Srinagar, Oct 27: There has been 34 percent reduction in militant incidents and 54 percent reduction in deaths amongst security forces in the 37 months after August 5, 2019 in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister said on Thursday.
He was addressing a 2-day conference ‘Chintan Shivir’ at Surajkund, Haryana and among others, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha also attended it on Thursday.
Chief Ministers of the States, Home Ministers of States, Lieutenant Governors and Administrators of Union Territories are participating in the Chintan Shivir.
Home and Cooperation Minister, Amit Shah addressed the first day of a two-day ‘Chintan Shivir’ and said that the conference is being organized which will provide a common platform to face challenges before the Nation such as cyber-crime, spread of narcotics and cross-border militancy in unison. He said today the nature of crimes is changing and they are becoming borderless, that is why all States will have to battle these by having a common strategy. To formulate and implement this common strategy, the Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under the spirit of ‘Cooperative Federalism’, ‘Whole of Government’ and ‘Team India’ approach is promoting the 3C’s, that is Cooperation, Coordination, Collaboration between the Centre and the States.
The Union Home Minister said that the areas affected by Left Wing Extremism, Jammu and Kashmir and the North Eeast, which were once hot spots of violence and unrest, are now becoming hot spots of development. He said the security situation in the North East has improved significantly in the last eight years and since 2014 there has been a 74 percent reduction in insurgency incidents, 60 percent in casualties amongst security forces and about 90 percent in civilian casualties.
Apart from this, efforts have been made to establish lasting peace in the region by signing of agreements with the NLFT, Bodo, Bru, Karbi Anglong under which more than 9,000 militants have surrendered. He said with the restoration of peace in the North East, AFSPA has been withdrawn from more than 60 percent areas. Highlighting the improvement in the situation in the LWE affected areas, Shri Shah said the incidents of violence in these areas have come down by 77 percent and deaths in these incidents have reduced by more than 85 percent. Shri Shah said after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, a new beginning of peace and progress has begun there. He said compared to 37 months before August 5, 2019, there has been a 34 percent reduction in militant incidents and 54 percent reduction in deaths amongst security forces in the 37 months after August 5, 2019. He said that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has followed a zero tolerance policy against militancy and the NIA and other agencies are being strengthened to achieve a decisive victory over it. Shri Shah informed that before 2024, efforts are being made to set up an anti-militant network by setting up NIA branch in all the states. Shri Shah said that to achieve a decisive victory in the fight against militancy, the legal framework is being strengthened, under which provision has been made to declare individual militants by amending the NIA and UAPA laws. He said that the NIA has been given extra territorial jurisdiction and along with this the agency has also been given the right to confiscate the property acquired / related to militancy. Shri Shah said that by 2024, a target has been set to establish branches of NIA in all the states of the country. He said that today most of the security hotspots in the country have become almost free from anti-national activities due to mutual cooperation and coordination between the Centre and the states. Shri Shah said the zero tolerance policy of the Government of India against narcotics is yielding good results and in the last 8 years, 3,000 cases have been registered while drugs worth more than Rs. 20,0000 crore have been seized. (GNS)
