VILGAM (KASHMIR), May 17:
Only killing the militants was “not enough” and there was a need to win hearts of the people in Jammu and Kashmir who will “end the militancy” in the times to come, army’s top commander in the Valley said today.
“The major lesson I go with from here is that it is not enough (only) to kill terrorists. Killing terrorists is not as important as winning hearts of the population,” General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain told reporters here, 110 kms from Srinagar.
Lt General Hasnain, who completes his term as the top commander of Army in the Valley this month, had laid a major thrust on winning the hearts of the people in Kashmir during his two-year tenure as Corps Commander.
The Army commander today held an ‘Awami Sunwayi’ (public hearing) at this village in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district where he listened to complaints and suggestions of people.
He said “in times to come”, it will not be the Army and police but people of Kashmir who will “end the militancy”.
Lt Gen Hasnain said so far this year “only one contact” has been established with the infiltrating militants.
“We have had only one contact, one operation on the Line of Control (LOC)…. Possibly some infiltration has taken place. Our grid on LOC is always porous,” the commander, who will be transferred to Army headquarters at Delhi, said.
He said the “threat of infiltration” by militants along the LOC increases during mid-June to mid-July, when snow on the high mountain passes melts.
The army commander said the army is on the borders because there is a “security threat”.
“If borders are made irrelevant, how can there be a security threat. The army is there because there is a security threat. It is a very good thing if you make borders irrelevant with peace and development,” he said. (PTI)
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