Terror recruitment & stone pelting in Kashmir has dropped this year, says govt

The number of youth recruited for terror from Kashmir in the first three months of this year is almost half that from the same period last year.

File photo of security personnel standing guard at Lal Chowk in Srinagar | PTI

New Delhi: The security situation in Kashmir has improved, according to the latest data compiled by the central government.

After months of violence, local terror recruitment in Kashmir has come down, as have stone pelting incidents, especially during operations. Sixty-eight terrorists have been neutralised in 2019.

Speaking to ThePrint, top sources in the security establishment said a total of 18 local youth were recruited to militancy from Kashmir in the first three months of 2019. This is an improvement from the corresponding periods in 2018 and 2017, which saw 32 and 24 youngsters respectively join terror ranks.

It’s a similar scenario when it comes to stone pelting — January witnessed just 16 incidents, and while the number rose to 61 in February, it fell again to 24 in March. In contrast, October 2018 had witnessed around 190 incidents of stone pelting.

“At no point of time has the operations subsided. Till now, a total of 68 terrorists have been killed in the hinterland. The incidents of stone pelting and the intensity of the pelting has also come down during the operations,” a source said.

‘Govt crackdown has worked’

Sources attributed the decline in recruitment and stone pelting incidents to the crackdown on the Jamaat-e-Islami (J&K) and terror financing, the deployment of a higher number of security personnel and the beginning of the election process.

The central government had, on 28 February, declared the Jamaat an “unlawful association” under the provisions of Section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The government had said the Jamaat (J&K), which is distinct from the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, is responsible for the formation of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), the biggest terror organisation active in Jammu & Kashmir, and provided all kinds of support to the HM, in terms of recruits, funding, shelter and logistics.

Security forces had killed a record 247 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018, up from 213 in 2017 and 141 in 2016. ThePrint had reported in December that the forces would keep up the pressure, as they believe it was yielding results.