Home Ministry all set to move on target killings

New Delhi: The recent spate of targeted killings by terrorists inJammu and Kashmir continues to pose a major challenge for the security forces to maintain peace and safeguard the lives of common citizens living in the union territory.

Terrorists are continuously targeting Hindu families, Kashmiri Pandit community and government employees in the Valley. Therefore, the Union Home Ministry has now swung into action to stop such incidents further from taking place in the Valley.

According to government sources, the Union government has prepared a concrete plan to neutralise the terrorists who are involved in carrying out such targeted killings in the Valley. This plan has come into operation in the last few days with the banning of two terror organisations and designating three people involved in recent targeted killings as terrorists.

According to sources, following the targeted killings of six civilians in Rajouri, Jammu, in two separate incidents at the beginning of 2023, the Home Ministry on the instructions of Home Minister Amit Shah has directed the heads of security agencies to crack down on targeted killings and ensure maximum security in the Jammu region.

A Home Ministry official said that the terrorists have changed their strategy to spread terror in J&K by carrying out targeted killings in the relatively safer Jammu region to spread fear and panic among the people.

The Ministry has taken several swift measures in the last three to four days to crackdown on these killings.

The MHA on January 4 declared Ijaz Ahmed, the chief recruiter of the terror organisation Islamic State Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK), as a terrorist. On January 5, taking two more stern measures, the MHA declared terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Commander Mohammad Amin alias Abu Khubaib, currently active in Jammu and Kashmir as a terrorist, while the Union government also banned an organisation called The Resistance Front (TRF).