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Pulwama attack: Have eliminated ‘top leadership’ of Jaish in Valley, says Indian Army

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CRPF helpline established, dip in recruitment of militants in valley

Srinagar: The Indian Army on Tuesday said that three militants, i.e, the leadership of the outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad in the Valley had been ‘eliminated’ in an early operation that began early Monday morning and lasted 17 hours, ANI reported

Lt Gen KJS Dhillion, 15 Corps Commander, while addressing the media in a press conference here said: “I would like to inform the nation that in less than 100 hours of Pulwama terrorist attack, we have eliminated the JeM leadership in the Valley which was being handled from Pakistan.”

He added that families in the Valley should convince their youth not to pick up weapons. “Anyone who picks up guns in Kashmir will be eliminated, unless they surrender. This is a message to all the mothers of Kashmir.” he added.

Lt Dhillion said that the JeM was a faction of the Pakistani Army and they had a role to play in the February 14 attacks.

He said that the Indian Army had leads on the type of explosives used but they couldn’t share the details as investigation was currently underway.

IGP Kashmir, S P Pani, in the press conference said that there had been a significant dip in recruitment of militants in the Valley.

“There is a significant dip in recruitment, we have not see any recruitment in the last three months. The families are playing a huge role in this. We would like to urge the families and the community in curtailing recruitment,” he said, ANI reported.

Zulfiquar Hasan of the CRPF said a helpline-14411 has been helping Kashmiris across the country in wake of this attack. “A lot of Kashmiri students have approached this helpline for help all over the country. All Kashmiri children studying outside have been taken care of by security forces.”

In a statement released Monday night, the Jammu & Kashmir Police said three militants were killed and one identified as Hilal, a resident of Pinglena Pulwama. Two others have been identified as Pakistanis, as per the police.

According to police records, all the three killed militants were affiliated with JeM and were wanted in a series of crimes including attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities. One of the Pakistani militants identified as Kamran had taken over as operational commander of JeM after Mufti Waqas who was killed in an gunfight in February last year.

The Indian Army also asked residents not to venture inside the gunfight site during and after as it could prove dangerous due to stray explosive materials.

“People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosives materials if any,” the police said.

ALSO READ: Pulwama attack: Photo of Jaish ‘mastermind’ shared by Indian media morphed, made using an app

On 14 February, a Scorpio car armed with explosives rammed into a CRPF convoy in Lethpora area along the Srinagar-Jammu highway in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, killing 49 CRPF personnel. Following the news, militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility of the attack.

Soon after the attack, Navjot Singh Sidhu, a minister in Captain Amarinder Singh’s Congress government in Punjab, asked whether an entire country (Pakistan) could be blamed for the acts of a few.

Sidhu, however, strongly condemned the Pulwama attack.

After the Pulwama attack, Kashmiris living in India have been facing xenophobia, hate, terminations and suspensions.

ALSO READ:  ‘We were attacked from all sides’: Darbar move employees in Jammu say neighbours were part of the mob too

A mob threatened to set a Dehradun college on fire if the institute didn’t terminate a Kashmiri dean. Abid Kuchay, college Dean of the Alpine Institute has been terminated.

“The college asked for it. I agreed for the betterment of the college,” he said. Abid’s resignation has been asked for his role of getting Kashmir students admitted in the college.

Moreover, four Kashmiri students were suspended on Saturday by the National Institute of Medical Science (NIMS), Rajasthan for sharing a WhatsApp status in which they were allegedly celebrating the Pulwama attack which left 49 CRPF personnel dead.

The second-year students — Talveen Manzoor, Iqra, Zohra Nazir and Uzma Nazir — were suspended soon after they shared as a WhatsApp status allegedly celebrating the killings of the CRPF personnel in the attack

Earlier, Shridev Suman Subharti University in Dehradun suspended a Kashmiri student after his alleged WhatsApp chat regarding the Pulwama attack went viral.

ALSO READ: #IndiaWantsRevenge: Kashmiris outside fear for their lives, face xenophobia, abuse, rustication after Pulwama attack

Meanwhile, Aligarh Muslim University also suspended a Kashmiri student over a ‘highly objectionable tweet’.

Omar Saleem Peerzada, AMU PRO said: “We have come to know of the highly objectionable tweet. Taking immediate cognizance the student has been suspended by the university administration,” he said.

Moreover, 15-20 Kashmiri female students had locked themselves in a hostel room in Dehradun after a mob surrounded the campus area, demanding the management to ‘throw them out of their rooms’.

Shazia Hamid, one of the students, told Free Press Kashmir that she and other Kashmiri female students, fearing the mob, have locked themselves in a room.

ALSO READ: ‘We’re alive today because of our Sikh brothers’: Kashmiri drivers back home from Jammu tell tales of agony and hope

Following Free Press Kashmir’s news story the women were provided safety by the Dehradun police who dispersed the crowd peacefully.

Earlier, former chief minister Omar Abdullah had appealed to the Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh to direct all state governments to take ‘special care of areas where Kashmiris as residing or studying.’

Following the reports of attacks on Kashmiris in various parts of India, Government of India on Saturday asked all the states to ensure safety and security of the students and people from Jammu and Kashmir.

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