Ahead of the second anniversary of the 'surgical strike,' security forces are on song in Jammu & Kashmir.
In the last two months more than 50 terrorists have been killed by the joint teams of security forces in clinical operations.
According to official sources, " a total number of 25 terrorists were eliminated in different operations across the State in the month of August 2018, highest in a single month this year".
For the second consecutive month this year the security forces have managed to eliminate more than 25 terrorists in a single month.
Till September 24, the security forces have already eliminated 28 terrorists while relentless operations were going on in South Kashmir districts to ensure smooth conduct of the civic/Panchayat polls in the State.
According to official sources, "since January 1, 2018 a total number of around 170 terrorists/infiltrators have been eliminated in the State this year".
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar on August 24, 2018 the Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), RR Bhatnagar had claimed, "a total number 142 terrorists have been eliminated in anti-terror operations in Jammu & Kashmir since January 1 this year".
Rough estimates suggested the total number of active terrorists in the State hover around 300 out of which an estimated number of 180 are believed to be local cadre and rest comprise foreign terrorists.
In the aftermath of killing of Hizbul Mjahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016 large number of local youth from South Kashmir districts had joined ranks of different militant outfits.
According to police records, "126 local youth had joined ranks of militant outfits in 2017 and over 130 have already joined this year with Shopian emerging as hub of local militant cadre".
In 2017, a total number of 218 terrorists were eliminated by the security forces in J&K.
In the wake of Municipal and Panchayat polls in the state the security forces have increased their footprints in the South Kashmir districts.
To ensure safety of candidates and create conducive atmosphere ahead of the polling dates the security forces are also conducting massive cordon and search operations (CASO) to track down the hiding groups of terrorists.
On the other hand to terrorise voters and different candidates from participating in the polls the different terrorist outfits are resorting to pressure tactics and issuing threatening letters to prevent them from taking part in the polls.
In some pockets of South Kashmir especially in Shopian and Pulwama the terrorists are regularly abducting kith and kin of security forces or police personnel and eliminating them to avenge killing of their top commanders.
Three police personnel were killed last week by terrorists in Shopian district after abducting them from their homes.
On the other hand, in the absence of mainstream political parties National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party from the poll arena the political activity is yet to pick pace on ground zero.
