Peace dividend up in J&K after strong action against terror

Over the past three decades, violence and killing of innocents in Jammu and Kashmir is directly proportional to the number of Pakistani and local terrorists operating in the erstwhile state.

Data collated from the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the security agencies and shared with the Home Minister Amit Shah during his security review meeting in Srinagar last Wednesday shows that the total number of local terrorists have touched an all time low of around 60 with the foreign terrorist numbers also coming down from three to two figures after 47 of them were neutralized by the security forces.

The success of the security forces is partly due to synergy between the law enforcement and central intelligence agencies. The coordination between the two has resulted in actionable intelligence and precise counter-terror action with awareness of the agencies on the social media and terror channels.

Counter-terror data reveals that the total number of terror related incidents has come down from 417 in 2018 to 110 up to September 30, 2022, with 255 incidents in 2019 (the year the Modi government abrogated article 370), 244 in 2020, 228 in the entire 2021 and 90 up to September 30, 2021. The dip in the terror related incidents is due to activated counter-insurgency grid and efficient action by the JKP, Security Forces and the Special CT forces of the Indian Army.

The law-and-order situation in the terror hit UT has vastly improved with total number of incidents drastically coming down from 825 in 2018 to 24 up to September 30, 2022, with no incidents in the Jammu sector. There were 584 incidents in 2019, 147 in 2020, 77 in 2021 and 65 up to September 30, 2021, for direct comparison.

The total number of terrorists killed by the security forces remains in three figures with 257 neutralized in 2018; 157 in 2019; 225 in 2020; 182 in 2021; 120 up to September 30, 2021, and 167 up to September 30, 2022. The figure of 167 killed till last month includes 120 local terrorists and 47 foreign terrorists. Even though the security forces label them as local terrorists, these youth are radicalized or recruited by Pakistan based terror factories in Lahore, Bahawalpur, or in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

These youth first brainwashed in the name of Islamic jihad and then armed with area weapons to cause mayhem and violence in the UT. The Pakistani intent to cause mayhem in Kashmir continues at the same pace with its deep state continuing with its objective to hit India.

The total number of terrorists/ suspects arrested by the security forces remains high with 847 (including 71 terrorists) booked in 2018; 609 (49 terrorists) in 2019; 781 (75 terrorists) in 2020 and 741 (71 terrorists) in 2021. The figures up to September 30 in 2021 and 2022 shows that 595 (49 terrorists) and 600 (128 terrorists) were arrested by the security forces respectively.

Figures show that the number of terror modules busted by the security forces has gone up to 111 till September 30, 2022, as compared to 82 during the same period last year. The terror hideouts busted till last month were 20 as compared to 23 during the same period last year.

The terror recruitment level has also come down to 89 this year as compared to 108 during the same period last year. But the recruitment numbers were a high of 206 in 2018, 143 in 2019, 172 in 2020 and 137 in entire 2021.

While the Modi government focus is on socio-economic empowerment of the UT people, the counter-terror action ensures that peace is maintained in the entire troubled land. The two go hand in hand.