In stern warning to Pakistan-based terrorists, J&K DGP says they won’t be allowed to live in peace

Kishtwar/Jammu, Sep 8 (PTI) In a stern warning to local terrorists operating from Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh on Friday said they will not be allowed to live in peace even across the border.

He said security agencies have already started attaching the properties of Pakistan-based terrorists and the action will continue.

“We want to give a clear message to the traitors (local terrorists) who have gone across the border and (are) trying to revive terrorism here (in Jammu and Kashmir) that they cannot live in peace there because we will reach them and those who are supporting them from here will be dealt with sternly,” the police chief told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Kishtwar.

The Chenab Valley comprising Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts was a target for terrorists in the past but the security agencies are vigilant and will not allow them to gain a foothold, he said.

“The Doda-Kishtwar range is being guarded heavily by security forces with the cooperation of locals. The bad elements trying to revive terrorism will be given a befitting reply,” Singh said.

Asked about the recent busting of a hideout being used by Jehangir Saroori — the longest surviving Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist — in the higher reaches of Kishtwar, the police chief said action is underway to neutralise him and a couple of his associates.

“He (Saroori) has reached that stage of his life where he is close to his grave. We want to take him there but if, somehow, he survives, he is himself nearing his end. Time is not far when he will be in his grave,” Singh said.

He added that most of the people linked with Saroori have been neutralised but a couple of his associates are still accompanying him and they will also be neutralised soon. The security forces are keeping a close watch on the areas where Saroori and his associates are suspected to be hiding and action against them is underway.

Saroori’s cave hideout was dismantled by the police in collaboration with troops of the Rashtriya Rifles and the Central Reserve Police Force in a meticulously planned operation in the Paribag area of Bhadat Saroor on Tuesday.

Saroori joined militancy in the early 1990s and is believed to be hiding in the higher reaches of Kishtwar district. His brother Abdul Karim Butt was detained under the stringent Public Safety Act on charges of being a terrorist associate on August 3.

Singh said strong action is also underway against terrorists in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.

“They (Pakistan-based terrorists) tried to sow the seeds of militancy in Rajouri and Poonch. Strong action to destroy this seed is going on,” the police chief said and added that many infiltration attempts were foiled this year.

He said the terrorists planned to infiltrate through Rajouri into nearby Reasi and ultimately to Kashmir or directly into Kashmir from Rajouri but all these attempts were thwarted.

Singh also said that Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing growing peace and stability because of the sacrifices of the police’s fallen heroes.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Shaheed Aman Memorial T20 Cricket Tournament in Kishtwar, Singh added that the Jammu and Kashmir Police is proud of its martyrs who sacrificed their lives while protecting the people and the nation.