Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): The India Army today said that the local recruitment of youth into militants has been "almost nil," even as 80 militants are active and infiltration has seen a decline.
Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, the outgoing General Officer Commanding (GoC), Chinar Corps in Kashmir, said that there is no dilution of the security grid even if the situation is peaceful and militant numbers have declined.
The GoC interacted with media persons at the Army headquarters here. Lt Gen Prashant Srivastav will be taking over as the GoC of Chinar Corps.
"I am not a proponent of that dilution of security grid at this stage. We need a few more years like 2022, 2023, and 2024 to ensure long-lasting peace," he said. About the number of militants active in the Kashmir Valley, the officer said that the official figure is at 80 militants.
"Local recruitment is almost nil this year. It is because we have a strong counter-infiltration grid. Several attempts of infiltration were foiled at the Line of Control," he said.
"There were people on launch pads across the LoC, but there were not many attempts of infiltration made this summer. Infiltration happens from areas other than LoC like we saw in Jammu. This is why numbers have increased a little in that region," he said.
The officer said that the Army is getting intelligence about the infiltration and exuded confidence that the number of active militants will decrease.
"I am confident that these numbers will decrease significantly as we are getting intelligence now," he said. About the Kokernag encounter last year in which two Army and one police officer were killed, he said that it was not an attack but an Army operation.
"Kokernag was not an attack... it was Army's operation, and we had achieved surprise as well. Colonel Manpreet and DySP Humayun had reached the hideout by walking throughout the night, but in the last stage, when they were deliberating, the opposition opened fire, and they got injured," he said.
On the number of foreign militants present in the Valley, he said 25 to 40 foreigners are active here. "We will have successful operations in the future," he said, adding it will decline the number of militants.
On the ceasefire with Pakistan at the Line of Control (LoC), he said that the ceasefire with Pakistan is intact.
