Home Ministry curbs Naxal extremism but casualties have risen in J&K and North-East

NEW DELHI: 2014 was a mixed bag for the Rajnath Singh-led Home Ministry on the security front as violence levels hit a rock-bottom in the Left Wing Extremism affected areas but casualties have risen both in J&K and the North-East after many years of receding violence levels.

Official figures of the Home Ministry now show that 28 civilians and 47 members of security forces lost their lives in J&K last year, primarily due to a hike in cross-border firing from Pakistan, and 179 incidents of terrorism.

This is higher than a total of 30 casualties of civilians and security-men in 2013 as well as 2012, reversing a trend of continuously reducing casualty levels in J&K for over a decade. 64 persons had lost their lives at the hands of terrorists in 2011 in J&K. There were 170 incidents of terrorism in J&K in 2013 and 220 incidents in 2012.

The news is also not good from the North-East for the Modi government where total casualty levels of civilians, security-men and terrorists has risen to 413 last year, a major increase from 252 casualties in 2103 and 316 casualties in 2012, the ministry figures show. Though civilian casualties have not been separately specified, Home Ministry officials said they had "nearly doubled" from 2013, pointing to repeated attacks by insurgents on villagers in Assam. There were as many as 824 incidents of terrorism in North-Eastern states last year.

The silver lining for the government comes from the Naxal-affected arena and receding levels of communal violence incidents in 2014 under the Modi government. Incidents of Naxal violence and resultant casualties dropped to a record low of 1091 and 309 respectively -- the lowest for over a decade.