Civilian killings in J&K up since scrapping of Article 370

Terror attacks have claimed more civilian lives on average in Jammu and Kashmir since the reading down of Article 370 than in the previous five years, according to data available with the Ministry of Home Affairs and J&K Police.

The government told Parliament last week that, on average, the UT has seen 3.2 casualties a month since August 5, 2019, in terror attacks compared to 2.8 in nearly five years before that. The comparative figures for army personnel killed in that period in J&K are 1.7 and 2.8 per month.

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Between May 2014 and August 5, 2019, when J&K’s special status was changed – a period of 63 months – 177 civilians died in attacks. In the 27 months after that, till November, 87 civilians were killed. More than 40 were killed this year alone.

J&K reported 255 terror incidents in 2019 and 244 in 2020. The figure has already crossed 200 this year.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on December 1, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai presented data while claiming that terror casualties in J&K were falling.