Srinagar:Security forces in Kashmir are facing a new challenge on the militancy front -- the presence of “hybrid” militants who are not listed as ultras but persons radicalised enough to carry out a terror strike and then slip back into the routine life. Over the past few weeks the attacks on “soft targets” in the Valley, including in the Srinagar city, have witnessed a spike and most of the incidents have been carried out by the pistol-borne youth who are not listed as militants with the security agencies, officials said.
The new trend has sent security agencies into a tizzy as these “hybrid” militants, or “part-time” militants are very difficult to track and pose a challenge to the security forces. The officials in the security establishment said the “hybrid” militant is a boy next door who has been radicalised and kept on standby mode by the handlers for carrying out a terror incident. “He carries out a task that is given to him and then waits for the next assignment from his masters. In between, he goes back to his normal work,” they said.
The officials said the new trend is happening in the valley on the directions of Pakistan and its spy agency, the ISI. “The desperate nexus is modifying methods. Their desperation is showing. Now, it is the preference for pistol-based targeting of soft targets. Targets which are unarmed and unlikely to retaliate like businessmen (including from the minority community), activists, political leaders without protection and off-duty policemen,” they said. The officials said the aim is to spread fear and stop businesses and social activity that “targets terrorists and their ecosystem”.
“They target and silence voices that are speaking against separatism and against the perpetrators and instigators of violence, that is the aim,” the officials said. The security agencies believe this type of targeting is not random, but properly planned. “It is never random. It involves watching movement patterns and finding a weak part of the routine. The spotter could be an OGW or even a hybrid terrorist who is not on the police list, but has a pistol and intent to kill – just like a mercenary shooter – paid to kill a target.
“It is an ecosystem where only numbers matter – hence the victim may have no particular trait to get killed – just a convenient soft target. For the killer, who it (the target) is, does not matter,” they added. Police had in the first week of September last year declared Srinagar city as “terrorist-free”. However, there have been attacks on civilians and policemen after that as well and the officials believe the attacks are the handiwork of the “hybrid” militants. Such attacks have witnessed a spike over the last few weeks. On June 23, militants shot dead a 25-year-old shopkeeper, Umar Ahmed, outside his shop at Habbakadal locality in the interior areas of the city.