NEW DELHI, Dec 31: A total of 186 terrorists, including 56 Pakistani nationals, were killed and 159 arrested in 2022 which proved to be the most successful in recent years, Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh said on Saturday.
Addressing the year-end press conference at Jammu, Singh also said the police and other security agencies were moving in the right direction to achieve “zero terror” activities in the Union territory. The police chief said 146 Pakistan-created terror modules, comprising four to five members each who were tasked to carry out selective and targeted killings and grenade and IED attacks, were also busted in 2022.
“The year 2022 was the most peaceful year on the security front compared to last four years that saw the killing of 56 foreigners among 186 militants.
He also said 100 youths joined militancy in year 2022 which was also the lowest in many years. A majority of them were eliminated, while security forces are working to bring down the number of active terrorists to a two-digit figure which is presently a little more than 100. He said of the 100,
17 were arrested and the rest were killed in various encounters while only 18 are left. “We conducted a large scale anti-militancy operations in which 56 foreigners among 186 militants were killed. Majority of the slain militants were affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad outfits,” the DGP said.
The DGP said the new year resolution of police for the year 2023 would be Mission Zero Terror and prime focus would be on wipe out the “terror eco-system wherever it exists in J&K.”
DGP Singh said in year 2022, 188 weapons including AK 47 riffles, 275 pistols, 354 grenades, 61 grenades, 61 IEDs including some ready to use that were drone dropped. “I congratulate police and other forces for successfully foiling the drone dropping bids of weapons in Jammu region and seizing huge quantity of weapons,” he said. “There were some unfortunate incidents of blasts in Udhampur but majority of bids were foiled.”
The DGP Singh said compared to previous years, forces faced less causalities in year 2022. “Fourteen (14) policemen and 17 security forces personnel were killed in year 2022, which is lowest ever. Civilian causalities were also less. There were just 24 law and order incidents (all very mild in nature),” he said.
(Manas Dasgupta)