconstitutional and undemocratic means” and sought resolution of the Kashmir issue.

“Everything the Delhi Darbar snatched away by unconstitutional and undemocratic means has to be got back. People also need to keep struggling for the solution of Jammu and Kashmir, which has led to sacrificing thousands of lives,” Ms. Mufti said.

Ms. Mufti, 61, said the abrogation of Article-370 “had been hurting her heart and soul during every moment of her detention”.

Terming August 5, 2019 a “black day”, Ms. Mufti said: “No one among us will forget the humiliation of the day Article 370 was abrogated. No one among us can ever forget the robbery and the insult.”

She said the “path ahead won’t be easy but I believe that our courage and determination will be our companion in walking this path”. She also demanded “immediate release of everyone from J&K who are languishing in various jails of the country”.

With inputs from The Hindu

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

PTI

Jammu: A man was arrested with one kilogram of heroin recovered from him in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Thursday, officials said.

A police party intercepted a pedestrian at a checkpoint in the border belt of Mankote and was subjected to physical checking, they said.

During the search, police recovered 1 kg of heroin from his possession, they said. He was arrested and a case was registered, they added.

The delivery of the drug consignment from across the border can’t be ruled out and police is investigating all the forward and backward linkages, they said.

People have appreciated the role of police in recovery of the huge consignment and curbing the drug menace spoiling the youth.

(This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

PTI

Leh: The Union Territory of Ladakh reported 66 new coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to 5,304, according to an official bulletin on Thursday.

Fifty-six patients recovered from the disease in a span of 24 hours — 36 patients in Leh and 20 in Kargil — the bulletin said.

According to the bulletin released by the directorate of health services, the number of active cases in the region stood at 979 on Thursday — 771 in Leh district and 208 in Kargil district.

Ladakh had recorded a total of 64 COVID-19-related deaths, while 4,205 patients have recovered from the disease till date.

(This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

‘Pak may push in more infiltrators before snowfall’

Handwara: Jammu and Kashmir’s Director General of Police (DGP), Dilbagh Singh Wednesday said that Kashmiri youth are treading a right path and they have replaced guns with the bats in their hands.

Talking to media men, on the sidelines of concluding ceremony, Handwara police cricket league (HPCL), DGP Singh said that said that Valley youth are now on the right path and they have replaced the guns with bats in their hand.

“We will continue to encourage youth to take part in sports activities,” DGP said as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).

He said that he has found a “very welcome change in the youth as they are treading the right path and staying away from the violence.” “I am glad to see young boys hold bats in their hands. Police have been able to get very good talent from the players and I am sure many players would be going a long way to represent Kashmir,” the J&K police chief said.

About the possible infiltration bids, the DGP said that ahead of the snowfall Pakistan would make desperate attempts to push infiltrators into this side and attempts are made on regular basis. “Our forces deployed close to the fence are alert to thwart any such attempts,” he said—(KNO)

Srinagar: The University of Kashmir (KU) is likely to commence with a new academic session via online mode for various Post Graduate (PG) courses from this week for the fresh batch.

Officials of the varsity said that tentatively the varsity has notified to commence with a new academic session for the fresh batch of 2020.

KU’s Dean Academic Affairs, Akbar Masoodi told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the academics for the fresh 2020 batch is tentatively to be scheduled to commence from October-15 and the new academic session for the already enrolled students has started from October-10.

Masoodi, however, said that the admission process for the new batch was going on.

“We have already notified the academic calendar for the first semester of 2020 batch and if the admission process is getting completed by October-15, then we will begin with the same, but if the admission process is taking more time then the varsity will extend the date of the new academic session,” he said.

KU’s Registrar, Dr Nisar Ahmad informed KNO that the varsity will continue to hold the online classes till the government notifies new rules or Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Meanwhile, the varsity in its tentative notification for the fresh batch has said that the academics will commence from October-15 to January-01-2021.

The university notification further reads that the examination preparation for the Open Elective (OE) and Generic Elective (GE) courses will be 16-18 January 2020 and the examination preparation days for departmental courses (Core and DCE) will commence from 19-21 January 2021.

The academic calendar notified by the KU reads that the examination preparation days for departmental courses for the fresh 2020 batch will commence from 19-21 January-28 to February-10 2021—(KNO)