The Pulwama terror attack on a CRPF convoy on February 14 in Jammu and Kashmir was the biggest terrorist incident in India in the past five years. (Photo: The Associated Press)

The attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district that killed at least 40 jawans on Thursday (February 14) is the biggest terror attack in the past five years. However, data released by the Narendra Modi government on February 5, 2019 reveal that Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing regular terror attacks in the past five years.

The data recently released by the Ministry of Home Affairs shows that between 2014 and 2018, there has been a 93 per cent rise in the number of security personnel killed in terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir. Besides this, these five years also saw a 176 per cent rise in the number of terrorist incidents in the state.

In this period, the state suffered a total of 1,708 terrorist incidents (on an average, the 28 terrorist incidents every month for five years), the government data reveal.

This information was released in the Lok Sabha in a written reply by the Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir.

The home ministry said that in 2014, there were 222 terrorist incidents in the state. This figure saw a marginal decrease the next year (2015) when there were 208 such incidents.

However, since 2016, the number of terrorist incidents has seen an upward trend. For example, the number of terrorist incidents in Jammu & Kashmir rose by 54.8 per cent in 2016, six per cent (342 incidents) in 2017, and 79.53 per cent (614 incidents) in 2018. In fact, the year 2018 saw nearly 51 terrorist incidents every month.

A rising trend was also observed in the number of people who were killed in terrorism-related activities in Jammu & Kashmir in these five years.

Between 2014 and 2018, a total of 1,315 people were killed in the state due to terrorism. Of these, 138 (10.49 per cent) were civilians, 339 (25 per cent) security personnel, and 838 (63.72 per cent) were terrorists.

The home ministry’s reply reveals that there has been a rise in deaths in all three categories (civilians, security personnel and terrorists).

Between 2014 and 2018, the number of civilians killed in Jammu & Kashmir has risen by 35.71 per cent; number of security persons killed has increased by 93 per cent; and the number of terrorists killed has seen a rise of 133.63 per cent.

11 terrorists infiltrate into J&K every month

In another written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the Union home ministry on February 13 said that between 2016 and 2018, close to 400 terrorists infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir. On an average, this breaks down to 11 terrorists infiltrating into the state every month in the past three years.

According to the government data, the highest number of infiltrations into Jammu and Kashmir took place in June 2018 when 38 terrorists were estimated to have entered the state. This was followed by September 2016 and May 2017, the two months when 25 terrorists infiltrated into J&K.

Between January 2016 and December 2018, there were only three months when no infiltrations took place in the state.

In the same reply, the government also said that it was able to arrest 56 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

(Note: The earlier version of this report said the death toll in Pulwama attack was 37. As per the official figures, the death toll now has increased to 40. The report has been accordingly updated.)

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