With the terror attack in Anantnag sending alarm bells ringing in the Kashmir Valley’s security apparatus, the J&K Police have launched a massive crackdown by picking up over 2,500 people for questioning in different parts of the valley.
The crackdown came hours after a J&K policeman was killed in a militant strike. The attack is the first one after last year’s militant strike in Pahalgam in which 25 tourists and a local were killed.
Wednesday’s attack has triggered concerns especially when the Amarnath Yatra is underway and a large number of security personnel are deployed in the South Kashmir region in view of the yatra.
Last month, Anantnag police had launched ‘Project Hawk Eye’, a “comprehensive surveillance and security initiative aimed at maintaining round-the-clock vigilance from the sky to the ground along the entire yatra route”.
Following the attack on Wednesday, the police launched operations across the valley. “We have picked up over 2,500 people so far,” a top police official told The Tribune.
Srinagar Police said that in a major security operation aimed at “dismantling the ecosystem supporting terrorism”, the police conducted “extensive district-wide raids across multiple locations” following the recent terror incident in Anantnag.
“The coordinated operations, carried out on the basis of credible intelligence and as part of an ongoing investigation, resulted in the detention of nearly 700 suspected over-ground workers (OGWs) for questioning and verification in accordance with established legal procedures,” said a police spokesman.
According to the police, the operations have been “undertaken with the objective of identifying and neutralising networks that provide logistical, financial, communication, transportation, shelter and other forms of support to terrorist organisations.”
In Ganderbal, the police said that in a decisive action aimed at “safeguarding peace and maintaining public order”, they launched a series of coordinated raids across the district, detaining more than 100 suspected over-ground workers for sustained questioning and verification.
“The district-wide operation was carried out based on specific intelligence inputs and after a meticulous assessment of security concerns,” the police said.
Sources said over 100 people were detained in north Kashmir’s Sopore. Baramulla police in north Kashmir also launched an “intensified counter-terrorism effort across the district.” Over 178 OGWs have been detained, the police said. Similar detentions have been made in other districts of the valley.