‘ Shelf life’ of J& K militants down
In a strong indication that the shelf life of Kashmiri militants has plummeted, all the 13 militants killed by the security forces on Sunday had joined the militancy movement only about three- four months back.
“Earlier the shelf life of a militant in Kashmir was between six and eight months which has further gone down now to about three to four months now. All the militants killed by the security forces in three incidents on Sunday had joined outfits like Hizbul Mujaheedin and Lashkar- e- Tayyaba not more than four months back,” a top military official closely associated with the Kashmir counterinsurgency operations told this newspaper.
“All of them were Kashmiri youth who were trained locally and were in the Category B group of militants. In the Dragar incident, al the seven killed hailed from the same Zainapour locality. While six belonged to the Hizbul, one was from the Lashkar which underscores the fact that now these outfits are actively collaborating in operations.”
Till Monday, the number of militants killed in J& K has touched 50. In 2016, 141 militants had been neutralized while it recorded a high of 213 in 2017.
The number of killed militants is increasing because of several factors besides a jump in recruitment. Chief among them is much better human intelligence ( HUMINT) and technical surveillance ( TECHINT). An important factor is that the state police, which has access to much better HUMINT, is now taking the lead in such operations, ably supported by the army and the paramilitary. Another critical factor is that the new recruits are being thrust into operations with rudimentary training.