Tag: Militancy

  • Militants openly instigating mobs in strife-torn Manipur cause concern for security agencies

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI/IMPHAL: The worst fears for security agencies seem to have come true as militants have been seen moving around openly and instigating mobs in Imphal valley which have been on a rampaging spree after pictures of two missing teenagers surfaced on social media.

    According to officials, during attacks carried out at a police party Wednesday evening, armed men dressed in black uniforms were seen giving directions to the agitated youths to attack the police and many vehicles were then torched.

    The security agencies have been warning that militants belonging to the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and other banned groups have become part of the mobs and carrying out sneak attacks on security forces as well as giving directions to the agitators.

    Recently, the presence of insurgents was found within a mob that carried out an attack on security forces injuring a Lt Col of the army near Pallel in Tengnoupal.

    As reported by PTI on September 11, central security agencies had warned about the possibility of militants mingling with crowds during any protest to stoke tensions in restive Manipur.

    The burning down of a police vehicle saw the presence of armed militants directing the crowd.

    Besides this, miscreants in the crowd used iron pieces which were fired towards security personnel with the help of automated slingshots.

    Over a dozen police personnel including an officer of the rank of additional Superintendent of Police have been injured in these clashes that erupted in Imphal valley after surfacing of pictures of missing teenagers, who are suspected to have been killed during the ethnic clashes.

    The officials reiterated that the current unrest has seen the resurgence of near dormant banned groups like UNLF, PLA, Kanglei Yawol Kanba Lup (KYKL), Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) in the state.

    The officials have also warned that the recent release of four youths, who were possessing deadly weapons looted from police armoury, was a dangerous sign and efforts should be intensified to nab and book them under relevant sections of law.

    They said at present, UNLF has a cadre strength of 330 followed by PLA with 300 and KYKL with 25 who are active within the groups of the majority community.

    On June 24, Army and Assam Rifles, based on specific intelligence, nabbed 12 members of KYKL in East Imphal including self-styled ‘lt colonel’ Moirangthem Tamba alias Uttam.

    Uttam was one of the masterminds of the ambush on the 6 Dogra regiment in 2015 that left 18 army soldiers dead.

    The officials said there was every likelihood that the arms and ammunition looted from the Manipur police armoury could have landed with these terror groups.

    Among the arms looted included .303 rifles, Medium Machine Guns (MMG) and AK assault rifles, carbines, Insas Light Machine Guns (LMG), Insas rifles, M-16 and MP5 rifles.

    The officials said around 4,537 arms and 6.32 lakh bullets were missing mainly from Manipur Police Training Centre (MTPC) at Pangei in East Imphal, 7th India Reserve Battalion and 8th Manipur Rifles, both located at Khabeisoi in Imphal city.

    According to them, out of the stolen weapons, 2,900 fell in the lethal category whereas others comprised teargas and mini flare guns.

    Repeated calls by politicians have yielded no results as none of the looted weapons have been deposited back except for those returned in the last week of July.

    There has been no forward movement on the disposal of dead bodies and opening of supply routes from Imphal to hill areas.

    More than 180 people have been killed and several hundred injured since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

    A fresh bout of violence, this time led by students, broke out in the state capital on Tuesday after photos of the bodies of two youths who went missing in July went viral on social media.

    Violent protests continued till the early hours of Thursday with a mob vandalising the deputy commissioner’s office in Imphal West and torching two four-wheelers, officials said.

    On Wednesday night, the protesters clashed with security personnel in Uripok, Yaiskul, Sagolband and Tera areas, prompting the forces to fire several rounds of tear gas shells to control the situation, they said.

    NEW DELHI/IMPHAL: The worst fears for security agencies seem to have come true as militants have been seen moving around openly and instigating mobs in Imphal valley which have been on a rampaging spree after pictures of two missing teenagers surfaced on social media.

    According to officials, during attacks carried out at a police party Wednesday evening, armed men dressed in black uniforms were seen giving directions to the agitated youths to attack the police and many vehicles were then torched.

    The security agencies have been warning that militants belonging to the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and other banned groups have become part of the mobs and carrying out sneak attacks on security forces as well as giving directions to the agitators.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Recently, the presence of insurgents was found within a mob that carried out an attack on security forces injuring a Lt Col of the army near Pallel in Tengnoupal.

    As reported by PTI on September 11, central security agencies had warned about the possibility of militants mingling with crowds during any protest to stoke tensions in restive Manipur.

    The burning down of a police vehicle saw the presence of armed militants directing the crowd.

    Besides this, miscreants in the crowd used iron pieces which were fired towards security personnel with the help of automated slingshots.

    Over a dozen police personnel including an officer of the rank of additional Superintendent of Police have been injured in these clashes that erupted in Imphal valley after surfacing of pictures of missing teenagers, who are suspected to have been killed during the ethnic clashes.

    The officials reiterated that the current unrest has seen the resurgence of near dormant banned groups like UNLF, PLA, Kanglei Yawol Kanba Lup (KYKL), Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) in the state.

    The officials have also warned that the recent release of four youths, who were possessing deadly weapons looted from police armoury, was a dangerous sign and efforts should be intensified to nab and book them under relevant sections of law.

    They said at present, UNLF has a cadre strength of 330 followed by PLA with 300 and KYKL with 25 who are active within the groups of the majority community.

    On June 24, Army and Assam Rifles, based on specific intelligence, nabbed 12 members of KYKL in East Imphal including self-styled ‘lt colonel’ Moirangthem Tamba alias Uttam.

    Uttam was one of the masterminds of the ambush on the 6 Dogra regiment in 2015 that left 18 army soldiers dead.

    The officials said there was every likelihood that the arms and ammunition looted from the Manipur police armoury could have landed with these terror groups.

    Among the arms looted included .303 rifles, Medium Machine Guns (MMG) and AK assault rifles, carbines, Insas Light Machine Guns (LMG), Insas rifles, M-16 and MP5 rifles.

    The officials said around 4,537 arms and 6.32 lakh bullets were missing mainly from Manipur Police Training Centre (MTPC) at Pangei in East Imphal, 7th India Reserve Battalion and 8th Manipur Rifles, both located at Khabeisoi in Imphal city.

    According to them, out of the stolen weapons, 2,900 fell in the lethal category whereas others comprised teargas and mini flare guns.

    Repeated calls by politicians have yielded no results as none of the looted weapons have been deposited back except for those returned in the last week of July.

    There has been no forward movement on the disposal of dead bodies and opening of supply routes from Imphal to hill areas.

    More than 180 people have been killed and several hundred injured since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

    A fresh bout of violence, this time led by students, broke out in the state capital on Tuesday after photos of the bodies of two youths who went missing in July went viral on social media.

    Violent protests continued till the early hours of Thursday with a mob vandalising the deputy commissioner’s office in Imphal West and torching two four-wheelers, officials said.

    On Wednesday night, the protesters clashed with security personnel in Uripok, Yaiskul, Sagolband and Tera areas, prompting the forces to fire several rounds of tear gas shells to control the situation, they said.

  • Was Yasin Malik born with gun or did situation compel him, asks Sajad Lone

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: People’s Conference chairman Sajad Lone on Saturday said separatist leader Yasin Malik, convicted in a terror funding case, deserves a fair trial and demanded a probe into the alleged rigging in the 1987 assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

    He said the 1987 rigging resulted in the eruption of militancy in the Kashmir Valley and asked National Conference president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah why Malik was ‘tortured’.

    “We do not agree to his (Malik’s) ideology, but he is a citizen of J-K and has a right to a fair trial. His point of view be at least heard,” Lone told reporters.

    He said Malik was one of those who had raised their voice against the alleged rigging in the 1987 assembly elections.

    “Was Yasin Malik born with a gun in hand or did the situation compel him to do so? Most of those youth are either dead or are in jail. Why is the Central government not lifting the veil from 1987? Why are they covering it up?” Lone asked.

    He said the compulsions of the Congress party to not inquire the alleged rigging can be understood because the party was a part of it, but what is stopping the BJP, which was not in power then, from investigating the matter.

    “You (BJP) say you want to change everything and that everything which has happened was wrong,” Lone said, adding when the saffron party was getting even decades-old minor incidents investigated by the NIA, then why not the 1987 rigging.

    He said the 1987 rigging was the trigger point for the eruption of militancy in Kashmir.

    “The reality is that if 1987 is taken out of history, then perhaps, nothing would have happened. Whatever is happening, followed that only,” he said.

    Malik, 56, head of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), began a hunger strike in Tihar Jail after the government did not respond to his plea that he be allowed to physically appear in a Jammu court hearing the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case in which he is an accused, officials said on Saturday.

    He was arrested in early 2019 in connection with a 2017 terror-funding case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

    Malik had pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special NIA court in Delhi in May.

    Asked about the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) — which his party quit after being a part of it for some time — Lone said the amalgam was “dead”.

    “It is not PAGD, but NC-PDP alliance. It is an alliance of two parties only to stop any other party from coming to power. The PAGD was there, but now it is not. It is dead,” he said.

    READ HERE | Former J&K CM’s daughter Rubaiya Sayeed identifies Yasin Malik, three others as her abductors

    Asked about NC vice president Omar Abdullah’s tweet about opposition unity in the country, Lone said “It seems it was done to please the BJP and (keep) distance from the Congress.”

    Omar Abdullah had tweeted, “Opposition unity is a bit of a chimera. Ultimately political parties will do what’s in their own interest & that’s as it should be. J&K saw this when we were left high & dry by ‘friends’ in 2019. It’s time for @JKNC_ to do suits the party rather than waste time chasing ghosts.”

    Taking a dig at PDP president Mehbooba Mufti over her remarks that her sister Rubaiya Sayeed performed her legal duties by identifying Malik as her abductor, Lone said Mufti should stop talking about reconciliation.

    “When 1990 came, two new words came ‘militant’ and ‘mukhbir’ (informer). So, they have played the role of an informer. It is their right to be an informer and no one will stop them, but, they should say it. They talk about reconciliation, talks with militants, (Hizbul Mujahideen chief) (Syed) Salahudin, and Pakistan. When you are an informer, then do not talk about these things because an informer cannot talk about reconciliation,” he said.

    SRINAGAR: People’s Conference chairman Sajad Lone on Saturday said separatist leader Yasin Malik, convicted in a terror funding case, deserves a fair trial and demanded a probe into the alleged rigging in the 1987 assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

    He said the 1987 rigging resulted in the eruption of militancy in the Kashmir Valley and asked National Conference president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah why Malik was ‘tortured’.

    “We do not agree to his (Malik’s) ideology, but he is a citizen of J-K and has a right to a fair trial. His point of view be at least heard,” Lone told reporters.

    He said Malik was one of those who had raised their voice against the alleged rigging in the 1987 assembly elections.

    “Was Yasin Malik born with a gun in hand or did the situation compel him to do so? Most of those youth are either dead or are in jail. Why is the Central government not lifting the veil from 1987? Why are they covering it up?” Lone asked.

    He said the compulsions of the Congress party to not inquire the alleged rigging can be understood because the party was a part of it, but what is stopping the BJP, which was not in power then, from investigating the matter.

    “You (BJP) say you want to change everything and that everything which has happened was wrong,” Lone said, adding when the saffron party was getting even decades-old minor incidents investigated by the NIA, then why not the 1987 rigging.

    He said the 1987 rigging was the trigger point for the eruption of militancy in Kashmir.

    “The reality is that if 1987 is taken out of history, then perhaps, nothing would have happened. Whatever is happening, followed that only,” he said.

    Malik, 56, head of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), began a hunger strike in Tihar Jail after the government did not respond to his plea that he be allowed to physically appear in a Jammu court hearing the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case in which he is an accused, officials said on Saturday.

    He was arrested in early 2019 in connection with a 2017 terror-funding case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

    Malik had pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special NIA court in Delhi in May.

    Asked about the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) — which his party quit after being a part of it for some time — Lone said the amalgam was “dead”.

    “It is not PAGD, but NC-PDP alliance. It is an alliance of two parties only to stop any other party from coming to power. The PAGD was there, but now it is not. It is dead,” he said.

    READ HERE | Former J&K CM’s daughter Rubaiya Sayeed identifies Yasin Malik, three others as her abductors

    Asked about NC vice president Omar Abdullah’s tweet about opposition unity in the country, Lone said “It seems it was done to please the BJP and (keep) distance from the Congress.”

    Omar Abdullah had tweeted, “Opposition unity is a bit of a chimera. Ultimately political parties will do what’s in their own interest & that’s as it should be. J&K saw this when we were left high & dry by ‘friends’ in 2019. It’s time for @JKNC_ to do suits the party rather than waste time chasing ghosts.”

    Taking a dig at PDP president Mehbooba Mufti over her remarks that her sister Rubaiya Sayeed performed her legal duties by identifying Malik as her abductor, Lone said Mufti should stop talking about reconciliation.

    “When 1990 came, two new words came ‘militant’ and ‘mukhbir’ (informer). So, they have played the role of an informer. It is their right to be an informer and no one will stop them, but, they should say it. They talk about reconciliation, talks with militants, (Hizbul Mujahideen chief) (Syed) Salahudin, and Pakistan. When you are an informer, then do not talk about these things because an informer cannot talk about reconciliation,” he said.

  • More fear this time than 1990s when J&K militancy was at peak: Pandits

    Express News Service

    SRINAGAR:  After the recent spate in targeted killings of civilians and minority community members by militants in Srinagar, the Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley said there is more fear this time as compared to 1990 when militancy had erupted in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the Pandit businessman, whose salesman was shot dead by militants near his shop on Monday evening, has asserted that he won’t leave Kashmir.

    Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti president Sanjay Tickoo told this newspaper that there is more fear, especially in Srinagar, now as compared to early 1990s. “The killings today are taking place at will. This is very dangerous. In the 1990s, the militants were identifiable but today nobody knows anything about these militants,” Tickoo said.

    At least 808 Pandit families had not migrated from the Valley after eruption of militancy in early 1990s.“Earlier, I used to go out but nowadays I have restricted my movement. The main door of my house used to remain open during the day but nowadays it remains locked 24×7 and we peep through the window whenever somebody knocks at the door before opening the door,” said another Kashmiri Pandit.

    He said this situation was not this alarming when militancy was at its peak in the 1990s. The Kashmiri Pandit businessman Dr Sandip Mawa, whose salesman was shot dead by militants in an apparent mistaken identity by militants on Monday, said he had been alerted by the police about eight months back that he and his father were facing threat. 

    He said the majority community is also in fear as they are unable to do anything. “They are trying to scare the minority and majority communities”. Sandeep, however, said there is no question of him leaving this place. 

  • ‘J&K security grid tight, no need to fear foreign militants’  

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR:  The prospects of a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan have spooked many as they fear that foreign militants may once again be pushed into Jammu and Kashmir, but security experts feel that there will not be a significant impact on the Kashmir situation.

    Former state police chief S P Vaid said it is possible that militants fighting in Afghanistan will be diverted to Kashmir but he asserted that things had changed in the last 20 years and that there was a much better and foolproof security grid which will not make infiltration very easy.

    “The ground situation has also changed. Border fencing and electronic surveillance equipment have been deployed along the line of control to foil any infiltration attempts from across the border,” he said. Asked about the large scale infiltration of foreign militants in the mid-1990s (see graphic), Vaid said due to the Kargil war lot of army troops had been withdrawn from the LoC, leaving gaps.

    “But now those gaps don’t exist and strong anti-infiltration measures have been put in place to foil infiltration attempts of,” said. Recently, Lt Gen D P Pandey, the commander of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, said there had been zero infiltration of militants into Kashmir from across the LoC this year.

    Retired general and former 15 Corps commander, Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, said when the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, there was lot of chaos and a lot of foreign militants, including Afghans, Tajiks, Sudanese and Saudis, were pushed into Kashmir.

    “This process started in 1991. The foreign militants who were left over from the Afghanistan war continued to infiltrate into J&K till 2001-02. But, the retired general said repeating 1991 in 2021 would not be possible.

    “Whatever manpower Taliban has it will be busy in Afghanistan. Pakistan has a lot of interests in Afghanistan and for some time Pakistan will not see towards Kashmir,” Lt. Gen Hasnain said. Another former J&K police chief Kuldip Khoda said there has never been a high presence of Afghan militants in J&K. “There was very little presence of Afghans, the foreign militants are mostly Pakistanis,” he said.

    According to him, Taliban does not show much interest in Kashmir. “Whatever instances there have been in the past, they have been negligible and these, too, have been at the behest of the Pakistan army and the ISI,” Khoda said.