Pulwama Attack Anniversary: Out 19 involved, 8 militants killed, 7 arrested, Says ADGP Vijay Kumar

*’4 including 3 Pakistanis still alive, 37 local militants active in Kashmir’ IG CRPF says situation improved after 2019 attack, won’t allow any such attack in future*

Umaisar Gull Ganaie

Srinagar, Feb 14 On the fourth anniversary of Pulwama attack, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar on Tuesday said that out of 19 militants involved in the attack, 8 have been killed, 7 arrested and 4 including 3 Pakistanis are still alive.

Talking to the media persons after paying tributes to the CRPF men, who were killed on this day in 2019, ADGP Kumar, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said the security forces are after Jaish-e-Muhammad and almost all their top commanders have been neutralized.

“At present JeM has only 7-8 locals and 5-6 active Pakistanis including Mossa Solaimani,” he said, adding that police are after them and they will be neutralized soon.

He said they are busting militant modules, especially they are after narco-terrorism and terror funding. “We have been able to recover Rs 41 lakh and recently in Baramulla, Rs 26 lakh have been recovered,” he said while replying to a query.

He also said the cases registered against OGWs involved in such activities are being disposed of at a rapid pace. “The number of such cases have reduced from 1600 in October last year to 950 at present and 13 convictions have also been made so far.”

He further said that a total of 37 local militants are presently active and that only two among them including Farooq Nalli and Riyaz Chatri are old while rest have joined recently.

Meanwhile, Inspector General Operations Sector CRPF, M S Bhatia said the situation has improved on the ground since Pulwama attack and such attacks will never happen given the measures taken by the security forces.

“There is remarkable progress after the attack in 2019, militant modules are being busted, their ecosystem is being busted, we are sure that this kind of attack will not happen again,” he said.

He further said the attacks on minority communities are acts of cowardice and those behind such attacks have been killed while measures have been taken to prevent such attacks.

“We are determined to protect minorities and in this regard several modules involved have been neutralized. The CRPF and Police and other security forces have been ensuring protection to the minority community and we will ensure proper security to them,” he said.

Replying to a query, he said the module is being busted before it carries out any major damage. “We are always taking action in the beginning and neutralizing the module when it takes birth. You have seen several encounters have taken place last year, we are trying to deny that space to militants to execute any major damage,” he said—(KNO)