Govt on recent J&K attacks – Firstpost

Emphasising that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has zero tolerance for terrorism, Minister of State (MoS) Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, on Wednesday, said that active terrorists will either land in jail or be sent to ‘Jahannum’ (hell).

The minister’s remark came amid the surge of recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. Rai was replying to a supplementary question from Congress MP Pramod Tiwari.

‘Terrorists will not succeed’

Rai went on to say that the terrorist activities witnessed recently will soon end. “They (terrorists) will not succeed in their design,” he further said.

‘We will end terrorism’

“Modi government has zero tolerance for terrorism. We will end terrorism. They (terrorists) will be either in jail or Jahannum… I want to assure the House,” the minister said in the Rajya Sabha.

He further informed the House that over the past few days, 28 terrorists had been killed by security forces in the Union Territory.

“In the last few days, 28 terrorists have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir. What’s saddening is that some of our soldiers have also been killed in the firefighting. The soldiers killed are very less than the terrorists neutralised,” Rai said.

As per Rai, security forces have killed about 900 terrorists in the region after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

‘Opposition should not do politics over terrorism’

Backing with numbers, Rai said between 2004-2014, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power at the Centre, there were 7,217 incidents of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

Since BJP was voted to power in 2014 to July 21, 2024, the number of terrorism incidents has come down to 2,259, the minister said.

“This should not have happened. It is unfortunate but they (the Opposition) should not do politics over it,” Rai added.

The minister further informed that between 2004 to 2014, as many as 2,829 citizens and security personnel lost their lives. This number has come down by 67 per cent since 2014.

Apart from these, there has also been a reduction of 69 per cent in terror incidents in the UT, he said, adding that the people in Jammu and Kashmir are now living in a peaceful environment and there is a full guarantee of security.

“In 2023, 2 crore 11 thousand tourists visited Jammu and Kashmir. Peace has been restored there, which is why tourists are increasing,” Rai said.

In 2019, PM Modi-led government at the Centre had canceled the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. As per the government, the decision brought terrorism under control.

With inputs from agencies