Srinagar
In Jammu and Kashmir 2018 was the deadliest year of the last decade with 586 killings recorded in the year. However, the graph of violence significantly increased in 2019. The first three months of 2019 saw at least 162 killings in various incidents of violence in Jammu and Kashmir, which include 21 civilians, 58 militants and 83 government forces personnel, according to Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society.
According to the report released by Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) said in comparison to the first three months of 2018, which witnessed 119 killings, the number of killings significantly increased in the first three months of 2019.
“For the first time in twenty-nine years of armed conflict, the killing figures (83) of government forces personnel in Jammu and Kashmir is higher in the ratio as compared to the killings of militants,” said the report.
The report said that in the month of January two civilians, seventeen militants and eight government forces personnel were killed. In February five civilians, twenty-two civilians and sixty forces personnel were killed. In March fourteen civilians, nineteen militants and fifteen government forces personnel were killed.
“Among the 83 Indian armed forces and Jammu Kashmir police personnel killed in Jammu and Kashmir, the highest (65) forces personnel were killed in counter-insurgency related incidents, including in a suicide attack by a militant on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February, 14 which resulted in the killing of at least 48 CRPF personnel, while 6 forces personnel were killed at the volatile Line of Control (LOC),” it said.
“Seven armed forces committed suicide, 3 CRPF troopers were killed in a fratricidal incident by a CRPF trooper in Udhampur district of Jammu and two Special Police Officers (SPO) of Jammu Kashmir Police were killed by suspected militants,” it added.
“Among the 21 civilians killed in Jammu and Kashmir in the first three months of 2019, the highest (7) killings were carried out by unidentified gunmen in which 2 killings were suspected to be carried out by militants, while 6 were killed due to shelling at LOC. 3 persons were killed by armed forces and 4 persons died in grenade and IED explosions,” said the report.
Among the three civilians killed by forces in the first quarter of 2019, two were killed by forces following encounters with militants, and one 28-year-old youth was killed due to torture inflicted on him by government forces during his detention at Cargo,” the report added.
“Pulwama recorded the highest eight number of civilian killings in the first quarter of 2019, followed by Poonch three, Baramulla two, Kupwara two, Jammu two, Anantnag one, Bandipora one, Shopian one and one non-local person who was killed in an explosion,” it said.
The report said that the killing of civilians accused of being army informers by armed gunmen points to the ways the unresolved conflict in Jammu and Kashmir is inevitably endangering the lives of the civilian population.
“Among the twenty civilian casualties, three were minors including twelve-year-old Atif Mir, who was first held hostage by militants at his house in Hajan Bandipora and later was killed when forces blasted the very house where he was held hostage,” said the report.
“In the first quarter of 2019, at least 89 Cordon and Search Operations (CASOs) were conducted in Jammu and Kashmir. A majority of these CASO’s were conducted in four south Kashmir districts of Pulwama, Shopian, Anantnag and Kulgam,” it said.
“The 89 CASO’s have resulted in the killing of at least 58 militants, three civilians and destruction of at least 18 civilian properties,” it added.
“In the first quarter of 2019, at least 18 cases of destruction of civilian properties were reported in Jammu and Kashmir. Out of the 18 cases, 15 are residential houses and 3 are cowsheds,” it further said.
“Internet services continue to be curtailed as part of the ongoing counterinsurgency measures by the government in Jammu and Kashmir. In the first quarter of 2019, internet services were suspended 23 times in Jammu and Kashmir and most of these suspensions of data services were reported in South Kashmir,” said the report.
“In the first quarter of 2019, at least 42 incidents of attacks on Kashmiris across India were reported. The reported incidents of violence against Kashmiris in the first quarter of 2019 (42) are significantly higher than the combined incidents of attacks against Kashmiris in India last year in 2018 (22),” the report said.
“Between January and March, at least 25 people were booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA), including but not limited to many of the prominent activists of Jammat e Islami, as well as JKLF chief Yasin Malik,” said the report released by JKCCS.
