Pulwama, Kupwara, Baramulla and Srinagar accounted for 60% of all the terror-related activities and fatalities occurred in the state in last five years.
New Delhi: Four out of the 10 districts that come under Kashmir division – Pulwama, Kupwara, Baramulla and Srinagar – have accounted for around 60% of terror-related activities and fatalities in Jammu and Kashmir in the last five years, from 2014 to 2018. The state has 22 districts in all – 10 more under Jammu division while rest of the two falls in the newly-constituted Ladakh division.
As per official as well as independent figures, 400 of the 656 terror-related incidents in the Valley have taken place in these four districts alone, resulting in loss of life of 87 civilians, 209 security personnel and 566 terrorists.
The corresponding figures for the whole state is: 656 incidents, loss of life of 201 civilians, 354 security personnel and 884 terrorists.
“In the past too, these four districts were the most terrorism-prone ones. In the preceding five years (2010-14), these districts had accounted for 65% of the total terror-related incidents. The number has gone down since 2014 but still it has not reached a satisfactory level,” said a senior government official stationed in the Valley.
“The fact is that terrorism is not an issue in the entire state or even in the entire Kashmir division. Trouble in these four districts, out of the total of 22 districts in the entire state, is used as propaganda by Pakistan to give a message that the entire state is troubled,” he added.
As per the data compiled by South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), a Delhi-based open data source, in the last five years (2014-2018), Srinagar has witnessed 41 terror-related incidents that have resulted in 11 civilian deaths, 32 security personnel fatalities and killing of 39 terrorists.
The figures for Pulwama district for the same period was 130 incidents, 45 civilian deaths, 62 security personnel fatalities and 139 terrorist being killed, while for Kupwara district, it was 138, 7, 64 and 249.
During the period, Baramulla saw 90 incidents in which 24 civilians died, 51 security personnel lost their life and 139 terrorists were killed.
“Thus, 60% of the loss of life of our security forces has occurred in these four districts while more than 65% of the terrorists killed come from these districts alone. It is clear that we need a more focused approach with regard to these specific places because if we are able to control terrorism in these four districts, we will see a marked decrease in violence in the Valley,” the official explained.
Pulwama, Kupwara, Baramulla and Srinagar districts together constitute around 40 lakh population spread over nearly 9,000 sq km of area, which is exactly half of the whole Kashmir division with close to 70 lakh population. Kupwara and Baramullah are adjacent to Pakistan border and Srinagar and Pulwama are connected to these two districts.
“To give an honest assessment, we have not been able to stop infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan into these four districts and saving the districts from becoming safe hideouts for the terrorists despite killing of close to 560 of them there in last five years,” said a former senior official of Intelligence Bureau.
“Apart from a policy of bullet-for-bullet, we need to take more pro-people measures so that we get more local support. The ‘human intelligence’ that we need is not up to the mark in these areas and one reason for that is the locals do not trust the security forces,” he added.