Terrorism in Kashmir reduced, says Kishan

Union minister of state for home G. Kishan Reddy on Monday said in the Rajya Sabha that after August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated for Jammu and Kashmir, the number of terrorist incidents and stone pelting cases, civilians killed and security force personnel martyred in terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir had reduced significantly.

Replying to the questions raised by members in the Upper House, Kishan Reddy said before August 5,

2019, 443 terrorist incidents and 703 stone-pelting cases were reported in Jammu and Kashmir and 54 civilians were killed and 125 security pesonnel martyred in terrorist incidents.

After that date and till August 31, 2020, there were 206 terrorist incidents and 310 stone-pelting cases reported and

45 civilians were killed and 49 security forces martyred.

The minister said that the government had adopted a policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism and had taken measures such as strengthening the security apparatus, strict enforcement of law against anti-national elements and intensified cordon and search operations to effectively deal with the challenges posed by the terrorist organisations.

He explained to the House that apart from keeping a close watch on persons who attempt to provide support to terrorists and initiating action against them, other steps by lawenforcing agencies include enhanced interaction between the police and public at various levels and sharing of intelligence inputs on real time basis amongst all security forces operating in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that in order to bring about overall development for the benefit of people of Jammu and Kashmir, the Prime Minister had announced a package of `80,068 crore under PMDP-2015. “This package consists of 63 major development projects in the road sector, power generation and transmission, health infrastructure, establishment of two AIIMS, IITs, IIMs and tourism related projects etc. These projects are at various stages of implementation,” he said.