Terrorists in J&K Most Violent against Civilians in October, non-Muslims and BJP Workers Top Targets

Security forces in Kashmir have geared up for October after noticing a trend revealing terrorists become most violent against civilians this month with a recent string of targeted killings bolstering this belief.

Since 2019, a total of 20 people have been killed by terrorists in the Valley in October, the highest among all months.

More worrisome is the fact that the terrorists are targeting non-Muslims and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers as there has been a rise in killings of both.

A set of intelligence alerts have been shared, giving details about the areas that are the most perilous for non-Muslim civilians and BJP workers.

Official data accessed by News18 shows that after the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, there has been a consistent reduction in the killings of Muslims by terrorists in the Valley. From 2019 to 2021, each year 38, 34 and 24 Muslims respectively have been killed by terrorists in J&K.

Since 2018, meanwhile, a total of 25 workers from political parties have been killed by terrorists out of which 17 are from BJP, 3 from the Peoples Democratic Party, 2 from the National Conference, 1 from the Congress, and 1 independent.

In 2020, 9 BJP workers were killed by terrorists in Kashmir out of 11 killings of political workers. This year, until October 5, a total of seven political workers had been killed in the Valley and 6 of them were from the BJP.

“There has been a strategic deployment of security forces where the population of the minorities is in significant numbers. Most vulnerable areas have been identified as October month remains a challenge for security forces to protect civilians,” a top J&K police official told News18.

From 2019 until October 5, 2021, similarly, a total of 14 non-Muslim civilians have been targeted by terrorists, including migrant workers as well.

In 2019, terrorists targeted 6 non-Muslims, which reduced to half in 2020. But, this year, until October, a total of 5 civilians were targeted by terror outfits.

The Resistance Front (TRF), which has taken the responsibility of killing innocent civilians recently, had already said that it doesn’t want non-Muslims to reside in Kashmir. The terror outfit said in a warning message that anyone coming to Kashmir to settle here would not be considered a civilian.

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