J&K Police chief says foreign militants getting support from ‘our territory’

JAMMU — Jammu and Kashmir’s Police chief R R Swain on Saturday said that foreign militants are getting some support from “our territory” and the police was mindful of the security situation in the region.

Addressing the year-end press conference in Jammu, DGP Swain, as per the news agency KNO, said that he has already admitted that there is a security situation in Rajouri-Poonch region. “There are foreign fighters who have some support coming from our territory. Their (those supporting foreign militants) number is very, very limited,” he said.

He added, “The foreign fighters hide in houses with the result that information flow is less. They hide in caves, jungles and wilderness.”

As far as the counter-strategy is concerned, DGP Swain said that the same can’t be discussed before the media. “We have discussed the issue and strategy at the top level. We will effectively deal with it,” he said.

Recently, four soldiers were killed and two others injured in Poonch district of Jammu when heavily armed militants attacked an army vehicle at Dera Ki Gali. After the incident, many civilians were taken for questioning and three civilians allegedly died in army custody which triggered a massive public outcry.

The incident had forced army chief General Manoj Pande and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to visit the area to calm the nerves. Union Minister Singh visited the hospital to meet the civilians allegedly tortured and also the families of three slain civilians. He assured them that justice will be delivered.

To a query that PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti has alleged that she wasn’t allowed to meet the families of three slain in Poonch, DGP Swain said that the job of the police is to ensure that the visit is not leveraged in a malicious manner.

Replying to a query about whether Rajouri-Poonch region was going back to what it was between 1997 to 2003, the DGP said that police are mindful and that there is a gap between the past and present situation. “We will fill this gap…,” he said.

8000 fake social media handles identified in J&K: DGP Swain

J&K Police wasn’t fighting against the gun-wielding militants only but also the false narrative being spread by almost 8000 fake social media handlers sitting across with an aim to incite trouble and glorify terrorism, Director General of Police (DGP) RR Swain said.

“Our battle is not against terrorists only but against the narrative which is being spread by 8000 fake social media handles—Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Their handlers are sitting across and their aim is to incite trouble and glorify terrorism. They peddle wrong information. We are acting against them under the ambit of law after differentiating the genuine and not-genuine,” he said.

He added, “We will act against them under IT Act 61. If the need arises, we will catch hold of them through Interpol.”

The year 2024 will witness a decisive battle against narco-terror. “The links between narco-terror, separatism and terrorism was already nailed in 2022,” he said.

He added, “Links of narco-terrorism have been found in Kashmir to Jammu to Punjab and Delhi. Other links including the handlers were traced in Paris, Canada and Turkey. In the recent case of the Ramban narco-terror module, the mastermind was traced in Turkey.”

DGP Swain said that police are mindful of cybercrime and the fact is that this crime is going under-reported and affecting more people than what police actually knows.

“We are upgrading the system and lot more needs to be done to prevent cybercrimes,” he said, adding that a large amount was traced and given back to the people who were cheated through internet fraud and digital world frauds.