People of Kashmir took the scrapping of Article 370 in a "positive manner" as there was relative peace for a long time but Pakistan is on a "hyperdrive" on peddling a false narrative to keep the pot boiling in the valley, a top army officer said on Monday.

"Starting from the situation post abrogation of Article 370, I think the population took the decision in a positive manner. We saw relative peace for a fairly long period of time," Lt Gen B S Raju, heading the strategic XV corps, told reporters in Awantipora, 33 km from here. Flanked by General Officer Commanding of Army-s South Kashmir based Victor Force Major General A Sengupta and Inspector General of CRPF, Gen Raju, who was talking to media following killing of nine militants in two encounters in Shopian district in less than 24 hours, said normalcy was almost back in the valley by February this year.