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No fresh recruitment of local youth among militant ranks in J&K: DGP

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh on Wednesday said there have been no reports of any fresh recruitment of local youth joining militant ranks in the state, where life is returning to normal.

The DGP also said there are some incidents of terrorists threatening fruit dealers in south Kashmir against collecting fruits but police is aware about the situation and "our job is to facilitate the process and ensure that no one is able to harass them".

"There have been no reports of any fresh local recruitment among the militant ranks. Some youth had been misled (in the past) and in a fit of anger gone astray, and we have been able to bring many of them back," Singh told reporters here. He said there are some reports of infiltration and "we recently saw two Pakistani terrorists apprehended by the Army in Gulmarg sector".

"There have been many reports of infiltration. The militants tried infiltrating through certain areas including Rajouri, Poonch, Gurez, Karnah. In Gulmarg sector, two militants were recently held who were produced before the media. Now, we are trying to verify whether any successful infiltration has taken place," he said.

The DGP said Pakistani agencies are "very desperate to push in militants to Kashmir but we are very active to respond them and foil their attempts".

On September 4, the Army said Pakistan is pushing infiltrators into Kashmir to carry out terrorist activities and create disturbance while playing video clips showing two Pakistani nationals associated with the Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group -- Mohammad Khalil and Mohammad Nazim of Rawalpindi -- who were arrested in Gulmarg sector on August 21.

On the prevailing situation in the Valley, the police chief said, "Life is returning towards normalcy and people are going about their activities with school and offices open."

However, Singh said there were some incidents of terrorists threatening fruit dealers in south Kashmir, telling them not to collect fruit but people are doing it. "Our job is to facilitate the process and we want to ensure that no one is able to harass people...We do not tell people what to do or what not to do," the DGP said.

He said even on Wednesday more than 230 truck-loads of fruits were dispatched to markets outside the valley from a particular south Kashmir district.

On the incidents of stone-pelting in the Valley, the DGP said there have been were very minor incidents in most of the places. "Till yesterday, we have had 184 stone-pelting incidents. Very minimal force has been exercised and that is why casualty on civilian side has been absolutely nil barring an incident in which a stone-pelter was injured and later succumbed," he said, adding that of these incidents, heavy violence was only reported in half-a-dozen cases.

Asked whether the restrictions imposed since August 5 would be lifted, he said they are considering giving more relaxation in the coming days.

"I am happy to say that our people in the state in all the three regions have been very-very cooperative and maintenance of law and order in Jammu and Kashmir has been very good. We are considering more relaxation as people have been very cooperative.

"Pak-based elements have been using this (social media) for very malicious propaganda and certain restrictions were imposed because of that. We are equally conscious that people face difficulties, but we have been able to avoid any loss of life and any major law and order problem," he said.

"We are thinking of relaxing them gradually. Voice calls were gradually restored in Jammu and two (police) districts of Kashmir. We are considering easing out restrictions on voice calls without compromising on the security aspects," the DGP added.

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