Although more than twice as many terrorists were killed in 2017 (218) as in 2013 (100), there was a sharper increase in civilian deaths–57 in 2017, up 185% from 20 in 2013.
 
Despite the increasing number of terrorist killings, terrorists succeeded in attacking the Sunjwan Army Camp, where six army personnel, one civilian and three terrorists died.
 
As many as 324 security personnel have died at the hands of terrorists over the past five years. Terrorists killed 83 security personnel in 2017, a 36% increase from 61 in 2013.
 
This shows an overall worsening of the security situation in the state.

Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal
 
There was some improvement in 2017 over 2016: 83 security personnel were killed in 2017, down 6% from 88 in 2016; 218 terrorists were killed, up 32% from 165 in 2016.
 
Terrorism-related deaths had increased 31% in the one year since the Indian Army conducted what it described as “surgical strikes” in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), IndiaSpend had reported on September 29, 2017.
 
(Sethi is a Mumbai-based freelance writer and geopolitical analyst.)

Courtesy: India Spend
 

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The increase in terrorist-related deaths from 246 in 2015-16 to 323 in 2016-17 (till September 24, 2017) indicate that terrorist attacks and infiltration in J&K continue unabated a year after the surgical strikes.
 
This comes even as Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat hinted that more surgical strikes could be mounted “if necessary”.
 
“The strike was a message we wanted to communicate to them, and they have understood what we mean,” Rawat was quoted  as saying in Mint on September 25, 2017.
 
He said terrorists keep infiltrating into India because their camps remain operational in PoK.
 
“Even we are ready. We will keep receiving them (infiltrators) to dispatch them two-and-a-half feet below the ground,” Rawat said.
 

Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal
Note: * Data for 2016-17 until September 24, 2017
 
SATP compiles data on deaths  due to terrorism from media reports. The data are provisional, and current as on September 24, 2017.
 
The number of terrorists killed by security personnel increased 24% from 157 in 2015-16 to 194 in 2016-17.
 
The number of security personnel killed in terrorist violence has declined 2.5% from 79 in 2015-16 to 77 the following year, according to an analysis of data compiled by SATP.
 
The number of civilian casualties from terrorist-related violence increased almost five times to 52 in 2016-17 from 10 in 2015-16.
 
The increase in terrorist casualties compared to the marginal increase in deaths of security personnel can be seen as an indicator of the growing effectiveness of counter-terrorism operations of the Indian armed forces in J&K.
 
The Indian Army killed three terrorists in Uri, J&K on September 25, 2017. The Army thwarted a major terrorist attack, similar to the one on an Army base in the same area that left 19 soldiers dead and 17 injured on September 18, 2016.
 
The surgical strikes, or forays into Pakistan by special forces, last year were touted as a revenge for the Uri attack.
 
On September 29, 2016, the Indian Army crossed the Line of Control (LoC) into PoK to carry out “surgical strikes” on terror “launch pads,” Director General of Military Operations Lt. General Ranbir Singh had announced.
 
“The operations were focused to ensure that these terrorists do not succeed in endangering lives of citizens in our country. During the counter-terrorist operations, significant casualties have been caused to the terrorists,” Singh had said.
 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other political leaders had hailed the Indian Army for the surgical strikes. Modi had likened the strikes to the exploits of Israel, which is known to regularly conduct military strikes against militants and unfriendly countries.
 
Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah had lauded Modi and the Army over the surgical strikes, calling it a “frontal fight against terrorism” which would make India feel “secure”.
 
(Sethi is a Mumbai-based freelance writer and defence analyst.)
 
Courtesy: India Spend
 

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A man rides his bicycle past a poster of Burhan Wani, a commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group, during restrictions on the occasion of Wani’s death anniversary, in Srinagar July 8, 2017.

Unidentified terrorists reportedly opened fire on a police vehicle at around 8 pm on July 10. When police retaliated, the terrorists fired indiscriminately, and a bus full of pilgrims returning from Amarnath was caught in the crossfire, according to the police. Others said there was no crossfire and the pilgrims were targets, with later reports saying the bus was attacked twice in three minutes.
 
The Kashmir Police blamed the Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terror group, for the attack, alleging it was masterminded by Pakistani terrorist Abu Ismail.  LeT spokesperson Abdullah Ghaznavi, however,  denied the charges and blamed “Indian agencies” for the “highly reprehensible act”, the deadliest on Amarnath pilgrims in 15 years.
 
 

Kashmiris, including separatists, were quick to condemn the attack.

 
Widespread criticism of the terrorists in Kashmir drew a reaction from India’s home minister, Rajnath Singh.
 

 
Over 18 years, 52 pilgrims killed in five attacks
 
Over the past 18 years, at least 52 Amarnath pilgrims have been killed in five terrorist attacks. The deadliest attack was mounted by LeT terrorists on August 1, 2000. That attack left 21 pilgrims dead in Pahalgam.

 
The latest attack comes hours after a curfew and social-media ban was lifted in the Kashmir Valley after  restrictions were imposed in anticipation of a possible attack to mark the death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani.
 
Wani was gunned down by security forces a little over a year ago on July 8, 2016. What followed were violent protests, several months of curfew and an overall deterioration in J&K’s security situation.
 
Death toll of security forces, civilians up in 1 year
 
The number of security personnel killed in terrorist violence has nearly doubled from 51 in the year preceding Wani’s death to 98 in the following year, according to an analysis of data compiled by SATP.
 
The SATP compiles data on fatalities due to terrorism from media reports. The data are provisional and compiled as on July 10, 2017.
 
On July 8, 2017, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa paid tributes to Wani on his first death anniversary. Sharif said Wani’s death “infused a new spirit in the struggle for freedom” in the Kashmir Valley.
 

The 45% increase in deaths of civilians, security personnel and terrorists from 216 in 2015-16 to 313 in 2016-17 is the highest year-on-year percentage increase over the past five years.
 
Civilian deaths have increased 164%, as we said, from 14 in 2015-16 to 37 in 2016-17 while terrorist deaths have risen 18% during this period to 178 in 2016-17.
 
There has been a 42% increase in terrorism-related deaths in J&K since the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government (BJP) came to power in May 2014, compared with the last three years of the second term of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA-II), IndiaSpend reported on May 27, 2017.
 
India has had successes against terrorism – both on the security and diplomatic front.
 
On May 27, 2017, Wani’s successor Sabzar Bhat was killed in an anti-terrorist operation by security forces.
 
On June 27, 2017, United States designated Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin a “global terrorist,” ahead of Modi’s meeting with American President Donald Trump in Washington, DC.
 
Salahuddin also leads the United Jihad Council, an umbrella organisation for anti-India terrorist organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, known to operate out of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
 
Salahuddin has openly admitted to carrying out attacks against India, including on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab, on January 2, 2016.
 
(Sethi is a Mumbai-based freelance writer and defence analyst.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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