‘Never Go Soft on Militants,’ says IG BSF

KL NEWS NETWORK

SRINAGAR

A day after the killing of a civilian in South Kashmir’s Padgampora hamlet of Pulwama district, Inspector General Border Security Force (BSF) Kashmir Frontier, Dr Jagat Singh Wednesday termed the incident “unfortunate and said that an inquiry committee has been set up to probe the incident”. He said that whatever happened was unfortunate and it should not have happened. “Some time troopers face a tough situation while dealing with violent protesters and they are forced to retaliate,” he said.

Talking to reports on the sidelines of a function at Humhama headquarters, Dr Singh said that the youth of Kashmir should differentiate between good and bad. “Joining militancy is not going to help any youth in Kashmir. Whosoever joins militant ranks invites trouble for himself. It doesn’t matter whether militants are educated or illiterate, what matters is their capability to strike. Government Forces will never go soft on any militant,” he said but added that educated Kashmiri youth joining militant ranks is “very disturbing and a cause of concern.”

He said that it is also a concern that after every operation against the militants, the protests break out. “There is a need to check who are the part of such protests,” he said.

While responding to a question, Inspector General BSF, Dr Jagat Singh, according to CNS, said that BSF troopers faced a tough situation in Tanghdar sector while dealing with infiltrators. “Several of our troopers were injured during the encounter with the militants in recently concluded Tangdar operation. However, we managed to neutralize some of the infiltrators,” he said.

He said there seems to be no change in the trends of militant infiltration. “I won’t say there is increase in infiltration. The trend of infiltration is similar as it was in the previous years,” Singh said in reply to a query whether a large number of militants were trying to infiltrate into this part of Kashmir.