archive: Decade-old militancy claimed 16,850 innocent lives in Kashmir
Decade-old militancy claimed 16,850 innocent lives in Kashmir
Man Mohan
The Times of India
July 14, 1999
Title: Decade-old militancy claimed 16,850 innocent lives in Kashmir
Author: Man Mohan
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 14, 1999
India's "paradise"- Kashmir - has in over the past one decade
witnessed the killing of 16,850 innocent people, including women and
children, by Pakistan-trained militants. Criminal acts, extortions
and looting by the militants, between 1990 and 1997, were valued at
over Rs 10.61 crore.
And 7,687 militants were killed by the law enforcement agencies
between 1988 and 1997 when terrorism was at its peak in the state. As
many as 563 foreign mercenaries were killed and 135 arrested.
These are the findings of the Union government which has submitted a
report to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Among the 16,850 people killed in the state, 719 were Hindus, 6,219
Muslims, 45 Sikhs and 267 others.
Besides, there had been killings of 352 government officials, 125
politicians, including 15 senior leaders, 10 members of the judiciary
and an equal number of journalists.
Militants also kidnapped 2,491 people, including 20 foreigners and 135
women. While 809 were released, in most cases after extortion,
torture and exchange of militants, 1,036 were brutally killed.
At least, 1,416 security personnel died during this period in order to
bring normalcy in the strife-torn state, the report stated and
emphasised that the large number of security personnel killed
"testified to the efforts of the of the government to redress the
situation."
Militants destroyed 1,264 government buildings, 758 educational
institutions, 9,309 private houses, 1,659 shops, 243 bridges and nine
hospitals in the state during this period.
"Due to targeted attacks by militants against innocent civilians in
the early years of the ongoing terrorist violence in Jammu and
Kashmir, coupled with calls by fundamentalist terrorist groups to
Kashmiri Pandits to leave the Valley, the vast majority of them and
other minority communities were forced to migrate," the report pointed
out.
Militancy forced 49,000 Hindu and Sikh families to migrate from the
Kashmir Valley, while 1,468 Muslim families also left the Valley in
search of security, the report said, adding that a significant number
of migrating families from Kashmir other than the Muslim families may
not have registered themselves due to the fear of militants' reprisals
against their relatives in the Valley.
An expenditure of Rs 26,446 lakhs was incurred on relief of the
Kashmiri migrants in various states between 1990-91 and 1996-97, the
report said.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir government informed the NHRC that
43,364 Hindu families went to Jammu until 1991 and 28,713 went to
Delhi. Nearly 5,000 to 7,000 Muslim families had also migrated during
this period. Between 1992-94, about 50 Hindu families had left the
Valley.
Militants destroyed many places of worship, including 93 temples, 27
mosques and two gurdwaras, between 1990-94, the state government
informed the NHRC.
Underlining the involvement of Pakistan in spreading militancy in
Jammu and Kashmir by providing training and support to extremists, the
state government said that the Pandits were "targeted as part of a
design to communalise the state," although, the militants had shown no
regard to any community as all of them suffered at the hands of
militants.
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