70% decline in terror incidents in J&K: MHA tells Parliamentary panel

Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed an over 70 per cent decline in terror-related incidents under the Narendra Modi government since 2019, according to a Union Home Ministry presentation to a parliamentary panel.

Official sources said that while making the presentation, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs that despite a decline in terror-related cases in the past five years, threats from militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad continued to loom large.

Mohan's presentation bears significance as the Centre abrogated Article 370, which granted special powers to Jammu and Kashmir, and reorganised the erstwhile state into two Union territories on August 5, 2019.

 

Law and order in the two Union territories is now the direct responsibility of the central government.

Civilian safety has been the prime concern for the Modi government and security agencies are putting maximum emphasis on that, Mohan and his team of officials told the panel.

Giving a comparative data, the home ministry officials said that as many as 50 civilians were killed in terror related-incidents in 2019. The casualty figure has come down to 14 so far this year, the sources said.

In 2023, five civilians were killed in terror incidents -- almost three times fewer than in 2024.

There were 73 attacks on civilians in 2019 and the figure has come down to 10 so far this year.

The officials said that according to the ministry's Vision @ 2047 (2024-2029), it wants a safe, harmonious and prosperous India with safe borders and this can be achieved through strong internal security, strong cyberspace, a transparent criminal justice system and prosperous borders.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the Modi government wants to eliminate terrorist support and terror financing networks, besides taking legal action against anti-India elements, the ministry said.

According to home ministry data, 286 terror-related incidents were reported in Jammu Kashmir in 2019. The figure fell to 40 till the first week of November.

On attacks on security forces, the ministry said 96 such incidents were reported in 2019.

It rose to 111 in 2020 but, since then, there has been a steady decline and the number of such attacks on security forces fell to 95 in 2021, 65 in 2022, 15 in 2023 and five so far in 2024, the data showed.

About casualties in security forces, the ministry said 77 security personnel were killed in various incidents in 2019.

In 2020, a total of 58 security personnel were killed, 29 in 2021, 26 in 2022, 11 in 2023 and seven so far in 2024.

Attempts by terrorists to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir has also come down from 141 in 2019 to just three in 2024 so far, the home ministry said.

However, the number of terrorists eliminated has also come down from 142 in 2019 to 44 so far this year.

On Naxal violence, the home ministry officials said 310 civilians and security personnel were killed in 2014. The casualty figure fell to 61 in 2022.

In the Northeast, 232 civilians and security personnel were killed in 2014 while the figure for 2022 stood at just eight.

On the problem of narcotics, the home ministry said it was augmenting the capacity and footprint of the Narcotics Control Bureau and the scanning of consignments at ports to stop the smuggling and the trade.

In relation to rising cybercrime incidents, the ministry plans to have a secure digital ecosystem with regional cyber forensic laboratories, state cybersecurity wings at the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, cyber commando wings in states and cyber hygiene training, among others.