94% decline in recruitment of locals into militancy in Kashmir since 2021

Srinagar: There has been over 94 per cent decline in recruitment of locals into militancy in Kashmir in 2024, since 2021, indicating a sharp fall in local support for militancy.

The number of local recruits into militancy has fallen to single digit in the year 2024, which will end in a few hours, as only seven locals joined militant ranks, official data reveals. 125 local youths had joined militancy in 2021 which dropped to 100 a year later and came down to 22 in 2023.

Year 2024 also saw a total of 68 militants killed in Jammu and Kashmir, with 62 per cent (42) of them being foreigners and only 38 per cent (26) locals, the figures reveal. Of the 42 foreign terrorists killed, 17 were neutralized during infiltration attempts along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB), while 25 were killed during encounters in the interior areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

Top terrorist commanders killed this year included Basit Ahmad Dar, Usman Lashkari, Arbaz Mir and Farooq Ahmad Bhat alias Nali. They were affiliated with TRF and PAFF (offshoots of Lashkar-e-Taiba), Kashmir Tigers (offshoot of Jaish-e-Mohammed), and Hizbul Mujahideen.

The number of terrorists killed in 2019 was 157 while in 2020 over 220 were neutralized by security forces in different operations. The year 2021 saw 180 terrorists killed while in 2022 the number increased to 187 before coming down to 73 in 2023.

This year, 30 civilians and 28 security forces personnel lost their lives in terror-related incidents, reflecting the ongoing risks in the region despite the intensified security operations.

According to official data in 2019, civilian casualties were 44 while in 2020 it was 38. In 2021, 41 civilians were killed in terror related incidents which came down to 31 in 2022 and 14 in 2023.

The data also reveals that 80 security force personnel lost their lives in 2019 while the number was 63 in 2020 and 42 in 2021. The casualties of security forces dropped to 32 in 2022 and saw a further dip in 2023 when it stood at 30.

Compared to 153 terrorism related incidents in 2019, the number dropped to 60 this year while the number was 46 in 2023. 153 terror related incidents were reported in 2020 and 126 in 2021 while the number was 129 in 2022.