Jammu & Kashmir: Militant violence
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Decline in violence
Terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir
December 8, 2014
Deaths in Kashmiri Society: militants, civilians, policemen
Sources:
1. The Times of India, June 20, 2011
2. J&K government documents
State data refutes claim of 1 lakh killed in Valley
They are figures that have been quoted so often that they are widely believed to be true: almost 100,000 dead Kashmiri civilians and 10,000 people who have disappeared in the last two decades. From public meetings in small villages to TV studios, from online pages to newspaper reports, these figure are cited and printed, used to stir emotions and silence voices in Kashmiri society. But nobody bothers to explain how these figures were arrived at. TOI accessed Jammu & Kashmir government documents to arrive at the truth behind the urban legend. Collected between January 1990 and April 2011, the records are comprehensive and give year-wise breakup of all violent incidents in the state, the nature of the acts of violence, the number of people killed, and also the circumstances that led to the deaths. Here’s what the data says. In the last 21 years, 43,460 people have been killed in the Kashmir insurgency. Of these, 21,323 are militants, 13,226 civilians killed by militants, 3,642 civilians killed by security forces, and 5,369 policemen killed by militants.
43,460 people killed in Kashmir insurgency between Jan 1990 and April 2011
21,323 were militants 13,226 civilians killed by militants
3,642 civilians killed by security forces
5,369 policemen killed by militants
Militants have killed over 13,000 Kashmiris since 1990
It seems that claims made by separatists on the number of Kashmiris killed during the insurgency are far from the truth.
Of the 43,460 people killed in the Kashmir insurgency in the last 21 years, 21,323 militants were killed in operations by security forces and include both Kashmiri and foreign militants. And of the 5,369 members of the security forces killed by militants, around 1,500 are Kashmiri policemen.
The government has collated the figures of civilians killed by security forces since 1990: it lists 3,642 people. The numbers vary from a high of 539 civilians killed in 1990, the year in which 51 people were massacred by the CRPF in just one incident when it fired at a crowd of protesters on a bridge at Gaw Kadal in downtown Srinagar, to 120 protesters killed across the state in firing by the police and paramilitary forces in the summer of 2010. The records also show another slaughter that has gone on ceaselessly since 1990, a slaughter that nobody comments on, nobody laments: of Kashmiris killed by militants since 1990. Of the 13,226 civilians killed by militants, 11,461 were shot and 1,765 died in grenade blasts and explosions. These deaths are the ugly truth that Kashmir has learnt to ignore. The civilians killed fall into a black hole that Kashmiri society never discusses, remembers or protests against. They include two young sisters, Arifa (16) and Akhtara (18), who on January 31, 2011, were dragged out of their one-room house in downtown Sopore and killed. Akhtara took four wounds on her face and Arifa was shot in the chest. They were accused of being “immoral.”
The moderate, the mukhbir (informer), the political activist or the unlucky bystander, these deaths are forgotten the day after they occur. But the central message is remembered: if you cross the line, you shall pay with your life. The knowledge that you can be killed anytime, anywhere, and the fear of the hidden assassin, has percolated across society. That’s why separatist leaders like Omar Farooq or Abdul Ghani Bhatt, who have spent years spreading the truth about the atrocities on Kashmiris by security forces, are protected by the very same CRPF and J&K police. That’s why many journalists in Kashmir are followed around by armed policemen. No local newspaper dares print a story accusing militants of killing a civilian; the operative word is “unidentified gunmen”.
These 13,226 Kashmiris just do not exist in the collective psyche. There are no websites to them, no petitions and no organizations to keep alive their memory. Their only contribution has been to cement fear in 70 lakh people, where a clear distinction exists between what is said privately and in company. These figures are from the government. They make no mention or distinction between the official account and what sometimes happens in this dirty war. For example, there’s no clarity on whether the 21,323 militants claimed killed in operations by security forces includes or excludes the six innocent Kashmiri boys picked up and murdered by the Army after the Chittisingpora massacre in 2000.
The Army had claimed they were foreign militants responsible for killing 36 Sikhs in Chittisingpora. The CBI later said the Army had abducted the six from places around Anantnag and shot them in cold blood. Or the three innocent young Kashmiris “bought” by an Army unit for Rs 50,000 each and murdered in Machil in April 2009.
So, how many militants killed were actually militants? How many of the civilians killed by militants, as claimed by the government, were victims of Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar and not of “government agencies” as the separatists claim? Unfortunately, neither the Hurriyat nor the LeT have any lists of their own. The only thing these records establish is that one lakh people haven’t died in Kashmir insurgency.
What they help prove is that minus the some 4,000 jawans of the Army, BSF and the CRPF and the 5,000 odd “mehman mujahideen” from Pakistan, 34,000 Kashmiri men and women have died violent deaths as militants, mainstreamers, moderates or mukhbirs.
2015: Fewer civilians killed, but terrorist violence up
The Times of India, Nov 03 2015
Bharti Jain Fewer civilians killed, but terrorist violence up in J&K
Jihadis going more after securitymen
Terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir in 2015 has surpassed the levels recorded in 2014, with 169 incidents and 35 security personnel killed until October 25 as compared to 167 incidents and 30 force casualties in the corresponding period in 2014. Though 86 terrorists were neutralized till October 25 against 83 in the same period of 2014 and the civilian casualties caused while maintaining law and order stagnated at four, the number of civilian killings by the militants fell to 16 from 20 last year.
The latest statistics mark a year-on-year increase in most terror indices related to J&K. In fact, at 169 incidents until October 25, the figure of 170 incidents recorded in the whole of 2014 is set to be surpassed soon. Nevertheless, incidents have shown a steady decline from the high of 488 recorded in 2010, followed by 340 in 2011 and 220 in 2012.The security forces killed in terrorism-related incidents is lower than 2013 but higher than the 2011 and 2012 figure.
Terrorists, wary of losing ground support, are going after security forces more than civilians. Civilian killings have fallen from 28 in 2014, though they exceeded the levels (15 fatal casualties) seen in 2012 and 2013.
The security forces are not taking the higher casualties lying down and are retaliating in equal measure to terrorist attacks. As many as 86 terrorists were killed until October 25, as compared to 67 in 2013 and 72 in 2012. It remains to be seen if the 2015 figure of terrorist killings will surpass the 2014 mark of 110.
According to home ministry sources, around 200-220 terroristsmilitants, both local and foreign, are estimated to be holed up in the Valley .Though they possess arms, not many are actively engaging security forces in encounters. “This could be due to their poor and inadequate train ng. Earlier, militants could exfiltrate and train at camps n PoK but the heightened vigil by Indian forces at the border has made this a difficult proposition... not many ocal recruits are well-versed n the use of arms, which has made them less of a worry to he security agencies,“ a senior officer in the security es ablishment told TOI.
Sources said much of the local recruitment was taking place in Tral and Pulwama.“Many of the new recruits are unable to adapt to the hard life of a militant that involves liv ng in the jungles... they are not as committed or hardened and there have been some cases of these terrorists want ng to return to their fam lies,“ the officer said.
