Increase in Terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir Alarming: 1.5X More Security Personnel Martyred in 2018 Till Now

Five terrorists were gunned down in the fierce gun battle in Kachdoora village in Shopian District On April 1, Three Security forces were also martyred in the terrorist attack, while three civilians lost their lives. On the same day security forces killed five more militants in an operation in Dragad Village in Shopian. One civilian lost his life. Till now in 2018, security forces have killed 57 terrorists, whereas 11 civilians have lost their lives in various operations and 25 security personnel have attained martyrdom. During the same period in 2017 only 10 security personnel were martyred. This shows the increase in terror activities in Kashmir Valley.

As per the data provided by South Asian Terrorism Portal, In 2017, 218 terrorists were killed, 83 security personnel were martyred and 57 civilians lost their lives. In 2017, 53 more terrorists were killed as compared to 2016. Killings of civilians surged from 14 to 57 in 2017.  In the last few years the number of foreign terrorist increased to an alarming extent. As per a report published in Hindustan Times, 48 foreign terrorists were killed in 2017 as compared to 31 in 2016, whereas 88 local terrorists were killed in encounters with security forces. In 2016 only 32 local terrorist were eliminated. If we talk about unidentified terrorist the figure remains same in booth the years. If we talk about unidentified terrorists, many infiltrators doesn’t carry any ID proof while crossing the border, so there is a possibility that most of the unidentified terrorists killed had crossed the line of Control.

(Data Source: South Asian Terrorism Portal)

There was a in growth of Local terrorism after Burhan Wani’s encounter. Apart from 2007 when 124 local terrorists were neutralized by the forces, the local terrorism remained on the lower side. In 2008 65 local terrorists were killed, which was half the number as in 2017.

The government needs to put in more efforts to execute the plan to upgrade border fencing at a cost of Rs 60 million per Km across 2900 Km border with Pakistan. Our forces face a lot of challenges on the border e.g. Batteries for the hand-held thermal imagers drain quickly at cold and high-altitude posts. Repairs to sensitive surveillance radar can take weeks. The increase in ceasefire violation incidents from Pakistan made the situation worse. In 2017 there were 205 incidents of ceasefire in which 28 security personnel were martyred, whereas till April 2018 already 158 incidents of ceasefire has been reported.

Last year the project proposed by BSF to upgrade fencing was stopped as it involved a much higher cost. The BSF’s project need Rs 60-80 million but Ministry of home Affairs was ready to spend only Rs 10 million, as reported by Business Standard. Pushpa Das, Scholar of Institute of Defence and Research Analayses told Business Standard, “The BSF does not have the required technical expertise to offer clear guidelines to vendors so that they can provide suitable products.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 10, 2018 04:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).