A total of 1484 lives comprising 174 civilians, 308 security personnel, and 1002 terrorists were killed in 761 terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir between 2018 and 2022, Union minister of state Nityanand Rai informed Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
While replying to a question in the upper house, Rai further informed that 35 civilians were killed in the Union Territory in 626 encounters that occurred in the same period.
He also stated that the MHA administers a central scheme for assistance to civilian victims, families of victims of terrorists, communal, LWE violence, cross-border firing, and mine or IED blasts on Indian territory in order to provide immediate assistance to the affected civilians for sustenance and maintenance of the victims’ families.
“The scheme has been in operation since 2008. The compensation has been announced from Rs 3 lakhs to 5 lakhs from August 24, 2016 onwards. State governments make the payment and thereafter claim reimbursement,” he said.
“No talks with Hurriyat, Jamiat or Pakistan”: Amit Shah
Union Home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that the Centre will not hold talks with the ‘Hurriyat, Jamiat or Pakistan’ and will only speak with the youth of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Jawaharlal Nehru government made a mistake with Article 370. This parliament repealed it on August 5 and 6, 2019. With that, Kashmir lost two flags and two constitutions, and PM Modi ensured its complete integration into the country,” Shah remarked.
Shah said that the Centre has put limitations on the All Parties Hurriyat Conference and the Jamaat-e-Islami in Kashmir, as well as removed ‘terrorist sympathisers’ from jobs.
He stated that funeral processions for terrorists are no longer held and that they are buried where they were slain.
The Home minister declared that the Lakhanpur toll fee in Kashmir, where the saffron party’s ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee was jailed in 1953 and which had been “a thorn in the hearts of crores of BJP workers,” had been abolished.
“In Kashmir, there was no reservation for Dalits, tribals, or people from the lower classes. The Narendra Modi government was responsible for obtaining their reservation. Cleaning workers who had lived in Kashmir for seven generations, dating back to the Mughal Empire, were unable to get residence credentials. Hindus from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir were denied residency. Prime Minister Modi made certain that all of them received domicile certificates,” Shah remarked.
Shah lashed out at parties “that call themselves democratic,” claiming that three families= the Muftis, Abdullahs, and Gandhis reigned over Kashmir, but did not have panchayat elections. “PM Modi got them held in November-December 2018,” he added.
He claimed that between the last nine years of UPA rule and the last nine years of PM Modi’s rule, there was a 68% decrease in terrorist incidents, a 72% decrease in civilian and security forces personnel deaths combined, an 82% decrease in civilian deaths, and a 56% decrease in security personnel deaths.
