2 years after abrogation of Article 370, militancy still a challenge in Kashmir

Two years after the revocation of the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, militancy still remains a challenge in the union territory despite infiltration along the Line of Control (LoC) drying up and a slight decline in local recruitment to militancy.

According to official figures, 163 local youths had joined the militant ranks in 2020 while the first seven months of this year have seen over 80 such cases. From January 1 to July 31, security forces killed 90 militants, mostly belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits - Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

“However, despite losing top commanders, the two terror outfits still have enough strength to carry out attacks on security forces and civilians across the Valley. Indigenous Hizbul Mujahideen has been relegated to number three now,” a source said.

They said though the LeT and the JeM have emerged as two main terror organisations in Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370, they are intentionally recruiting more locals to its ranks to portray that Pakistan was not involved in Kashmir militancy.

“They have these directions from across the border so that Pakistan could exit from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) grey list,” they added.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that the total strength of the JeM in J&K was 44, including 10 locals and 34 foreign terrorists. “We have killed seven JeM terrorists so far, including two foreigners and five locals. JeM No 1 and No 2 were killed recently,” he said.

Earlier, the JeM was more focused on the Pulwama-Awantipora-Tral belt in south Kashmir. However, now both the JeM and the LeT are focussed more on Srinagar and trying to recruit more locals. The JeM, according to police records, has managed to recruit four to five local youths this year.

Official data also shows that the killing of civilians has come down in the last two years compared to the 2017-2019 period. As per the data from August 2017 to July 2019, 135 civilians lost their lives during different militancy-related incidents whereas from August 2019 to July 2021, only 72 such killings were reported.

The law and order incidents too have shown a significant decrease in the last two years. From August 2017 to July 2019, 1,394 law and order incidents were reported which has come down to 382 from August 2019 to July 2021.

However, security agencies are apprehensive about the likely fallout of the Taliban takeover of Kabul which may have an impact on the security situation in Kashmir. “The JeM have its cadres fighting along with the Taliban in Afghanistan and there is a possibility that among them some battle-hardened terrorists may trickle into Kashmir in coming months,” a senior police officer told DH.

But despite melting of snow, no infiltration attempts have been reported along the LoC in Kashmir this year. Last year too, there was a marked decrease in infiltration attempts, with 99 such incidents being recorded as compared to 216 in 2019.

Check out DH's latest videos: