Click to play videoSrinagar: It's official. There are only around 450 militants operating in Kashmir, according to the state police.
Last year the police, paramilitary and army killed more than 460 suspected militants and that success has carried over to 2008, with dozens of suspected insurgents being killed in gun-battles across Kashmir in the last two months.
Says DGP, Kuldeep Khuda, “Recently, it was said that there are only 450 militants active in Kashmir. Do you think so? We can't count them on fingers but yes their presence is this much. Does it include the listed and non-listed militants? Absolutely.''
Police say the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, once a formidable outfit with thousands of followers, has been dented badly.
“We have killed the top leadership of the outfit including its financial chief and a number of divisional and district commanders. Their number is now between 130-160 and they are losing cadres,” says IGP, Kashmir, S M Sahia.
Police attribute the successes to the renewed intelligence grid and more information from local people. Nearly nine people were killed in militant violence everyday in the 90s but that figure has now come to down to two.
Militant outfits, however, insist that they are still very much in business, and say dwindling numbers won't affect their morale.
It took police and security forces more than 17 years of relentless battle to bring down the number of militants from thousands to a few hundred. But whether that vice-like grip would prevail or be challenged by militants would be keenly watched this summer when the state goes to polls.
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