Srinagar, Nov 10: In one of the largest coordinated operations in recent months, the Jammu and Kashmir Police detained more than 100 people across the Union Territory as part of a sweeping crackdown to dismantle the militant support network, officials said on Sunday.
The raids, conducted over the past two days in multiple districts of both the Kashmir Valley and Jammu province, targeted individuals suspected of being militant sympathisers, relatives of militants based in Pakistan or Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK), and former overground workers (OGWs), police sources said.
In Jammu’s Kathua district, two Special Police Officers (SPOs) were dismissed from service for alleged militant links. Raids were also carried out in the Ramban, Doda, Rajouri, and Kishtwar districts, where police inspected SIM card vendors to trace supplies potentially reaching anti-national elements.
In south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, police searched the houses of Pakistan-based militants, including top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Ghulam Nabi Khan alias Amir Khan.
“Acting on credible intelligence inputs, police and security agencies conducted coordinated cordon and search operations at various locations suspected to be used for sheltering and aiding terrorists,” the police said in an official statement.
The operation, according to police, was aimed at “disrupting the terror support infrastructure,” which includes networks providing logistical, financial, and ideological assistance to militants and their handlers across the border.
Officials said the pre-emptive raids were intended to prevent any regrouping of militants and to maintain peace in the region. “By dismantling their support network, we are hitting at their foundations,” a senior police officer said.
Those detained include individuals with prior militant records, sympathisers, and relatives of active or Pakistan-based militants, some of whom are out on bail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Police teams seized digital devices and other materials suspected to have been used for aiding militants, though Anantnag police said no illicit or incriminating items were recovered during their searches.
The J&K Police reiterated their commitment to taking stern action against individuals or groups involved in activities “detrimental to national security and public peace.” (Agencies)
