One-sided truce in Kashmir won’t do, says army

It is all speculation driven by the local politics of the state, they added. Still, a senior army officer said, on condition of anonymity, that the matter will be discussed after the Prime Minister returns from Nepal on the basis of a memorandum or all-party resolution sent by the Mehbooba Mufti regime.

Indian Army data indicates that before NICO was announced by Vajpayee, the total number of terrorist -initiated attacks in 2000 stood at 446. The number increased to 712 during the ceasefire and then went down to 708 (from June 2001 to December 2001), 542 in 2002, and then 450 in 2003. Army brass told Hindustan Times that terrorists used the 2000 NICO to regroup and plan future operations in the Valley. Pakistani Jaish-e-mohammed terrorists attacked the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001 and prior to that, Jaish terrorists attacked the J&K Assembly complex in Srinagar on October 1, 2001. India nearly went to war with Pakistan after the 2001 Parliament attack and May 2002 Kaluchak massacre.

According to the army , the number of terrorists killed preNICO in 2000 was 506; the figure came down to 461 during the ceasefire, climbed to 14,21 in the rest of 2001, touched 1,520 in 2002 and slid to 1,391 in 2003. This, army officers say, reveals that the number of militants in the state went up during NICO, leading to the army and security forces mounting counter insurgency operations against them in the post-nico phase.

Civilian casualties in the preNICO period stood at 278, rose to