Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 4

At a time when Pakistan and its proxies are making every effort to revive terrorism in Kashmir Valley, the Indian Army’s ‘Operation Maa’ has saved lives of about 50 Kashmiri youths who were radicalised and pushed towards militancy.

Senior Army officials, engaged in counter-insurgency operations, revealed that although the Rashtriya Riffles, police and para-military forces had launched sustained anti-insurgency operations, the ‘Operation Maa’, planned by Kashmir-based 15 Army Corps, had saved several lives, which was being appreciated by families of youths, mainly stone-throwers.

The operation, launched by the Army, on the directions of General Officer Commanding (GOC) of 15 Corps Lieutenant General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, undertook an exercise in the hunt for missing youths and approached their families.

“A Number of boys have rejoined their families. Some encounters have ended up with a hug between a mother and a son as part of the efforts to save lives of young Kashmiris,” said an Army officer.

“Operations have also been undertaken in situations where a local Kashmiri youth is accompanying foreign terrorists in the dead of the night. Many of my men have even risked their lives in separating a willing-to-surrender Kashmiri local terrorist from a foreigner so that he can be brought back to his family,” the Army commander said.

“The data compiled by the Army showed that 83 per cent of the youths joining various militant groups had a record of stone pelting. Seven per cent of the youths who join terrorism are killed within first 10 days of picking up arms, 9 per cent within one month, 17 per cent in three months, 36 per cent in six months and 64 per cent in the first one year itself,” the Army officer said.