Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Police Tuesday termed the news reports that 191 youth joined militancy in Kashmir in 2018 as far from the reality stating that the decline in militancy and the stone pelting incidents was the ground reality and a good sign ahead of polls.
A media report Monday said 191 local boys joined various militant organisations in 2018 against 126 in 2017. “The figure is far from the reality. It’s not true that 191 youth joined militant ranks in 2018″, he said.
He said the fact is that militancy sustained a major ever jolt in Kashmir in 2018 as 250 militants were killed. “As far as the recruitment of local boys into various armed groups is concerned in year 2018, not more than 80 to 90 youth joined of whom majority got killed,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.
He said the fact remains that in 2018, the stone pelting incidents witnessed all time low, law and order situation improved, and the militant recruitment also went down considerable which is a good sign.
“Now that we are in an election year, improvement in situation is a good sign as that can help in creating a peaceful atmosphere for the polls,” he said.
Kashmir is all set to witness two crucial polls this year, the Assembly polls and the Lok Sabha polls with political parties already in poll mode to garner as much as possible support to win maximum seats.