No Stone Pelting, Drop in Terror Hiring & Infiltration: How Article 370 Scrapping Brought Peace to J&K
In 2018, 1,767 incidents of stone pelting were reported which dropped to zero in 2023. Similarly, incidents of organised bandh/hartals dropped from 52 in 2018 to nil in 2023
Four years after the Narendra Modi government abrogated Article 370 and ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, terrorism seems to be a worry of the past for the erstwhile state.
The year 2018 saw 417 terror incidents ripping through the Valley, forcing ordinary people to live under the constant shadow of violence. However, post the scrapping of Article 370, the law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir saw a downward trend. By 2021, terror incidents had plunged to a mere 26, signalling the government’s resolute fight against terror.
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Stone-pelting incidents, which had once become the hallmark of Kashmir, vanished from the Valley. In 2018, 1,767 incidents were reported which dropped to zero in 2023. Similarly, incidents of organised bandh/hartals dropped from 52 in 2018 to nil in 2023 — proof of the government’s relentless pursuit to establish harmony in the Valley.
Other measures that can help gauge the level of safety and security in J&K are the drop in terrorist recruitment as well as decline in cross-border infiltration. While 199 terrorists were recruited in 2018, the figure was 12 in 2023. Incidents of cross-border infiltration also dropped from 141 in 2019 to 0 in the current year.
Yet another heartening change has been the reduction in the number of martyred security forces personnel — the figure fell from 91 in 2018 to 42 in 2021.
After the removal of Article 370, the support base of separatists is also diminishing. In 2018, 58 Hurriyat leaders were taken into custody. The number swelled to 70 in 2019 and then six in 2020. The security provided to Hurriyat leaders at the government’s expense has been withdrawn and 82 bank accounts of separatists have been frozen.
However, all these changes have not been without the government’s efforts. The government has taken various measures to normalise the situation in the Valley, including a robust security and intelligence grid, proactive operations against terrorists, intensified night patrolling and checking at ‘nakas’, security arrangements through appropriate deployment and a high level of alertness maintained by the security forces.
In June 2023, Home Minister Amit Shah had highlighted the all-round development in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 and exhorted the youth of Kashmir to ensure that they carry pens and laptops instead of stones.
“There was a time when bomb blasts, strikes, and stone pelting were common in Kashmir. Today, Kashmiri youths are holding books and laptops in their hands. Equipped with new thinking, they are also challenging the youths of the world in the start-up space," the minister said.
Shah had earlier too expressed satisfaction that the number of terrorist activities had reduced in the erstwhile state and tourism was returning. “Today I can say with satisfaction that terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir have reduced drastically after the abrogation of Article 370. And record number of tourists visit Jammu and Kashmir. It is a matter of satisfaction," he said.
In August 2019, the Centre bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories and abrogated the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution which accorded special status to the erstwhile state.
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