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Villagers supporting hiding militants in Kupwara: GoC
The Army Saturday claimed that at least two militants are still hiding at Manigah of in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district who are surviving on “villagers’ support” even though serious efforts are on to track them down.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, the General officer Commanding (GoC) of Army’s Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lt General Satish Dua said that Manigah encounter has entered into 15th day today. “The militants involved in Kupwara encounter have managed to sneak in. We have prevented them to cross the reception point,” he said.
On why the Army is not able to track the militants in Manigah, the GoC said that there are a few reasons—the terrain is very tough and the area is on high altitude. “And we don’t want to cause any collateral damage,” he said. “Even when we killed a militant there, we exercised maximum restraint to avoid damage to the civilian property.”
Asked how the hiding militants in Manigah are sustaining for the past 15 days without food and other items, the GoC said that militants are getting some sustenance from the villagers.
“That’s why, we establish a contact with them after every three or four days,” he said. The GoC, however, ruled out the reports that the Army had pressed in service drones to flush out the hiding militants. “Drones are used where high range weapons are used. There, we have used Unarmed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which only provide us, with the surveillance feed of the area,” he said. “We only use UAVs when weather allows us.” On the delay in concluding the operation, he said that the only concern for the Army is that there should be no collateral damage. “At times, we prefer to let the militant go rather than allowing a house to get damaged. If a house gets damaged, another may catch fire and there may be a huge loss of civilian property, which we are trying to avoid,” the GoC said.
He said at least two militants are still hiding in Manigah woods. “One of them has been killed and another one was found dead. They were engaged before they could reach the reception point,” he said.
On the Tangdhar attack that left three militants and a civilian dead recently, the GoC said that the militants who carried out the attack were from the Afzal Guru squad of the Jaish-e-Muhammad militant outfit. “Afzal Guru squad was written on their rucksacks. Our intelligence agencies are looking into the various aspects of it,” he said. “They had infiltrated just a night before they carried the attack on our camp. The documents recovered from them suggested that they were tasked to carry out such an attack to inflict heavy causality on us.”
To a query whether the militants have stepped out attacks on army to take revenge of slain Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Abu Qasim’s killing, the GoC said that there is nothing new in such attacks. “There is no spurt actually. It’s just an act of frustration as the snow is about to block the entry passes on the Line of Control. Tangdhar was an act aimed at making it as a big strike,” he said. “We see such attacks every year at this stage when snowfall is round the corner.” The GoC said as per the figures available with the Army, some 25 militants have infiltrated into this side. “We only consider the infiltration bid as successfully, if the militants manage to pass the reception area. Manigah is a case in point, where we have not allowed militants to pass the reception point,” he said. “Militants are not managing to sneak into this side due to the very well-coordinated counter insurgency grid in place at the LoC.”
He said in most of the recent cases, militants come closer to LoC, fire at the Army’s posts and then go back. “Those who are operating in Kashmir are also finding it difficult to ex-filtrate. This is the reason we saw local recruitment in Kashmir,” the GoC said.
About the huge participation of people in funerals of militants in Kashmir, the Dua said that in a democratic set everyone is free do what he wishes to. “As an army man I have nothing to say on this, but as an informed citizen, it’s a big cause of concern,” he said.
Meanwhile, earlier, the Army had organized a seminar on Media where in senior journalists that included Muhammad Sayeed Malik, Zaffar Iqbal and Inayat Jehangir highlighted the problems being faced by the media men in covering encounters and Defence related events in Kashmir.
The journalists also advocated better coordination between media and the Army in covering events while GoC Dua assured all possible support to the media fraternity.
Villagers supporting hiding militants in Kupwara: GoC | Fast Kashmir
@Horus @Windjammer @Zarvan @Imran Khan @DESERT FIGHTER @Zibago @Shamain @waz @Umair Nawaz @Srinivas @Areesh @Neutron @rockstar08 @SarthakGanguly
The Army Saturday claimed that at least two militants are still hiding at Manigah of in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district who are surviving on “villagers’ support” even though serious efforts are on to track them down.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, the General officer Commanding (GoC) of Army’s Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lt General Satish Dua said that Manigah encounter has entered into 15th day today. “The militants involved in Kupwara encounter have managed to sneak in. We have prevented them to cross the reception point,” he said.
On why the Army is not able to track the militants in Manigah, the GoC said that there are a few reasons—the terrain is very tough and the area is on high altitude. “And we don’t want to cause any collateral damage,” he said. “Even when we killed a militant there, we exercised maximum restraint to avoid damage to the civilian property.”
Asked how the hiding militants in Manigah are sustaining for the past 15 days without food and other items, the GoC said that militants are getting some sustenance from the villagers.
“That’s why, we establish a contact with them after every three or four days,” he said. The GoC, however, ruled out the reports that the Army had pressed in service drones to flush out the hiding militants. “Drones are used where high range weapons are used. There, we have used Unarmed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which only provide us, with the surveillance feed of the area,” he said. “We only use UAVs when weather allows us.” On the delay in concluding the operation, he said that the only concern for the Army is that there should be no collateral damage. “At times, we prefer to let the militant go rather than allowing a house to get damaged. If a house gets damaged, another may catch fire and there may be a huge loss of civilian property, which we are trying to avoid,” the GoC said.
He said at least two militants are still hiding in Manigah woods. “One of them has been killed and another one was found dead. They were engaged before they could reach the reception point,” he said.
On the Tangdhar attack that left three militants and a civilian dead recently, the GoC said that the militants who carried out the attack were from the Afzal Guru squad of the Jaish-e-Muhammad militant outfit. “Afzal Guru squad was written on their rucksacks. Our intelligence agencies are looking into the various aspects of it,” he said. “They had infiltrated just a night before they carried the attack on our camp. The documents recovered from them suggested that they were tasked to carry out such an attack to inflict heavy causality on us.”
To a query whether the militants have stepped out attacks on army to take revenge of slain Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Abu Qasim’s killing, the GoC said that there is nothing new in such attacks. “There is no spurt actually. It’s just an act of frustration as the snow is about to block the entry passes on the Line of Control. Tangdhar was an act aimed at making it as a big strike,” he said. “We see such attacks every year at this stage when snowfall is round the corner.” The GoC said as per the figures available with the Army, some 25 militants have infiltrated into this side. “We only consider the infiltration bid as successfully, if the militants manage to pass the reception area. Manigah is a case in point, where we have not allowed militants to pass the reception point,” he said. “Militants are not managing to sneak into this side due to the very well-coordinated counter insurgency grid in place at the LoC.”
He said in most of the recent cases, militants come closer to LoC, fire at the Army’s posts and then go back. “Those who are operating in Kashmir are also finding it difficult to ex-filtrate. This is the reason we saw local recruitment in Kashmir,” the GoC said.
About the huge participation of people in funerals of militants in Kashmir, the Dua said that in a democratic set everyone is free do what he wishes to. “As an army man I have nothing to say on this, but as an informed citizen, it’s a big cause of concern,” he said.
Meanwhile, earlier, the Army had organized a seminar on Media where in senior journalists that included Muhammad Sayeed Malik, Zaffar Iqbal and Inayat Jehangir highlighted the problems being faced by the media men in covering encounters and Defence related events in Kashmir.
The journalists also advocated better coordination between media and the Army in covering events while GoC Dua assured all possible support to the media fraternity.
Villagers supporting hiding militants in Kupwara: GoC | Fast Kashmir
@Horus @Windjammer @Zarvan @Imran Khan @DESERT FIGHTER @Zibago @Shamain @waz @Umair Nawaz @Srinivas @Areesh @Neutron @rockstar08 @SarthakGanguly
