Stone pelting incidents in Jammu and Kashmir fall by 87.13% in 2020 after Abrogation of Article 370

Stone pelting incidents have reduced substantially in Jammu and Kashmir in 2020 after the abrogation of Article 370, revealed the Director General of Police (DGP) of J&K Dilbag Singh. Singh informed the media that only 255 stone-pelting incidents happened in J&K in 2020 while 1,999 such incidents happened in 2019. Hence, a fall of 87.13 per cent is observed.

“Law and order situation is well under control. Our resolve for 2021 is strengthening and consolidating peace and normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir,” DGP Dilbagh Singh said. Out of 1,999 stone-pelting incidents that occurred in 2019, 1,193 incidents took place after the abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Narendra Modi government had abrogated Article 370 on 5th August 2019 and also bifurcated the state to make Ladakh a Union Territory without legislative system. The newly formed J&K UT has a legislative assembly.

According to officials, the dip in stone-pelting incidents in 2020 was 90 per cent if compared to 2016. In 2016, the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani of the Hizbul Mujahideen had triggered violent protests across Kashmir. In Kashmir, stone pelting is a popular choice of a weapon during protests. A top commander of the Indian Army had termed this trend of stone-pelting as “agitational terrorism” as it mainly targets the security forces who often could not respond with gun on stone-pelters.