Worry in Kashmir: 75 per cent of militants today are locals

In Kashmir today, at least 75 per cent of the militants are locals and the Hizbul Mujahideen appears to be getting stronger. The fact that locals have outnumbered the militants from Pakistan is a cause of concern says the Intelligence Bureau.

There has been a dip in the number of militants from Pakistan over the past year, but the number of locals joining the Hizbul Mujahideen in particular has caused a great deal of concern for the security forces.

The IB has warned that the issue may get a bit competitive and stake holders such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad may try and push more of their militants in the days to come.

An alert has been sounded against the increase in the number of infiltrations from across the border. Over the past couple of months one has witnessed aggression by the Hizbul Mujahideen and the security forces are having a nightmare in dealing with this situation.

Locals militants on the rise

The Hizbul Mujahideen has become extremely aggressive over the past year. They have been roping in young cadres who are also social media savvy. This has in fact helped their campaign to a great extent says the IB.

Moreover they have also been taking a very strong stance against the Indian army which has to face bullets from the militants and also stones from the locals.

There have been several instances in the recent past where the army has had a torrid time while in the midst of an encounter. The locals have landed up at the encounter site and pelted stones apart from chanting anti army slogans.

In addition to this the militants have been branded as martyrs. In recent encounters one has also witnessed some youth giving the militants a gun salute. They are changing the perception against the army the IB says.

The IB has warned the groups from Pakistan may try and infiltrate their militants into Kashmir in the days to come. They have been finding it difficult to infiltrate owing to very tight security along the border.

However these militants are known to have an extreme amount of patience and they would wait for a lapse so that an infiltration can take place the IB has also warned.