Union Minister of State Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy on Monday said that the number of terrorist violence cases and stone-pelting incidences in Jammu and Kashmir dropped significantly in 2020 in contrast to the 2019. The Minister of State, while speaking in the upper house of the Parliament, further added that 127 people were wounded in Pakistan's ceasefire violations in 2019, while the number dropped to 71 in 2020.
Reddy added, "A total of 157 terrorists were neutralized in 2019 and 221 were eliminated in 2020. There were 594 cases of terrorist violence in 2019, which reduced to 244 in 2020. There were 327 stone pelting incidents in 2020 as compared to 2,009 such incidents in 2019. 127 people were injured in ceasefire violations by Pakistan in 2019, in 2020 only 71 people were injured."
Moreover, the infiltration attempt also came down to 99 in 2020 from 216 in 2019. "In 2019 there were 216 attempts of infiltration and in 2020 there were 99 such attempts," the Union Minister added.
Downward trend in stone pelting incidents
On 5th August 2019, the Centre revoked Article 370, which gave special status to the former state and divided it into Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh Union Territories. Last month, Director General of J&K Police Dilbag Singh had said that there was constant fall in the number of stone pelting incidents in recent times.
As per a report in PTI, in 2018 and 2017, 1,458, and 1,412 incidents of stone-pelting were reported, respectively. According to officials, the dip in such incidents in 2020 was 90 percent compared to 2016. In 2016, 2,653 stone-pelting cases were reported amidst the killing of Burhan Wani, a commander Hizbul Mujahideen, had triggered violent protests across Kashmir.
After militancy declined in the mid-2000s, stones became a popular choice of weapon during the protests. Since the 2008 Amarnath-land row agitation in Jammu and Kashmir, this trend has been present.
