Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh on Wednesday said militants were carrying out target killings of civilians and attacking security forces in the Jammu and Kashmir on the directions by Pakistani ISI.
Now Pak is using militants of “ The Resistance Front “ (TRF) to target civilians and issue threats to journalists and others who wanted Jammu and Kashmir to prosper, DGP Singh told reporters after paying floral tributes to Personnel Security Officer (PSO) Mohammad Altaf Hussain, who was martyred after killing a TRF militant Shabir Ahmad, a close associate of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) most wanted commander Reyaz Naikoo, who was killed in an encounter on May 6, 202 in Pulwama. Shabir a resident of Awantipora in Pulwama was earlier working as Over Ground Worker (OGW) before joining HM.
He said Shabir has later joined TRF a mouth piece of Pakistani. He said the outfit was involved in issuing threats to journalists and all those who are associated with the development activities and peace in the J&K.
Talking about Ganderbal incident, he said Hussain sacrificed his life to protect the political worker besides killed the militant involved in the attack.
When asked if militants have now spread their activities in Ganderbal, which was peaceful until now, the police Chief said militants can operate at any place on the directions from Pak. For militants all areas are open for them, he said adding security forces always remain alert to foil their designs.
However, he said police in the district are on alert and keeping a strict vigil to foil militant designs.
He said Pakistan was sponsoring militancy in the past and will continue in the future.
About the Shopian encounter, where three militants were killed in an encounter by security forces today, DGP Singh said the operation was launched last evening on a specific information.
About recent Pampore attack in which two CRPF personnel were killed and three others were injured, Mr Singh said the militants who had come on a motorcycle, have been identified. One of them is a local and another a Pak national Saifullah of Lashkher-e-Toiba (LeT), he said adding we are after them and they will be neutralized soon. These hit and run attacks by militants have been happening in the past, he said.
About the use of virtual SIMS by militants, he said this is a challenge not only for us but in the world. We are working on this and will be able to get breakthrough soon.