New Delhi: Former Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda said the killing of over 200 militants in the Valley would not “restore normalcy” in the state and predicted that the year would see more bloodshed than 2017. Khoda, who was J&K’s top cop between 2007 and 2012, was in New Delhi to attend a security conclave.
“The year 2018 is bound to be worse than 2017, where casualty of security forces is likely to cross 100,” he told The Indian Express. Eighty-two security personnel were killed in 2016, while 80 died in 2017.
“The killing of over 200 militants by security forces last year is a clear indication that there are more militants in the valley than previous years,” he said, while blaming “politicisation of events for vote bank politics and polarisation” as primarily responsible for escalation of violence in the valley.
“As the DGP, I had sent a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs, stating that out of 22 districts in J&K, 19 were without any presence of militants…The only areas which had presence of militants then were Pulwama, Kupwara and upper Ganderbal,” he said.
The former DGP also defended the use of pellets guns, claiming it to be the most-effective non-lethal weapon. “In 2010 agitation, we used pellet guns, but there was no outcry. It is possible that the boys (CRPF), who are using these pellets guns now, have not been trained or instructed properly to cause minimum damage,” he said.
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