Hizbul Mujahideen: All hype and no show

Intelligence Bureau officials tell OneIndia that there has been a steady decline in the number of recruitments into the Hizbul Mujahideen

New Delhi, Nov 8: Staggering figures of recruitment in the Valley did the rounds following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, Burhan Wani. It was said that over a 1,000 youth had taken up arms while joining the ranks of the Hizbul Mujahideen. However that figure seems a bit too high.

Intelligence Bureau officials tell OneIndia that there has been a steady decline in the number of recruitments into the Hizbul Mujahideen. It may be hardly 50, the officer said while adding that the bigger concern was from foreign militants.

Following the death of Wani on July 8, the security forces did initially suffer several set backs. The administration was just not prepared and this resulted in the protests spilling out on the streets. There were 1,000s of stone pelters out on the roads.

Counter-Insurgency a success:
The security forces do deserve a pat on the back for the counter-insurgency operations that were carried out over the past 45 days.

The army, police and the intelligence bureau coordinated with each other to bring down the number of recruitments into the Hizbul Mujahideen. In addition to this these operations also resulted in the killing of 18 foreign terrorists.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that the threat is from the Pakistani militants. On the local front, the problem has been controlled to a large extent, the officer notes.

Initially there was a beeline made by several South Kashmiri youth to join the Hizbul Mujahideen. However that number began to dwindle to various factors which included non-availability of weapons and through counter-insurgency operations.

While officials say that the situation continues to be volatile, they also point out that the problem is far greater from the stone pelters. Nearly 10,000 stone pelters have been identified. The security forces have managed to arrest over 6,000 of them. Officials say that the situation continues to be volatile, but will be brought under control very soon.

OneIndia News