Sarfaraz A Lone
Srinagar, Dec 30 : As 2021 is drawing to an end, 168 militants along with 34 civilians and 30 uniformed men were killed in Kashmir Valley alone during the year, according to officials.
128 youth also joined militant ranks and 70 percent of them were either killed or arrested, a senior police officer told GNS.
He said that among 168 militants killed, 19 were foreigners. “A total of 128 youth joined militant ranks till date. Out of them, 73 were killed in encounters while 16 others were arrested,” he said.
Besides, he said 34 civilians lost their lives to militancy-related incidents. Regarding uniformed men, he said, 20 J&K police personnel, seven soldiers and three paramilitary CRPF were killed in 2021.
In all, he said, 82 militants and 592 “OGWs” were arrested. Four militants “surrendered” during live encounters, the officer said.
Only three ‘civilians/OGW’ were killed in cross firing during encounters which is lowest in three decades,” the officer said, adding, “No civilian was killed during handling of law and order problems.”
The data pertains to Kashmir region alone and excludes Jammu division where at least nine soldiers, including two junior commissioned officers, were killed at Bhatadurian along the axis of Rajouri and Poonch districts in October alone
In the just concluded winter session of the Parliament, Ministry of Home Affairs informed as on November 15 this year, 35 army, paramilitary personnel besides army soldiers were killed along with 40 civilians in J&K.
Responding to questions by parliamentarians including Vijayakumar Alias Vijay Vasanth, Thirunavukkarasar Su and Parthiban S.R, Minister of State, ministry of Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai had said as many as 348 security forces personnel including those from J&K Police were killed while 796 were injured in militancy-related incidents in Jammu and Kashmir since 2017.
He said 195 civilians were killed during the period upto November 15. He said 534 civilians were injured during the time.
Giving year-wise details regarding casualty of the security forces and J&K police personnel, he said, 80 were killed in 2017, 91 in 2018, 80 in 2019, 62 in 2020 and 35 in 2021 (upto November 15).
Similarly, he said, 226 were injured in 2017, 238 in 2018, 140 in 2019, 106 in 2020 and 86 in 2021 (upto November 15).
Regarding the civilian deaths, the minister as per GNS, said that 40 were killed in 2017, 39 each in 2018 and 2019, 37 in 2020 and 40 this year.
Regarding injuries, he said, 99 civilians were wounded in 2017, 63 in 2018, 188 in 2019, 112 in 2020 and 72 in 2021 (upto November 15. (GNS)
