by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Centre to launch massive crack down in Valley
Home Minister sounds Mehbooba
NIA lists 200 ill-gotten properties of separatists
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Sep 16
The Modi government is contemplating a massive onslaught against terrorists operating in the Jammu & Kashmir shortly. Enthused by the recent successes of Centre's anti-terrorist operations, the government is now gearing up for a final onslaught. Final touches are being given to the plan after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's 4-day visit to the trouble-torn state. It is rare that Union Home Minister camps in a state for such a long time. Highly placed sources in the government say that one of the major task of Rajnath Singh was to sound out J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti about the impending massive operation.
The action entail arrest of top leaders of Hurriyat, JKLF and other organisations patronized for the past several decades by successive governments at the centre & the state launch a final onslaught against the militants. The government also plans to confiscate more than 200 properties of these leaders. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is reported to have submitted a detailed list of properties including hotels, resorts, orchards, factories, business establishments, and other assets acquired by 20 top leaders in the Valley. Recent massive raids conducted by the NIA established that these “corrupt leaders” accumulated wealth through illegal means and even from across the border. They were also hand-in-glove with the Barter Trade operators. The list of 200 properties has been submitted to the Home Ministry and PMO and created a flutter.
The security forces, with the active cooperation of the state government, Intelligence agencies and others, have eliminated or arrested nearly 105 out of 258 hard-core militants operating in the Valley. The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), The National Investigation Agency (NIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Military Intelligence (MI) and state police have together have succeeded in plugging the financial support system to a large extent. While Rajnath Singh is monitoring the operation from the front, Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister is personally coordinating the entire operation.
The Modi government has decided that no talks will be held with these intermediaries who have looted the state and fooled successive governments. The only task is elimination of militancy and restore peace.
The Centre is particularly enthused by the fact that locals are coming in large numbers to provide information about the hide outs of the terrorists and even their movements. The high-tech equipment installed by the IB, NTRO and other agencies and deployment of trained personnels to decipher the coded messages in the shortest possible time has helped the security forces to act against top militants.
The way Burhan Wani, Abu Ismail, Abu Dujana, Bashir Lashkari, Junaid Mattoo and several others were killed by the forces is an indication of growing cooperation between the forces and locals. After virtually plugging the funding routes to terrorists and their sympathizers in the Valley, the security agencies have told the government that time has come to launch the operation before Diwali.
Interestingly, most of these top leaders were killed after the agencies tracked down their movements and hide-out as their mobile numbers were made available by moles or informers.
The country's top security establishment has prepared a blueprint to deliver a lethal blow to militancy to achieve the IB, NTRO, CRPF, Army Intelligence and more importantly the state police.
The agencies have been able to make inroads amongst the local who were scared to share information until recently. Earlier, the informers used to be eliminated as information provided by them was never acted upon or rather leaked to the militants by moles in the police establishment. Now the Centre has practically taken over the anti-terrorist operations and state police is made to lend a helping hand.
