The cases of ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the western borders have more than doubled in the past three years (from 2,140 in 2018 to 5,133 in 2020), particularly after abrogation of special provisions under Article 370 for Jammu & Kashmir, the government data revealed.

It, however, showed a decline in the number of casualty (both civilian and security personnel) and also those who sustained injuries during such exchange of fire.

However, the number of civilians killed in those exchanges reduced from 30 in 2018 to 18 in 2019, but went up to 22 in 2020. The cases of civilians injured in such incidents have shown a steady decline from 143 in 2018 to 127 in 2019 and 71 in 2020.

In case of security personnel, the trend, according to the MHA data, has been declining, as in 2018, 29 troopers were killed and in 2019 they reduced to 19, but then increased to 24 in 2020. The number of security personnel injured was 116 in 2018, 140 in 2019 and 126 in 2020.

However, the government data has shown that there has been a sharp decline in the number of terrorist incidents in J&K, as they came down from 614 in 2018 to 594 in 2019 and then to 244 in 2020. Even casualties of security personnel in those incidents have also seen a consistent decline from 80 in 2019 to 62 in 2020.

Courtesy: Daily Tribune: 4th February 2021