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| Violence in J&K ebbing: Center | | | ABID SHAH
NEW DELHI, DEC 9: Amid the Centre’s move to reduce the deployment level of armed personnel drawn from various Central forces as also from the Army in Jammu and Kashmir, the Rajya Sabha has been told today about decline in violence and casualties in the troubled border State.
Disclosing figures of death of both security forces and civilians in violent attacks by militants in Jammu and Kshmir, Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Maken said in a written reply in the Upper House of Parliament that 123 people were killed in militant related violence during the first ten months of this year. This indicates a decline in casualties when compared to last years’ figures about those who perished because of two-decade-old militancy. The number of security forces and civilians killed in 2008 in the troubled State was put at 166 in the Minister’s reply.
On the other hand, the number of terrorists killed in showdown with security forces for this year until October 31 too registered a decline. Two-hundred-and-twelve alleged terrorists were gunned down this year whereas 339 of them had died at the hands of security forces last year.
This, however, does not include the number of terrorists gunned down outside the State where militants struck to support the guerrilla fight that has been on in Kashmir since 1989. The Minister said that 164 people died during Nov 26 attack last year on Mumbai alone.
Yet the statistics provided by him vis-à-vis militancy faced by the North Eastern region and Naxalite affected States showed higher rate of casualties for the last as well as during this year when compared to the corresponding figures for Jammu and Kashmir during same periods.
This declining trend of violence in Jammu and Kashmir has, significantly, been brought before Parliament just days before the visit of the Union Home Secretary GK Pillai to Jammu. He is scheduled to visit the winter Capital of J&K on Friday to discuss the situation with the State Government officials and commanders of Central Forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir. Home Ministry has indicated that Union Home Minister P Chidambaram may visit J&K after getting briefed by the Home Secretary on his return. The Home Ministry here has also indicted that it was keen to lift the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from select areas where militancy related violence has been becoming as story of the past. This too would be assessed during the Home Secretary’s Friday visit to Jammu.
Moreover, the moves to withdraw troops from Jammu and Kashmir are supposed to pick up soon. This is more so because US is turning out to be appreciative of these moves. Today a report from Washington says that the top US military commander General Mike Mullen has applauded New Delhi for its efforts to minimise tension in the embattled border State by withdrawing troops.
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