Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Aug 10: Security forces today arrested a Lashkar-e-Toiba militant from Sopore area of North Kashmir and recovered a pistol and two grenades from his possession while normal life was affected in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district due to shut down.
Police said they along with 52 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) of Army and 177 battalion of CRPF established a naka on Seer Amargarh Road near Railway Crossing Seer Sopore after inputs about the militant movement. “During Naka checking, one suspected person jumped the Naka and fled to a nearby orchard. The area was cordoned off by the police and security forces and the suspected person was apprehended. During the search his identity was revealed as Ishfaq Ahmad Kanna son of Mohammad Shafi Kanna of Jamia-Qadeem Sopore district Baramulla, who recently joined LeT outfit”, police said.
One pistol, one magazine, five rounds and two UBGL grenades were recovered from him.
Police said that he was part of Lashkar module, three members of which were killed last week at Jamia Mohalla Amargarh Sopore. “Before joining LeT outfit, he worked as an active recruiter/OGW for LeT outfit in Sopore and other areas of North Kashmir”, said police adding that he was involved in a grenade throwing case on Police Station Sopore.
In the meantime, normal life remained paralysed today in South Kashmir district of Pulwama, where three militants of Zakir Musa group were killed in an encounter by security forces. A civilian was also killed when security forces fired pellets to disperse demonstrators near the encounter site.
The mobile service also remained suspended in the district for the second day today to prevent spread of rumours on social media. The District Magistrate (DM), Pulwama had ordered closure of all educational institutions as precautionary measure. Business and other activities were crippled and traffic was off the road in the district though there was no strike call from any organisation.
However, traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and other South Kashmir districts passing through the district was plying normally. Work in Government offices and banks was also affected. Train in South Kashmir was also running normally.
And the Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, today visited CRPF installations in South and North Kashmir. While interacting with the reporters, he said that the anti-militancy operations in Kashmir is an ongoing process and they will continue in future. He said that Army, CRPF and police work jointly and in future also there will be successful operations as had been recently.
He said that CRPF along with police and Army conducted 18 successful operations recently and they were also managing law and order effectively with minimum collateral damage. “We didn’t allow stone pelters to disturb the anti-militancy operations”, he said.
Bhatnagar said that ahead of 15th August, CRPF is ready to handle every challenge. On recently issued video clip in which militant outfit commander Zakir Moosa has threatened parents, and teaching staff for allowing students from participating on 15th August celeberations, he said that “we are ready to tackle every situation in Valley. There will be hardly any affect on such audio clips in the Valley.”
When asked about the youth joining militancy, the DG CRPF said that the security forces will deal with the militants sternly.
On infiltration of militants from Pakistan, the DG CRPF said that this is a kind of threat from Pakistan and our border forces, Army and police are ready to fight back.
When asked about the recently concluded Amarnath Yatra, the DG CRPF said that next year the security for Amarnath Yatra would be further upgraded.
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