The Indian Army on Tuesday said that the mastermind of the recent Pulwama blast, which killed 40 paramilitary personnel last week, has been eliminated along with two others in an encounter which took place less than 100 hours after a jihadi operative from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group's attack.
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"In a Kashmiri society, mother has great role to play. Through you, I would request the mothers of Kashmir to please request their sons who've joined terrorism to surrender and get back to mainstream. Anyone who has picked up gun will be killed and eliminated unless he surrenders," Lieutenant General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, commander of the Indian Army's Chinar Corps, said.
"Anyone who has picked up a gun will be killed and eliminated," the army said in a statement.
Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, Corps Commander of Chinar Corps, Indian Army: Anyone who has picked up a gun will be killed and eliminated. pic.twitter.com/hFFuzLSnLn
— ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2019
Nevertheless, Dhillon claimed that the numbers in the Kashmir valley have come down in the last three months. The international border is guarded by paramilitary troops of the Border Security Force.
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The Indian Army has also indicated that it will not spare those who try to provide escape routes to militants. Lt. Gen Dhillon warned that civilians should do their best to stay out of counter-terror operations.
On Monday, four soldiers, including an Indian Army officer and two civilians, were killed in a 16-hour-long operation against three terrorists holed up in Pulwama.
