‘Tremendous enchancment’ in safety state of affairs in J&Ok post-August 2019, says prime Army commander

By PTI

UDHAMPUR: Asserting that the safety state of affairs in Jammu and Kashmir has seen a “tremendous improvement and stabilisation” since August 2019, a prime Army commander stated the union territory is regaining its previous glory and peace via sacrifices of the safety forces and other people.

He stated safety forces have eradicated 180 terrorists in 2021 and arrested 495 overground employees (OGWs), thereby giving a telling blow to the fear community in Jammu and Kashmir.

“As a result of extraordinary synergy, security forces and other organisations of the government, the situation in the hinterland of Jammu and Kashmir has seen a tremendous improvement and stabilisation since August 2019. There has been a considerable improvement in all the parameters of terrorism and violence,” General Officer Commanding in Chief (GoC-In-C), Northern Command, Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi stated in an interview to PTI right here.

Giving additional particulars concerning the floor state of affairs in J and Ok, Lt Gen Dwivedi stated the (terror) recruitment has declined by 31 % — from 192 in 2020 it has come right down to 148 in 2021.

“Terrorist-initiated incidents have gone down by 14 percent — from 137 in 2020 to 119 in 2021. The agitational dynamics has also declined,” he stated.

As a results of synchronised intelligence community and help from the folks, safety forces have eradicated 180 terrorists in 2021, of which 18 had been international parts, the Army commander stated.

These slain terrorists belonged to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Al-Badr and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) outfits, he stated.

“In the four months of 2022, 66 terrorists have been eliminated, including 17 foreign elements,” Lt Gen Dwivedi stated, including efforts in the direction of dismantling of the OGW community and exposing their machinations has resulted within the arrest of 495 OGWs in 2021 and 87 OGWs within the first 4 months of 2022.

“A telling blow has been dealt to the terror network in J-K,” he stated.

The Army commander maintained that every one “these successes” are reflections of upper requirements of professionalism and jointness in all of the domains and dimensions of counter-terrorist operations.

“I see J-K regaining its past glory and sustaining the hard-earned peace through sacrifices of the security forces and awam (people),” he stated.

Lt Gen Dwivedi stated the narrative within the Kashmir area has modified since August 2019.

“And in this change, the civil administration, the security forces and the leaders in the society have all joined hands together. The intensity of operations will continue to be high till all of the residual 168 plus terrorists surrender or they are eliminated,” he stated.

The Centre had ended the particular standing of the Jammu and Kashmir state on August 5, 2019 and downgraded it to a union territory.

The Army commander stated that the general state of affairs is progressively enhancing because of the proactive Rashtriya Rifles-gridded deployment resulting in a optimistic and conducive atmosphere for accelerating the growing initiatives of the federal government.

“Dividends of peace have started reaching the people and they are further getting motivated to preserve and sustain the peace,” he stated.