New mantra for security forces in Kashmir: Try to catch them alive

Srinagar: "Catch them alive" is the new mantra in Jammu and Kashmir as security forces, which have killed over 70 terrorists in the last seven months, shift gear to focus on finding new recruits and motivating them to return to their families, senior officials said.

The strategy of police and security agencies is to cut the "umbilical cord" by smashing the overground worker network, which is instrumental in radicalising youth and pushing them to jihad, the officials said.

"Our effort is to catch them alive and understand their grievances. After all, a 15 or 16-year-old boy can't be brainwashed to the extent that he would like to be killed in a gunfight. There has to be a counter-narrative," said a senior official engaged in counter-insurgency operations.

In the run-up to the Centre asking security forces not to launch operations during Ramzan, there was a need to eliminate hardcore terrorists like Saddam Paddar, Esa Fazl and Sameer Tiger as they were the brains behind the fresh influx of cadres for Pakistan-based militant groups Lashker-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen, officials said.

After the elimination of several top leaders, efforts are now on to change the script.

Operations based on specific intelligence inputs will continue, but there will also be increasing emphasis on catching newly-recruited militants alive, they said.