Year 2022 was more peaceful than previous four years: J&K DGP

Jammu, Dec 31 In his year-ender media conference on Saturday, Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbag Singh said that 2022 was more peaceful as compared to the previous four years.

Addressing mediapersons here, the DGP said that 56 foreigner terrorists were among 186 killed in 2022.

Giving details, Singh said, "One hundred youth joined militancy in the year, 17 were arrested, the others were killed and only 18 are now active. We haven't seen such a lowest local militant recruitment in the past four years. Also, a total of 159 militants/over ground workers (OGWs) were arrested. Fourteen cops and 17 security force personnel were killed in operations against the militants in the year 2022.

"Mission Zero Terror is our New Year resolution. In 2022, we busted 146 militant modules. The law and order situation was most peaceful in 2022. A total of 1,350 UAPA cases are under investigation. The SIA and SIUs are doing a great job.

"We conducted large scale anti-militancy operations through out the year in which 186 militants, including 56 foreigners, were killed. Majority of the slain militants were affiliated to Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed," the DGP said.

The police chief said that a large number of youth who had trod the wrong path were brought back, but the numbers can't be shared.

"In 2022, 188 weapons, including AK 47 riffles, 275 pistols, 354 grenades, 61 IEDs, including some ready-to-use that were drone dropped, were recovered. I congratulate the police and other forces for successfully foiling weapon-dropping bids using drones in the Jammu region, and for seizing large cache of weapons. There were some unfortunate incidents of blasts in Udhampur, but majority of such bids were foiled," he said.

The DGP went on to say that as compared to previous years, the forces faced less casualties in 2022.

"Fourteen policemen and 17 security forces personnel were killed in 2022, which is the lowest ever. Civilian casualties were also less. There were just 24 law and order incidents, all very mild in nature.

"Fifty-five vehicles and 28 houses were seized for supporting militancy. Similarly, 649 people were booked under the Public Safety Act for supporting terror activities. Also, a total of 1,693 cases of drugs smuggling were registered and many such modules were busted. In total, 212 kg heroine, 383 kg charas, 12 kg brown sugar and large quantity of other drugs were seized in 2022," the DGP said.

He also said that 29,834 cases of crime were registered in 2022. The year also saw 2,285 cases of crime against women, he said.

"We have set up Special Investigation Units (SIUs) in every district for fast-track case disposal. The SIUs working under State Investigation Agency (SIA) are doing a great job," the DGP said.

Talking about the terror threats through the 'Kashmirfight' blog, Singh said, "Both TRF and Kashmirfight are the mouthpieces of ISI. We have investigated almost all the threat cases and we won't spare anyone issuing threats to the minority community and other sections of the society."