Srinagar: The number of locals recruited as militants in the Valley has been increasing since 2015 according to data cited by police, suggesting that the iron-fist policy of the Centre to control insurgency in Kashmir might not be working.

According to police sources, 126 Valley youths picked up arms in 2017, the highest number since 2010. That number has been crossed in the first seven months of 2018, with 128 being inducted into militancy till August 7.

The number has been growing steadily since 2015, when the Peoples Democratic Party-BJP alliance came to power in Jammu and Kashmir. In 2018, when the two parties ended their alliance, the number of new militants had almost doubled to 128 from 66 in 2015.

Local recruitments stood at 88 in 2016.

There has been a four-fold increase in local recruitments during the less than four years of PDP-BJP rule compared to the four preceding years - 2011 to 2014 - when the National Conference-Congress combine was at the helm.

The combined figures for the four years from 2011 stand at 113, compared to 408 between January 1, 2015, and August 7, 2018.

These figures are nothing compared to the thousands that joined militancy in the early 1990s, but the youths back then had literally free access to arms and training camps across the LoC.

Today, every recruitment counts as the youths no longer have access to training and arms and also because the security forces have over half a million boots across Jammu and Kashmir.

The sharp increase in militant recruitments has taken place despite the BJP government at the Centre vowing to go hard on militants. In 2017 the security forces launched Operation All Out to wipe out militancy.#

Sources attributed the surge in militant recruitments primarily to the unrest that broke out in 2016 following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, who used social media to reach out to youths.

Omar's words after Burhan's death have turned out to be prophetic. "Mark my words - Burhan's ability to recruit into militancy from the grave will far outstrip anything he could have done on social media," he had said after Burhan was killed in an encounter with security forces.