Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, hours after five Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were eliminated by security forces in Kulgam.
The five terrorists included a self-styled Hizbul Mujahideen commander Farooq Ahmad Bhat alias Nali, who was involved in a series of terror-related crimes in south Kashmir area.
It was Shah’s first meeting to review the security situation in the Union territory since the Assembly elections were held.
J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and top officers of the Army, paramilitary forces, J&K administration, intelligence agencies, and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) attended the meeting.
Massive dip in terror incidents in J&K, says govt data
Data collated by the UT police and intelligence of terrorist violence pre-abrogation of Article 370 (April 2, 2014-July 31, 2019) and post-abrogation (August 2019-December 2, 2024), and shared with HT, shows a huge dip in terror incidents and accompanied violence.
There were 1458 terror incidents in the pre-abrogation era, while the number has dipped to 896 in the post-abrogation period. The total number of local terrorists killed in the pre-era were 420 as compared to 517 in the post era.
The past five years have also seen fewer terrorists from across the border being able to enter India, primarily on account of a tighter control over the border and the line of control. The number of foreign terrorists killed in the past five years was 156 compared to 469 in the previous five years.
The number of security forces killed in terror strikes has gone down from 399 in pre-era to 136 in the post era. The number of civilians killed has also gone down from 256 to 150 in the defined period and so have the attacks on civilians from 235 to 165 before and after August 5, 2019.
Similarly, grenade attacks have decreased from 284 to 187 in the defined period and IED blasts have declined from 35 to 31 with stand-off firing attacks coming down 33 per cent from 358 to 240 till November 30, 2024. The total number of civilians killed and injured during law and order operations has gone down from 133 to zero and from 9599 to 117 in the relevant period.
Working towards the policy of zero terror, 1517 terror suspects/associates were arrested in the five years post-abrogation, while the number stood at 454 in the pre-era.
There has been only one strike (or Bandh) in the past five years, although the fact that the state was under the rule of the LG in this period is certain to have played a part in this. And organized stone pelting incidents have decreased from 6563 in the pre-era to 776 during the past 1945 days in the post era.
āJust like you have armed gangs in hinterland states of India, we will treat the terrorists in J&K in the same way. No special status, no martyrdomā¦.just as plain criminals,ā said a top J&K police official who asked not to be named.