J&K saw 166% rise in civilian casualties in 2017: Home Ministry report

Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a hike of more than 166 per cent in civilian causalities in 2017 from a year ago, but security forces were successful in killing 42 per cent more terrorists during the year, the Union home ministry said in its annual report released on Wednesday.

As per the report, 342 terrorist strikes took place in J&K in 2017, claiming lives of 40 civilians and 80 security forces personnel while 213 terrorists were killed. In 2016, 15 civilians and 82 security forces personnel had died in the state in 322 incidents of terrorist violence, while 150 terrorists were killed.

“The year 2017 also witnessed a 6.21 per cent increase and 166.66 per cent increase in the number of terrorist incidents and fatalities of civilians respectively in comparison to the corresponding period of 2016,” the report said. “However, there is 2.44 per cent decrease in casualties of security forces in comparison to the corresponding period of 2016.”

The state saw a spurt in terrorist violence last year owing to a significant increase in infiltration attempts from the Pakistani side through the International Border and Line of Control.

After a dip in 2015, when 121attempts were made to push an estimated 33 terrorists, the figure went up to 371 attempts to push an estimated 119 militants in 2016. Last year, as per the data, there was a further increase to 406 infiltration attempts, but improved response from security forces contained the number of terrorists who managed to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir at 123.

The Centre, in tandem with the state, adopted a multi-pronged approach to contain cross-border infiltrations by strengthening the border infrastructure, multi-tiered and multi-model deployment along the International Border and LoC and improved tech surveillance, among other steps.