Security situation under control; infiltration a challenge: J&K police chief

Srinagar, Jan 23 (PTI) Cross-border infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir remains a challenge for the forces, but the security situation is under control, Director General of Police R R Swain said on Tuesday.

“The security situation is under control. The biggest aspect of the security is law and order, and we think that we have been able to control the public order on roads, etc,” Swain told reporters on the sidelines of a Public Grievances Redressal Programme at Awantipora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

The DGP said cross-border infiltration is a challenge for the security forces.

“Yes, it is a challenge for us that a few terrorists are coming in from outside. They are infiltrating and then along with some people here, they try to vitiate the atmosphere. It is a challenge one which we see with a different perspective.

“We see it the way that our own boys are not joining them, or a smaller number of them are. A few people can be with them, but a majority of the public is not. We keep that in mind when we say that we have control over the security (situation),” Swain added.

Asked about targeted attacks in the Union Territory, the J&K police chief said “about 90 per cent of the root and origin of the problem is outside”.

“A person sitting outside, not from Jammu and Kashmir, a Pakistani comes here somehow whether by infiltrating or digging up tunnels, and then fights us. It is a challenge. Though their numbers are now less, this is a challenge.

“The cross-border infiltration is a challenge in Poonch-Rajouri and to some extent here as well. We will be able to control it when the atmosphere improves gradually and we are hopeful that the people themselves will hand them over to us,” he said.

It was the DGP’s first Public Grievances Redressal Programme in south Kashmir. He has addressed such programmes in north Kashmir’s Kupwara and Srinagar, apart from Jammu region.

A large number of people turned up for the programme with different kinds of grievances like robbery, domestic violence, and land disputes.