During the 2014 election as well as during the 2019 general Polls, PM Modi had aggressively mentioned his plans to minimize and suppress the militancy in Jammu Kashmir. Looking into the current situation and latest data reports, all his promises and plans appear to be nothing but hollow rhetorics.
As per the stats, the Bhartiya Janta party has failed to antagonize and contend the homegrown Militancy in Jammu Kashmir since its coming to power in 2014.
Data available to The Kashmiriyat reveals that the Congress-led UPA Government saw as many as 154 local youths taking up arms to join Militant groups. However, the number has drastically risen to 914 during the Modi Led NDA Government till June 2021.
In 2014, the number of Locals joining Militancy was 53 and in 2015, it reached 66 before touching the mark of 88 in 2016. In 2017, the number rose further to 126 and in 2018, 218 Local youth joined Militancy, the highest number in a decade, while in 2019 the number dropped to 139 in 2020. The number rose again to 167 and as per the latest reports, 57 local youth joined various Militant outfits in Kashmir from January to June 2021. Moreover, around 50 youths are missing who are suspected of joining the militancy this year.
The history of insurgency in the Kashmir Valley is old but after BJP came to power in 2014, a major change had happened that militancy-related incidents increased in Jammu and South Kashmir as well. On the off chance that the latest incidents are to be accepted, the militancy has now arrived at Chenab Valley. As many as five youth from the Chenab valley joined Militancy.
Discussing the Doda district, the first youth, who joined the new age militancy from District Doda was Abid Hussain Butt from Sazan of Doda.
In July 2018, a 25-year-old Abid Hussain Bhat joined the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit yet got killed inside a month subsequent to joining alongside another assailant in an encounter in Anantnag locality.
He was the first youth of District Doda to get killed in the second period of militancy.
Looking into the data only from January to July of 2021, 82 percent of the 57 youth who have joined the militancy this year are from South Kashmir and it is clear from this, that militancy is tightening its grip in South Kashmir. And the public authority has proved incapable in each aspect for halting it.
Following the killing of admired commander Burhan Wani, Militancy in J&K saw a revival. However, the latest figures divulge that since the rise of BJP into power, Locals have been joining Militancy at a prompt velocity.
Besides Burhan Wani’s killing in July 2016, several top commanders of Militant outfits Hizb, Lashkar and Jaish were killed as part of the much-publicized ‘Operation All-Out’, an anti-militancy operation that was launched in mid-2017.
The list of people killed in the alleged encounters includes Sabzar Bhat, Saddam Padder, Sameer Bhat alias ‘Tiger’, Bashir Lashkar, Junaid Matto, Riyaz Naikoo, Bashir Lashkar, Yasin Itoo, Abu Dujana, Abu Ismael, and a few others. However, the figures reveal that these killings of armed Militants have not deterred youth from joining militancy.
In 2018, at least 218 Local youth including three highly educated youths one each from north Kashmir’s Kupwara district and summer capital Srinagar joined militancy – Mannan Bashir Wani, a former research scholar at the AMU, Waseem Ahmed Rather, another Ph.D. scholar from Kulgam, Zubair Ahmed Wani and Sabzar Ahmed Sofi, M.Phil Scholars from South Kashmir. While 139 youths joined militancy in 2019.
The figures available to The Kashmiriyat also reveal that 1962 Militancy related incidents have occurred since 2014 at an average of more than 327 attacks per year. 614 is the highest number of attacks to have taken place in 2018, while the number dropped down to the lowest in 2020 at 96.
According to the report of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the year 2019, between January 01 and July 15, 75 security personnel and 23 civilians were killed in several incidents. While in 2020, 35 soldiers and 22 civilians were killed. Only 1 IED attack occurred in the year 2020, although in 2019 there were 6 such attacks.
In 2020, 225 militants and 60 Government forces personnel, including 16 policemen were killed in more than 100 anti-insurgency operations in Jammu Kashmir, while 38 civilians also lost their lives in militancy-related incidents.
Many engineering students, Security men have picked up arms since BJP came into power, which include prominent names such as Eisa Fazili, Zahoor Thokar, Idrees Mir, and others.
Also, post the rise of the BJP into power, local support for militancy grown. In 2015, for the first time, Locals rushed to an encounter site in form of a procession to help Militants trapped in an encounter escape. One protester was also shot dead in Khudwani area of Kulgam.
The Dangerous trends have started surfacing on the militancy front in Jammu Kashmir with a youth ramming a vehicle into a CRPF convoy killing more than 45 CRPF troopers.