4 min readSrinagarDec 24, 2023 10:00 AM IST
First published on: Dec 11, 2023 at 07:00 AM IST
Over the last four years, security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have expanded the scope of anti-terror operations to include various agencies in attacking not just the militant wielding the gun but what they consider, “larger terror networks and funding structures.”
Through a marked increase in the use of anti-terror laws such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA), the security apparatus has cracked down on the Over Ground Worker (OGW) networks, leading to the arrest of over 1,900 persons accused of providing logistical support to militants.
The constitution of the multi-agency Terror Monitoring Group (TMG) and the State Investigation Agency (SIA) by the J&K administration have provided the push for this.
According to data from official sources, in terms of numbers, there has been a sharp decline in violence against security forces, while arrests of OGWs have increased significantly.
In the four years before August 2019, the number of terrorist initiated-incidents was over 760. In the four years since, these have come down to 450.
Attacks on security forces have halved from close to 600 to about 300 in the four years since August 2019. Meanwhile, targeted attacks against civilians have remained a concern and have only come down marginally from about 190 in the pre-2019 period to about 150 now.
The number of anti-terror operations have largely remained the same but the sharpest increase, in terms of number of arrests, is of OGWs — from just over 500 in the pre 2019 period to 1100 since.
According to official sources, the strategy of attacking terror infrastructure has been effective in dealing with terrorism in the Valley and “this can only be done through effective prosecution of the entire network, through their linkages, whether logistic, funds or otherwise.”
Key to this is the clampdown under UAPA and PSA in J&K. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of cases under UAPA increased from 437 (2019) to 557 in 2020, and under 500 in 2021. The number of persons booked under these cases over the last three years is over 2,700.
The clampdown has drawn severe criticism from the political leadership in the Valley, who have accused security agencies of attacking and persecuting common people.
In 2022, the J&K police constituted Special Investigation Units (SIU) in each police district owing to a high pile-up of UAPA cases. The main idea behind this was to designate officers in every district for effective investigation in these cases to secure convictions in the courts.
More than 600 militants have been killed in the last four years and about 120 of them are foreign.
Thus, casting the security net wider, over the four years since August 5, 2019, the scale of security operations in Jammu and Kashmir has significantly expanded beyond physical encounters to include widespread detentions under security laws, enforcement directorate (ED) and tax raids to break alleged funding networks, and crackdowns on OGW networks and their linkages, official records show.
In the four years before August 2019, the number of terrorist initiated-incidents was over 760. In the four years since, these have come down to 450. 
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