Inspector General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Vijay Kumar

Kashmir Police chief Vijay Kumar on Friday hit out at the mainstream politicians in the valley for trying to "instigate" the people, even as he said the political leaders or media do not have a right to term the police investigation as wrong and only court can decide that. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar to list out the achievements of Kashmir Zone Police, the Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, asked the politicians to desist from instigating the public and "destroying the youth".

Kumar said the situation in the valley had improved in 2021, contrary to what some of the mainstream politicians or some media persons suggest.

"Some political party leaders, some section of media, keep on saying that the situation has not improved. Some have gone to the extent of saying that the situation was like 1990s. The factual data on the ground shows that whatever they are saying is wrong. There has been much improvement in the situation," the IGP told reporters at a press conference where only selected media persons were invited.

Giving details, he said, last year, 238 terror incidents took place in Kashmir, while only 192 happened this year.

"The number of civilians killed last year was 37, while it was 34 this year, even as the militants openly instigated that they will kill civilians, political workers and forces. And just to hide their terror crime, legitimise it, they call them informers. We took several preventive measures to protect the people," he said.

He said some politicians were "legitimising" the killings of civilians and policemen by terrorists, and added it was a challenge for the security forces.

"Unfortunately, we see some politicians also legitimising the killings. What was the need to the encounter of the dreaded terrorist (TRF commander) Mehran (Shalla) with his photo and say it was cruel, there is a human rights violation. He killed many civilians.

"Is it wrong to kill a terrorist like (TRF chief) Abbas (Sheikh) in an encounter? Why show sympathy with him. This is wrong? I want to tell the politicians, request them to stop this, that this is wrong, you are destroying the youth, the society," he said.

When asked about National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah terming the police's special investigation team (SIT)'s investigation into Hyderpora encounter as "wrong", Kumar said while the politicians have a right to not be satisfied with an investigation and demand a probe on a higher level, they have no right to term the inquiry as wrong.

"This is a democratic set up and media persons, politicians and the families have the right to not be satisfied with the investigation and seek a higher-level probe thorough the NIA, CBI, High Court. We do not have any objection to that. But, only court can decide whether any investigation is wrong," he said.

The IGP said the SIT investigated the incident and will frame a chargesheet which then it will submit to the court which will take a judicial review.

"A judge will decide whether the investigation is wrong or not. No politician, family member or media person can do that or say it is concocted, they have no such right," he said.

Referring to Abdullah, Kumar said the NC president has been a chief minister under whom the Home Department falls and so he understands what policing is.

"The court will decide that. It is not that we have given a clean chit. Our each case will be decided by court. We will not decide that. So, I request such a leader to not instigate the public. Let the court decide. If the court thinks it is wrong, it will order to reinvestigate it," he said.

Continuing his tirade against the mainstream politicians in the valley, the IGP said some political leaders questioned the use of the term 'Hybrid' militants by J-K Police - militants who carry out attacks and then go on with their normal activities.

"The fact remains that police coined the term in January 2021, the Goggle has also accepted it... We identify them from their digital signature. This is a challenge and will remain so. So far, we have identified 25 of them," he said.

The Kashmir Police chief also took a dig at the New Delhi-based media for talking about the impact of the spill over of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

"The people, the media talked much about new recruitment, many articles were written by Delhi media that there will be spurt (in militancy in Kashmir) after the Taliban takeover. But, by the support of the people, the families, we have been able to stop it to a large extent," he said.

He said last year, 167 youth had joined militancy, while as this year only 128.

"Out of 128, 30 were killed within a month only after their joining," he added.