The outgoing General Officer Commanding of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lt Gen D P Pandey, on Thursday said that over 250 youths who were at the cusp of joining militant ranks or had joined it were brought back to the mainstream in the last one year.
He said the Army had come up with a “philosophy of breaking the cycle of violence” in Kashmir after he took over as the 15 Corps Commander.
On the one side we kept on neutralizing terrorists and on the other we wanted to reduce the number of youths picking up arms. I think we have done well in both the levels, he told reporters.
Lt Gen Pandey has been appointed the Army War College Commandant in Madhya Pradesh
The outgoing Corps Commander said most importantly changes had happened over the last one year in Kashmir as the Jammu and Kashmir Police was now getting more human intelligence about militants.
Transaction has taken place today and now the J&K Police instead of tech (technical) input is getting so much of human intelligence as people don’t want terrorists to come out and stay in their houses.
They do not want to be openly called as terrorist supporters. There are even places where the supporters of terrorists are being isolated .There is a change which is happening, he said.
He said bringing back 250 youths from militancy during his tenure was his achievement.
More than 250 youth who were possibly on the cusp of becoming a terrorist and majority of them had become terrorists in some form or another were brought back into the society. That is my achievement.”
He said the presence of foreign countries was not a challenge. Yes, some (American) weapons have entered Kashmir but its not a challenge any more.”
Earlier, Lt Gen Pandey said a glimmer of a new beginning was visible, especially after August 2019 when the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was abrogated.
“There is hope on the horizon,” he said.
