A fresh beginning: Jammu declared militancy-free

The war on terror has achieved one of the biggest successes in last 22 years after majority of the areas in the Jammu division were declared militancy-free. “You cannot find a single militant in most of the areas in Jammu division. At the most, 30 to 40 militants will be operating in whole of the Jammu division,” said Omar Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister.

This is for the first time that the government is claiming that militancy in Jammu division has been reduced to double digits. Jammu province shares huge border with Pakistan and it has been the worst hit by militancy in the last 22 years of turmoil.

Hundreds of people were gunned down by militants. Several members of the minority community were executed by the militants. Jammu division also has the highest number of village defence committees to protect the people from terror attacks.

“The security forces have to be very cautious because it is during this twilight period when militants carry out brutal attacks to raise the morale of their cadres. While the government, police and security forces can draw satisfaction, they should also remain more vigilant,” said MM Khajuria, former director general of J&K police. While Jammu division is rejoicing, Kashmir is still a problem area for the security forces with over 200 militants there. This year so far only 100 militancy-related incident were witnessed in the state against 192 last year.