“Kashmiris no longer feel proud that children have joined terrorism”

New Delhi : There has been a perceptible change in the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir since August  2019, when the controversial Article 370 was abolished, and the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two.

Sources say declining statistics on terror activities and related matters could be one major issue. The more significant achievement is in the form of perceptible change in the overall perception.

“Earlier parents used to feel proud if their ward/children joined terrorism/militancy. Now they say their ward is not a terrorist. They also appeal to the children to come out if they joined any terror outfit and return to the mainstream,” those in the know of things say.

Things have gone further. Parents, according to sources, not only appeal for surrender but there have been instances that family members and parents accuse various terror groups ‘directly’ of kidnapping/picking up their boys for terrorism.

In terms of statistics, the total number of active terrorists declined to double-digit, and there is a continuous drop in the ‘recruitment’ of youths into terror groups.

Sources say the index of improvement in the overall security scenario can be understood from the fact that there has been no street violence and no stone pelting at the encounter sites, unlike in the past.

There is also no burial procession of terrorists and no civilian death in crossfire or during firing by the Central forces and the local police.

The number of terror recruitment of youths has declined during the last three years since 2020.

There were 167 young boys recruited in 2020; this came down to 136 in 2021 and has further nosedived to 99 in 2022.

During this year (2022), as many as 169 terrorists from various groups have been eliminated. The data break up also shows – there were 42 foreign terrorists (mostly, if not all, Pakistanis), and 127 were local recruits.

The recruitment number of fresh terrorists rose to 201 in 2018 and 147 in 2017.

Sources say an estimated 81 terrorists will be possibly active in J&K as of now, and of them, the local terrorists are to foreign terrorist numbers stand at – 29:52.

In region or district-wise break-up, sources say 15 of them could be active in Kulgam and around 12 in Shopian.

The official estimate also suggests that there is no terrorist in the Ganderbal region.