The number of civilian casualties in Kashmir has seen a rise since the abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A, with administration’s claims of safer and secure Kashmir ringing hollow.
Kashmir saw 3.2 casualties a month since the abrogation of Article 370 in Militancy-related incidents compared to 2.8 casualties a month in nearly five years before that.
Indian Express reported that between May 2014 and August 5, 2019, 177 civilians died in Militancy related incidents in the erstwhile state. In the 27 months post abrogation till November, 87 civilians were killed.
40 Civilians were killed this year alone.
255 Militant attacks were reported in 2019, 244 in 2020. The number of Militant attacks has crossed 200 already this year.
The comparative figures for Army personnel killed in that period in J&K are 1.7 per month and 2.8 per month.
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on December 1, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai presented data while asserting that terror casualties in J&K were falling.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Wednesday said that post abrogation of article 370, no Kashmiri Pandit has been displaced from the Valley while as 366 militants, 96 civilians and 81 security personnel were killed since August 5, 2019 in J&K.
However, recently some KP families, mostly women and children have moved to the Jammu region. These families are government employees, many of whom move to Jammu in winter as part of movement of officials and the winter vacation in educational institutions.”