The Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday told the Lok Sabha that 765 people had been arrested in Jammu and Kashmir for alleged incidents of stone pelting since the revocation of Kashmir’s special constitutional status on August 5.
The arrests were made in connection with 190 incidents registered till November 15. Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy provided the figures in response to a question by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Rajasthan Kanakmal Katara.
Reddy said the government had adopted multi-pronged policies to curb stone pelting. A large number of “troublemakers, instigators, mob mobilisers have been identified and various preventive measures have been taken against them which include detention under PSA and preventive arrests”, he added.
The minister said various separatist organisations and activists part of the Hurriyat Conference were behind the stone-pelting in Kashmir Valley. “The National Investigation Agency has chargesheeted 18 persons in terror-funding cases so far,” he added.
The minister said school attendance was low following the measures implemented by the government in Kashmir. However, attendance was 99.7% in the ongoing examination, he added.
Reddy said pump action guns were used with abundant caution since August 5, and only while dealing with severe law-and-order problems where civilian lives were under threat.
The minister said 950 incidents of ceasefire violation by Pakistan had been reported along the Line of Control since August, PTI reported. Terrorism backed by the neighbouring country was a core concern in bilateral relations, Reddy added. “India has consistently stressed the need for Pakistan to take credible, irreversible and verifiable action to end cross border terrorism against India...,” said the minister.
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