“In four and a half years of Modi’s government, 61 civilians died, 200 jawans were martyred and 1701 terrorists were liquidated, and in 10 years of Manmohan Singh’s rule, 1788 civilians lost their lives, 1177 jawans were martyred and only 241 terrorists were killed. Now the nation should answer who is the real protector of this nation that India can trust” (translation). This set of statistics was shared by actor turned BJP MP Paresh Rawal on Twitter with the words “Point to be noted !!!”

Point to be noted !!! https://t.co/W8HIVBOJyo — Paresh Rawal (@SirPareshRawal) January 6, 2019

Rawal had shared a tweet which was posted by a user @Nitu180 on January 6. The numbers touted in the above tweet have also found mention in what appears to be a newspaper clipping and are probably based on the same. This clipping has been shared by several social media users. However, there is a discrepancy- while social media users claim 200 soldiers lost their lives, according to this newspaper clipping, the number stands at 303.

Supporters of the present government have often claimed that the Narendra Modi-led NDA government has pursued a muscular, non-compromising policy vis-a-vis Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir, in stark contrast to a supposedly pusillanimous and ineffective approach by the erstwhile UPA government. Is there substance to this claim? How authentic are these figures?

REPORTS CONTRADICT SOCIAL MEDIA CLAIM

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Report

According to the annual report 2017-18 of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), from 2014 to 2017, 248 soldiers have been martyred, 581 terrorists have been killed and 100 civilians lost their lives. These numbers are inconsistent with the numbers floating on social media (61 civilians killed, 200 soldiers martyred and 1701 terrorists slain).

The report states, “The year 2017 witnessed an increase in incidents of terrorist violence and casualties of civilians as compared to the last year. However, causalities of security forces have decreased in comparison to the last year. The year 2017 also witnessed a 6.21% increase and 166.66% increase in the number of terrorist incidents and fatalities of civilians respectively in comparison to the corresponding period of 2016. However, there is 2.44% decrease in casualties of security forces in comparison to the corresponding period of 2016. During the year 2017, 42% more terrorists have been neutralized in comparison to the corresponding period of 2016.”

Insofar as the record of UPA-I and UPA-II is concerned, the numbers cited in the social media posts do not correspond to MHA records, according to which, from 2004 to 2014, the number of civilians killed stood at 2085, the number of casualties of security forces was 1059 and the number of terrorists neutralised was 4029.

South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) Report

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) which is a repository of data on terrorism in the subcontinent, from 2015 to 2018, 177 civilians lost their lives in Jammu & Kashmir. The number of terrorists slain during the same period stood at 766, while 307 soldiers lost their lives. Again, these numbers do not tally with the recent posts on social media.

YEAR CIVILIAN CASUALTIES SECURITY FORCES CASUALTIES TERRORIST CASUALTIES 2015 20 41 113 2016 14 88 165 2017 57 83 218 2018 86 95 270 TOTAL 177 307 766

For the UPA years, according to SATP, data for which is available from 2005 to 2014, 1296 civilians lost their lives, 903 security personnel were martyred and 3398 terrorists were gunned down. These numbers are inconsistent with the numbers touted on social media.

PHOTOSHOPPED NEWSPAPER CLIPPING

Alt News tried to establish the source of the newspaper clipping which has been shared by social media users, containing the exaggerated numbers. We came across an article by Dainik Bhaskar dated June 24, 2018 which reported on the broad trends regarding terrorism-related violence in Jammu & Kashmir.

The numbers cited in that report were altered- the original newspaper clipping taken from the e-paper was photoshopped and circulated on social media by pro-BJP supporters.

As can be seen, the image on the left is the original clipping, while the one on the right has been photoshopped. The numbers have been mischievously tweaked. For instance, 701 has been changed to 1701, 4241 has been changed to 241 and so on.

It may be noted that Dainik Bhaskar has not cited the source for the numbers presented in the article. Alt News found that these numbers do not correspond to the figures cited in either the MHA report or the SATP report.

In conclusion, the newspaper clipping circulated on social media is photoshopped to show that the Modi government has a superior record of combating terrorism in the valley.

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