IN A WRITTEN REPLY TO THE STATE ASSEMBLY, MEHBOBBA SAYS THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO PICKED UP GUN IN THE STRIFETORN STATE INCREASED OVER SUBSEQUENT YEARS
JAMMU: From 2015 to 2017, at least 280 Kashmiri youth picked up the gun and joined terror outfits while more than 11,000 security personnel sustained injuries in stone-pelting incidents across Jammu and Kashmir, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti informed the state assembly on Tuesday.
Notably, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had formed the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir on March 1, 2015.
Responding to a query by National Conference MLA from Khanyar, Ali Mohammed Sagar, the chief minister in a written reply said that “as many as of 280 youth joined militancy in the past three years”.
She said in 2015, a total of 66 youth joined militant ranks, 88 youth in 2016 and 126 youth in 2017. Mehbooba also holds the portfolio of home department.
News agency PTI said that according to data placed before Parliament in March last year, there has been a steady increase in the number of youths taking up arms in the Valley from 2014 onwards, as compared to 2011, 2012 and 2013.
To another query, she said that certain separatist leaders including two women were detained under the provisions of Public Safety Act to prevent them from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the state or maintenance of the public order.
The chief minister also replied that as of now, no person affiliated with any recognised political party is under preventive detention.
In the Upper House, the chief minister said as many as 11,566 security personnel were injured in 4,736 stone-pelting incidents in Kashmir during the last three years.
She also said that a total of 110 civilians and two policemen also lost their lives during these incidents.
The chief minister, in a written reply to a question by Congress MLC Naresh Kumar Gupta, said that as many as 9,670 police personnel and 1,896 security forces personnel were injured in 4,736 incidents of stone-pelting in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
She further said that in 2017, a total of 1,690 security personnel were injured, in 2016, as many as 9,235 personnel were injured, and in 2015, 641 personnel were injured in the incidents of stone-pelting.
Meanwhile, the state government also informed the Lower House that as of January 31, 2018, 2,694 prisoners were lodged in different prisons across Jammu and Kashmir.
As per details provided by the government, they were 228 males and eight female convicts; 2,156 male and 88 female undertrials and 213 male and one female detenues under the PSA/ NDPS Act.
The chief minister said details of prisoners (state subjects) lodged in various jails outside the state are not maintained by the home department.
No person affiliated with any recognised political party is under preventive detention as on date, she added.