140% Rise in Ceasefire Violations by Pakistan After India Scrapped Article 370 in J&K: Home Ministry

New Delhi: Pakistan, which has been very vocal against India’s decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, has increased the incidents of ceasefire violation by nearly 140 per cent in the last three years — from 2,140 in 2018 to 5,133 in 2020, Union Home Ministry data shows.

Further, in 2019, there were over 3,400 ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the border. Of these, nearly half took place after August 2019 — when the Centre took away the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divided it into Union Territories.

The data analysed by CNN-News18 shows that between August 5, 2019 and February 28, 2021, 31 civilians were killed and 39 security forces personnel were martyred in such incidents.

While the ceasefire violations have increased by over double in the last three years, the civilian casualties have dropped from 30 in 2018 to 22 in 2020, the ministry data analysed by CNN-News18 shows. Similarly, fewer civilians were injured in such incidents over the year — from 143 in 2018 to 71 in 2020.

Further, 29 security personnel were martyred in 2018. This dropped to 24 in 2020. However, the number of security personnel injured in these violations has increased from 116 in 2018 to 126 in 2020.

Ceasefire violations and cross border firing by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir have been reported since decades, the Home Ministry data says. India shares a 3,323-km border with Pakistan, of which 221 km of the IB and 740 km of the LoC fall in Jammu and Kashmir.

India and Pakistan entered into a ceasefire agreement in 2003. Between 2006 and 2011, less than 100 violations were reported each year.

No civilian has been killed in a law-and-order situation since the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. However, 59 were killed in militancy related incidents, Home Ministry data shows. Among all the districts, Kulgam and Pulwama reported highest 15 and 12 civilian deaths, respectively, since the abrogation of Article 370.

Jammu and Kashmir is the only part of India that has reported terror incidents in 2019 and 2020, the Home Ministry said.

In 2018, apart from Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab reported one terror incident. Three people were killed that year in terror incidents, the Home Ministry said. Between 2018 and 2020, each year more than 35 people were killed in terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir. During the same period, 635 terrorists were killed.

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