Police on Wednesday intensified its crackdown on the terror ecosystem in Kashmir, carrying out raids at around 500 locations linked to terrorist associates, and persons affiliated with banned organisations, including Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), in the valley, officials said.
The raids were based on credible intelligence inputs indicating attempts by JeI-linked elements to revive their activities under different fronts, police officials said.
They said the raids were carried out at several locations across the 10 districts of the Kashmir valley — Srinagar, Ganderbal, Budgam, Baramulla, Bandipora, Kupwara, Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama, and Shopian.
The searches were carried out at the residences and premises of JeI members and their associates.
They added the crackdown is a part of sustained efforts to dismantle the terror ecosystem and its support structure at the grassroots level.
Giving details of the massive operation, the officials said in Srinagar, police conducted extensive raids at 150 locations across the city.
The searches were carried out at the residences of terrorist associates and overground workers (OGWs) affiliated with proscribed terrorist organizations, in connection with ongoing investigations under the UAPA, the police officials said.
The coordinated search operations were conducted across various areas of Srinagar, targeting individuals involved in facilitating, aiding, or abetting terror-related activities, they said.
The objective of these operations was to seize incriminating material such as documents, digital devices, and other evidence relevant to ongoing investigations. The raids also form part of a broader intelligence-gathering exercise aimed at pre-empting and disrupting any conspiratorial or terrorist activities threatening public peace and national security, they added.
In Kulgam, raids were conducted at over 200 locations across the south Kashmir district.
The officials said that during the past four days, more than 400 cordon and search operations (CASOs) have been conducted across different areas of the district at the premises of OGWs, J-K-based Jammu and Kashmir Nationals Operating from Pakistan (JKNOP), places where encounters took place in past, hideouts of active or killed terrorists.
These operations have led to the interrogation of around 500 individuals affiliated with JKNOPs and other banned groups, many of whom have been bound down and shifted to District Jail Mattan, Anantnag under preventive laws, the officials added.
During the raids, incriminating material and digital devices were seized, and several JeI members were interrogated and bound down to further trace and disrupt networks aiding terrorism.
In north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, police in Sopore launched a major coordinated operation and carried out a district-wide counter terror and separatist ecosystem action, by conducting simultaneous raids at over 30 plus locations across Sopore, Zaingeer, and Rafiabad areas with the assistance of other security forces, they said.
During the operations, a significant quantity of incriminating material, including documents, digital gadgets, and printed content with links to the banned organisation was recovered and seized for detailed scrutiny. Several individuals are being questioned to ascertain their involvement in unlawful activities, the police officials said.
Extensive search operations were also carried out at multiple locations across Ganderbal, in central Kashmir, targeting individuals and premises associated with the proscribed organisation, the officials said.
During the raids, a large quantity of incriminating materials, including documents, digital devices, and printed content having direct links with the banned group were recovered and seized for detailed analysis.
Several suspects have been detained for questioning to ascertain their role in unlawful and subversive activities, they said.
These operations form a crucial part of J-K Police’s sustained preventive strategy aimed at dismantling the terror-separatist ecosystem, cutting off its ideological, financial, and logistical networks, and ensuring that peace and normalcy remain undisturbed, the officials said.
Similar raids were also carried out at multiple locations in other districts as well, during which several JeI members were questioned and bound down under law, the police officials added.