But, insists Saxena, the people of Kashmir have decided to call the bluff of the gun. In his first freewheeling talk with a group of mediapersons at Raj Bhavan here, he spoke his mind on a host of issues, ranging from the changing characteristic of militancy in the State and Islamisation of Pakistan to corruption among Government functionaries.

The Governor made light of the reported invitation to Taliban leaders by some State politicians. ``The Talibans,'' he held, ``are fully occupied with their own fight in Afghanistan. But if and when they head our way, we will be ready for them. Let me tell you, they will be easy pickings for our security forces. Just because they have managed to overrun most of Afghanistan is no reason for us to feel scared.''

As for the number of foreign militants currently active in the State, estimates vary, said Saxena, but feedback reaching him from intelligence and security agencies hovered around 1,000. As for the local militants, who he maintained had more or less given up fighting, there are some 1,200 of them, belonging mostly to the Hizbul Mujahiddin, Harkat-ul-Ansar and Lashkar-e-Tanba.

With militancy shifting its focus out of the Valley, Doda is the new challenge for security forces. But here too, Governor Saxena would rather be rational than impassioned (like most of the State politicians). Soft targets are soft targets, he conceded frankly. ``The overall security umbrella in that vast mountainous area cannot cover each individual and house in Doda. Even in villages, the houses are situated at a distance of 500 to 600 yards. According to Saxena, the real answer to the problem is to make the price high for foreign militants, to take the fight back to them and make them feel deterred.

``The problem of infiltration from across the border continues. And will remain so, admits Saxena. ``It is just not possible to contain it due to several factors: The inhospitable terrain, the climatic conditions -- so much so that at times visibility is reduced to a few yards -- and long border,'' he says, but adds in the same breath, ``despite these constrains, we are doing an excellent job of making the foreign militants accountable. The militants in the State are being killed at a rate of four a day. Roughly half of them are foreigners.''

The Islamisation of Pakistan could be a worrying factor -- it already is a talking point among the locals here -- but Saxena refuses to accept it as a bugbear. ``Let us see. The situation is not clear. Pakistan is yet to enact the law in this regard. It will be premature for us to take a stand. But let me emphasise that people of Kashmir have turned their back on the militancy. From bad old days they want to go back to old good days,'' he said.