Terror groups’ members increase; nearly 50 youth joins ranks

Amid the recent encounters between the army and the militants, the authorities have seen an increase in the members of the terror groups.

According to the government data, nearly 42 men from Kashmir Valley have been reported to join the ranks of various terror groups. Half of the youths have joined the groups in the last 45 days.

Rather than shooting down the new recruits, the forces are targeting the senior cadres who carry out the recruitments said a government official.

The official added that those terrorists who have been active since 2011 were killed in the recent operations that took place in the past 2 weeks.

A senior Jammu and Kashmir police official said the numbers were not unusually high, as during the whole of last year 147 youths joined the militant ranks. The “number of operations were directly proportionate to the recruitment.”

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Spike in recruitments

In April, the spike in recruitments came after 13 militants were killed as security forces launched “coordinated,” multiple operations in Shopian and Anantnag in south Kashmir on April 1. Three army men lost their lives in the operations. The official said 15 men joined the outlawed groups in April and three in the first week of May.

The official claimed that till May 6, 64 terrorists have been killed in various operations, which was the highest in a decade for the corresponding period.

There has been a surge in the number of local Kashmiri youths joining terror groups after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces on July 8, 2016.

On Sunday, Hizbul Mujahideen commander Saddam Padder, the 11th militant in the group picture taken in 2016 by Burhan Wani’s recruits, was killed along with four others in Shopian.

Police said Padder, a resident of Shopian, was active since September 2014, Bilal Ahmad Mohand of Shopian was active since October 2016, Adil Ahmad Malik of Shopian was active since August 2014, Tauseef Ahmad Sheikh of Rampora was active since 2013 and Mohammad Rafi Bhat, assistant professor at Kashmir University, had joined them two days ago.

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A senior government official claimed this was a worrying trend as more youths were joining the ranks as they were replacing the ones killed in various operations. “The youths joining the terrorist groups also doubled as overground workers (OGWs). Due to the sustained operation by security forces, these OGWs then tend to replace the active militants who are killed, showing a surge in number,” said the official.

The official said that after Burhan Wani was killed, the peak recruitment in the following two-three months remained at 25.

“It then saw a dip and then again picked up in 2017. It is a pattern and it is also true that this year there has been no major terrorist attack. We are targeting the big recruiters,” said the official.

According to police, in the past one-and-a-half years, most militants were killed in and around their villages. As many as 39 militants were from Shopian.