Increasing number of Kashmiri youth taking to militancy: Top Army commander

Srinagar: Increasing number of Kashmiri youth are joining militancy and this is a matter of concern, a top army commander said on Wednesday while talking about the strategy of Pakistan-based terror groups to focus on recruiting locals after their "failure" to push in terrorists.

Outgoing Commander of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen Subrata Saha said "several motives" are being exploited by recruiters, including religious radicalisation, discontent due to personal or academic failures, links with terrorists and overground workers and desire for recognition or status.

"Any youth joining terrorists' ranks is a cause of concern," he said while mentioning that there has been an increase in the number of youth recruited in 2014-15 as compared to 2012-13.

Gen Sahu, who is moving to Army Headquarters in Delhi for his next assignment, said "attempts of infiltration" from across the border had increased this year but "the attempts have resulted in their failure".

Describing it as "a battle between their desperation and our determination", he said there has been an increase in the intensity of attempts this year, which is evident from 11 attempts in which 19 terrorist neutralised. "Without getting into specifics, even other indicators suggest an increase in number awaiting infiltration," he added.

He was asked if the infiltration level was nearly zero, how did four Lashker-e-Taiba terrorists, including Mohammed Naved Yakub who was caught alive during Udhampur attack, manage to sneak in from Gulmarg sector.

"This case is still being investigated and there have been repeated changes in his (Naved's) statements. We will wait for the final inference," he said.

The top army officer also viewed with concern the repeated display of ISIS flags in the Kashmir valley. "This is certainly a cause of concern, considering the intense propaganda being spread through Internet and social media, and the large numbers of youth getting attracted across the world," he said.

While talking about local recruitment in terror groups, Gen Sahu said "there is also a positive trend that parents of youth who go missing, report the fact immediately and seek help for their return." He said there are a number of youth who have returned also.

The larger imperative is the need to provide adequate opportunities for the youth to keep them in a positive frame of mind, the officer said, adding "We in the army are making our contribution to this by adopting 4E programme (Education, Engagement, Empowerment and Employment) for the youth."

On cross-border influx, he said with the robustness of the counter infiltration grid, there has been a definite decline in the infiltration. "There is certainly a possibility that the nexus is trying to make up the number through local recruitment," he added.

Gen Saha complimented his men and central intelligence agencies for bringing down infiltration this year. "The counter infiltration grid has achieved near perfection this year. The credit for this must first go to the soldiers on the ground for their alertness and commitment.”

"Equally the excellent cooperation amongst all agencies in achieving real time intelligence sharing has been very helpful," he said.

He hinted that "some deft changes" have been made to the surveillance grid and dispositions. "The timely addition of tiers in the troops deployment to exploit the ridge lines for example, has yielded very positive results. This trend should continue," he said.

After his one-and-a-half-year tenure in Kashmir, Gen Saha feels that he has been able to bring army closer to the people of the valley.

"The focus of our efforts was to counter the idea of militancy. This required a two-pronged approach – one directed towards reducing the number of militants by preventing infiltration and countering residual terrorists in hinterland and second to minimise hostility among the youth".

He said 4E programme of the army was designed as it was felt that it is important to channelise the talent, motivation and aspirations of the youth to create positivity.

"You can actually see the Army-civilian relationship changing. The willing participation of young and old, boys and girls, men and women in the series of talent hunt programmes do reflect a growing trust in the relationship.”

"Prompt and effective response of the soldiers during natural disasters and recognising the heroic contribution of Kashmiri youth also helped in the process," he said.

Looking back at his tenure, the Corps Commander still remembers the floods of last year. "Those were the most trying days. The Army did its best to rescue, provide relief, rehabilitation and restore normalcy. The local youth too did yeoman service. All these efforts succeeded in mitigating the effects of this disaster of unprecedented magnitude," he said.

And when asked what could be termed as a moment of happiness and pride during his tenure, Gen Saha said "the happiest day was in August this year when we had 4300 children and youth from 83 schools and 13 colleges of Srinagar participating in a drawing competition organised by the Army. "Most satisfying part of this experience was that all the drawing reflected hope, aspiration for peace in the Valley," Gen Saha said.