Stone pelting incidents reduced to 10 pc only in J&K from earlier one: DG CRPF

New Delhi: Country’s largest central armed police force CRPF on Thursday said that stone pelting incidents have reduced to 10% only in J&K from earlier one.

Addressing a press conference here on the eve of the forces’ 82nd anniversary, the newly appointed Force’s DG Kuldeep Singh said that the incidents of stone pelting in the Kashmir Valley have reduced drastically and added that a total of 226 terrorists were killed during operations by the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir since the beginning of 2020.

He also said that the security personnel managed to apprehend 296 terrorists in the Union Territory (UT), he added.

“In Jammu and Kashmir, where the force works in close coordination with the state police and the Indian Army, 215 terrorists were neutralised in 2020 and 11 terrorists were killed this year,” he said.

“Only a few days back, we neutralised four terrorists in two different operations. This included the killing of top JeM commander Sajjad Afghani in an encounter during a joint operation in Shopian,” the DG further said.

On a specific question on a new security drill in view of recovery of “sticky bombs” in J&K, Mr Singh said, “While frisking a vehicle, we keep in mind the specific threat. Although, we have not seen any such incident where we found sticky bombs attached to a vehicle. But yes, it is a challenge, we know it, they (terrorists) might try to use it and we have briefed our forces about it.”

The CRPF chief also informed that the force recovered 378 arms and 41 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), while 275 encounters/attacks took place during the period beginning 2020 till now.

Claiming that normalcy has been restored to a large extent in J&K, Mr Singh said, “Earlier, there were restrictions on internet usage but now they have been lifted”. He said even the extra forces that were sent to the UT for the District Development Council (DDC) elections have now been withdrawn and the normal deployment of the force remained there.

On arrangements being made for the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra, Singh said last year, the yatra did not happen and since this year it is taking place, arrangements would be made for a peaceful and smooth conduct of the yatra. (UNI)