‘Complex connection’ between stone-pelting, suicide attacks: Parl Panel

New Delhi, Mar 09: A parliamentary panel has asked the home ministry to check the “disturbing” trend of local youths in Jammu and Kashmir joining militancy and “choke” the financing and supply of arms to militant outfits.
The parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, headed by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, also observed that there is a “sinister and complex connection” between the simultaneous rise in stone-pelting incidents and suicide attacks on the establishments of forces.
The committee, in its report submitted to Parliament, said it was aware of the disturbing trend of recruiting and training of local youths by the militants in the light of the numerous attempts foiled by the forces.
“There has been a rise in the number of law and order incidents, particularly incidents of stone pelting which seems to have become a regular feature in some parts of Kashmir. Numerous incidents of picketing of police stations and snatching of rifles from police and paramilitary personnel point towards local sourcing of arms,” it said.
The panel said while the law and order incidents have kept the forces busy, the militants, meanwhile, have found time to re-organise themselves and perpetrate attacks on the forces.
“The committee recommends that the ministry must work towards comprehensively breaking this nexus through a multi-pronged strategy that encompasses preventing the youth from joining the militant ranks, choking the financing and supply of arms to militant outfits and simultaneously launching counter insurgency operations throughout the Kashmir region to identify and capture the existing militants,” it said.