While the Jammu and Kashmir Police said there has been no hartal and incidents of street violence or and stone-pelting in 2022, the targeted killings continued to be a challenge for the force.
Of the 29 civilians killed in 2022, 21 were from Jammu and Kashmir, including six Hindus —including three Kashmiri Pandits— and 15 Muslims, and eight were from other states.
While the Jammu and Kashmir Police said there has been no hartal and incidents of street violence or and stone-pelting in 2022, the targeted killings continued to be a challenge for the force.
In 2022, the J&K Police said 29 civilians were killed in Kashmir.
“During the year, a total of 29 civilians were killed by terrorists, including 21 locals (six Hindus, including three Kashmiri Pandits, and 15 Muslims) and eight from other states,” said Kashmir Police Chief Additional Director General (ADG) Vijay Kumar.
Among eight persons killed from outside of J&K, the police said two were Muslims and six were Hindus.
Recently, in an interview, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that it is true that some Kashmiri Pandits became victims of targeted killings but a lot of other people have also been killed. Sinha said the country should stop seeing the issue on the basis of religion.
Among the civilians killed last year were the sarpanches, panch, off-duty police personnel, and Kashmiri Pandits.
On March 2, 2022, National Conference (NC) activist and Panch Mohammad Yaqoob Dar was killed at his village Kolpora in Kulgam district.
On March 9, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) worker and Sarpanch Sameer Ahmad Bhat was shot dead at his home in Khonmoh on the outskirts of Srinagar.
On March 11, Sarpanch Shabir Ahmad Mir was killed at his village Audora in Kulgam district.
On April 15, Manzoor Ahmad Bangroo was killed in Pattan, Baramulla.
Later on May 25, a 35-year-old TV artist, Amreen Bhat, was killed and her 10-year-old nephew was wounded after they were fired upon by terrorists in the Chadoora area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
On May 12, a revenue official, Kashmiri Pandit Rahul Bhat, was shot dead inside the office premises in Chadoora village in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
On June 1, terrorists killed a 36-year-old teacher from Jammu, Rajni Bala, near a school entrance in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
Two days later, on June 3, a masked armed militant killed a non-local bank manager Vijay Kumar inside his office. On the same day, the migrant brick kiln worker Dilkush Kumar was killed in Magraypora village in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
These killings, especially of Bhat, triggered wave of migration of over 5,500 Kashmiri Pandit employees to Jammu.
Kashmiri Pandit employees posted in Kashmir under the Prime Minister’s Employment Scheme for the past several years have been protesting in Jammu for over 250 days now.
They are seeking relocation to Jammu over security reasons. They say they are not feeling safe in Kashmir after the targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandit employees and they should therefore be relocated to Jammu.
Jammu and Kashmir Police has said law and order incidents in Kashmir have dropped considerably in the past three years since the revocation of Article 370.
“On the law and order front, we have achieved 100 per cent success in peace and stability. From 2,897 cases of law and order incidents in 2016 to 26 minor cases in 2022. No civilian lost life in firing while handling law and order problems in more than three years,” said the police said.
ADG Kumar said, “No hartal, no street violence, no stone pelting incident especially at the encounter sites, no internet shutdown, no funeral procession of killed terrorists, no glamourisation of terrorists, have benefited all the sections of society.”
The police said the total number of active militants has been brought down to double digits as all chiefs and top commanders of militant outfits have been killed.
“The life span of newly-recruited terrorists declined drastically. Out of total 65 newly-recruited terrorists killed this year, 58 (89 per cent) were neutralised within the first month of their joining,” said Kumar.
The police said that in 2022, 93 encounters took place in Kashmir in which 172 militants including, 42 foreigners, were killed. Of 172, the police said 108 militants belong to The Resistance Front (TRF)/Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit, 35 to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit, 22 to the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit and four from Al-Badr militant outfit.