13,796 civilians killed in J&K since start of militancy: MHA

NEW DELHI: As many as 13,796 civilians and 5,123 security force personnel have been killed in Jammu & Kashmir since the advent of militancy in the 1990s. In fact, fatal civilian casualties in the state in 2017 were the highest in five years, registering a 167% rise to 40 from 15 in 2016.

As per annual report of the Union home ministry for 2017-18 released on Wednesday, incidents of violence due to Left-wing extremism have dipped since NDA came to power. Between 2014 and 2017, a total 2,428 incidents of Maoist violence and 1,081 deaths were recorded, which marks a significant fall from 6,524 incidents and 4,136 resultant deaths recorded from 2010 to 2013 when UPA was in the saddle.


“An overall 20% reduction in violent incidents (1,136 yo 908) and 33.8% reduction (397 to 263) in LWE-related deaths in 2017 as compared to 2013 has been reported. In comparison to 2016, the year 2017 saw a decline of 13.4% in incidents of violence and 5.4% in resultant deaths,” the report states.

In J&K, the most prominent change has been the 42% rise in number of terrorists killed; at 213, the figure was the highest in past five years.

Infiltration of terrorists continued to rise with 406 attempts in 2017, of which 213 were successful. In 2016, there were 371 infiltration attempts, while the net infiltration was estimated at 119.

The situation in the north-east region has also improved, going by the statistics of violence due to insurgency-related incidents. In 2017, 308 incidents were recorded in which 37 civilians and 12 security personnel were killed, even as fatal casualties among extremists stood at 57. The comparative figures for 2016 were 484 incidents, 48 civilians killed, 17 security personnel killed and 87 extremists killed.