The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday said 28 overground workers, a term used for those who give logistics support to militants, had been arrested in the Valley in the past month.
A police spokesman said Bashir Ganie, a Srinagar resident, was behind the street protests in Anchar against the Centre’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. The area remained out of bounds for security forces for two months. “Ganie was a notorious law and order instigator. He was wanted in criminal and terror cases,” the spokesman said.
The police said they had intensified the fight against militants, months after anti-militancy operations were slowed by the the lock-down since August 5 when the erstwhile State was bifurcated into two Union Territories.
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“Six terror modules were busted in the past one month. The coordinated efforts by the forces have mounted tremendous pressure on the terrorists..., leading to the arrest of 28 overground workers,” the police said. “Three arrested overground workers from Ladoo were behind the threat posters of the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Six other overground workers of the Lashkar-e-Taiba were involved in arson and posters in north Kashmir,” it added.
The police said one militant had surrendered in Pulwama and another overground worker of the Jaish-e-Mohammed was arrested in Srinagar in the same period.
Director-General of Police Dilbag Singh, who chaired a meeting in Srinagar to review security on Thursday, directed the officers to strengthen the checkpoints across the Valley and augment the security grids to “ensure a safe and secure environment for the citizens”.
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“The action against terrorists should continue and all suspicious elements should be kept under check so as to foil their designs to disrupt life,” the spokesman said, quoting the DGP. Militants were making all-out attempts to disrupt the situation to please their masters across the border, he said.
The police identified Hizbul Mujahideen militants Junaid and Zubair as the one who had carried out an attack during the ‘Back to Village’ programme in Anantnag on Tuesday. A sarpanch and an officer were killed in the attack. “They will be brought to justice,” the police said.