The Centre on Tuesday told the Lok Sabha that 40 civilians and 35 personnel of the security forces, including the Jammu and Kashmir Police, were killed in anti-militancy operations till November 15 this year.
The details were given on the second day of the Winter Session of Parliament by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai to the Lok Sabha. He was responding to a question asked by Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu Vijay Vasanth and Su Thirunavukkarasar along with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader SR Parthiban.
They wanted to know if the government was “aware of the recent killing of civilians, people from minority communities and jawans” in Kashmir. They also wanted to know what the government was doing to curb militancy and Maoist operations in India.
On Tuesday, Rai said the government was proactively “identifying terrorists and arresting overground workers”. The officials, he said, were also acting against members of banned organisations, maintaining a strict guard at check-posts and coordinating meetings with other security agencies to catch hold of people who finance terror activities.
The Union minister also spoke about the militants’ attack on the Assam Rifles convoy in Manipur on November 13. An Indian Army Colonel, his wife and son were among seven people killed in the attack.
Rai said that the whole North East region had seen 187 insurgency-related incidents till 15 November 15 this year, ANI reported. Eight security forces personnel, 20 civilians and 39 insurgents were killed in insurgency incidents.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhat told the Rajya Sabha that 177 personnel from the armed forces had died in more than 1,033 militant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir over the last three years, PTI reported.
According to Bhat, 594 militant attacks took place in 2019, 244 in 2020 and 196 this year.
Bhat was replying to a question posed by Congress MP Anand Sharma during the first day of the Winter Session of the Parliament. Sharma wanted to know the number of “terrorist attacks” that had taken place in India during the last three years and the number of Army officers killed in it.
The minister of state for defence specified that of the 177 Army deaths, 80 took place in 2019, 62 in 2020 and 35 in the current year – as was also mentioned in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday – till November 15.
Sharma on Monday had also asked if threats to the maritime security had increased and if appropriate measures were taken to combat them.
Bhat replied to the question saying that the capacity of maritime security agencies was increased for better coastal safety, PTI reported. Surveillance of the shore and offshore areas was enhanced as well, the minister informed.
He added that the Indian naval ships were sent on “Mission Based Deployments” to enhance maritime security. “It also undertakes surveillance to enhance maritime domain awareness and address contingencies that may arise,” he said.
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