On the intervening night of April 4 and April 5, 2025, the Border Security Force (BSF) killed an unidentified Pakistani infiltrator along the International Border (IB) in the Abdullian area of the RS Pura sector of Jammu District in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
On April 1, 2025, one Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant was killed and another was injured in a clash between Security Forces (SF) and militants in the Panjtirthi area of Juthana village in the Ramkot tehsil (revenue unit) of Billawar in Kathua District.
On March 27, 2025, two Pakistani People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) terrorists, and four Policemen from the Special Operations Group (SOG) were killed, while seven others, including Deputy Superintendent of Police Dheeraj Katoch, were injured, in a gunfight at Safiyan Jakhole village under the jurisdiction of Rajbagh Police Station in Kathua District. PAFF is a proxy outfit of JeM.
On March 17, 2025, a Pakistani terrorist ‘commander’, Saifullaah, was killed in an encounter with SFs in Krumhoora village in the Zachaldara area of Kupwara District.
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), J&K has recorded 15 fatalities (one civilian, seven SF personnel, six terrorists, one Not Specified, NS), thus far, in 2025 (data till April 6). During the corresponding period of 2024, there were six fatalities (four civilians and two terrorists). Through 2024, J&K recorded 127 fatalities (31 civilian, 26 SF personnel, 69 terrorists, and one NS). Significantly, the 2024 fatalities were the second lowest in a year since 1990. The previous low of 121 fatalities was recorded in 2012.
In 2023, there were 134 fatalities (12 civilian, 33 SF personnel, 87 terrorists, and two NS). Overall fatalities, after reaching a recent high of 452 in 2018, have declined continuously, barring 2020, when they spiked to 321, from 283 in 2019. There were 274 fatalities in 2021 and 253 in 2022.
It is useful to recall that, in each of the years between 1990 and 2006, when terrorism was at its peak in J&K, fatalities had remined in four digits, with a high of 4,011 recorded in 2001.
These numbers clearly indicate that the overall security situation in the Union Territory has improved over the years, and the recent surge between 2013 and 2018 has also been contained. Fatalities had increased from 121 in 2012 to 172 in 2013, further to 189 in 2014, marginally down to 175 in 2015, up again to 267 in 2016, and to 357 in 2017.
Though there are several reasons for the improvement in the security situation in J&K, the relative tranquillity at the border played a very significant role. The number of Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) violations has declined significantly over the years. The CFA, which first came into effect in 2003, resulted in a steady decline in violence in J&K. Fatalities, which were at 4,011 in 2001, fell continuously to bottom out at 121 in 2012. However, as the number of CFA violations started to increase, the security situation deteriorated. While the first CFA violation was recorded in 2005 (just one in the year), they had reached into three figures (114) by 2012, and touched four digits in 2018, remaining at this level till 2020: 2,140 (2018), 3,479 (2019) and 2020 (5,133). CFA violation dropped to 664 in 2021. There was just one CFA violation in 2022, three in 2023 (one of which resulted in the death of one Indian trooper), and one in 2024. Three CFA violations have already been recorded in 2025 (till April 6). Significantly, India and Pakistan agreed, on February 24, 2021, to abide by the Ceasefire Agreement of 2003.
It is pertinent to recall here that Islamabad uses the volatility at the border resulting from CFA violations and subsequent retaliation by the Indian Forces, to infiltrate terrorists’ arms and ammunition from the Pakistani side. According to official statistics, the number of net infiltrations recorded, which was 141 in 2019, came down to zero in 2023 (till June 30, 2023). Though no official data is available about net infiltration since then, infiltration attempts continue. Inputs reveal that SFs noticed at least 24 infiltration attempts in 2024, and launched containment operations, killing 19 terrorists at the border. Four infiltration attempts have already been recorded in 2025.
Moreover, the Government of India in tandem with the Union Territory of J&K, has adopted a multi-pronged approach to contain cross border infiltration, which, inter-alia, includes strengthening of the border infrastructure, multi-tiered deployment along the International Border and the Line of Control, and near the ever changing infiltration routes, construction/maintenance of border fencing, construction of culverts/bridges on nullahs (mountain streams), improved technology, weapons and equipment for SFs, improved intelligence and operational coordination, installation of border floodlights on the International Border, synergizing intelligence flows to check infiltration and proactive action against terrorists within J&K.
The relative peace along the border has ensured a drastic cut in number of active Pakistani terrorists inside J&K. According to a March 13, 2025, report, a total of 59 Pakistani terrorists are active in J&K: 21 each from Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), three from Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), and 14 from various other groups.
As the number of active Pakistani terror groups has gone down considerably due to the improved situation at the border and the SFs’ effective counter-insurgency operations inside J&K and along the border, an environment of peace has been established. This has helped dissuade local youth from joining militancy. Indeed, the March 13, 2025, report noted that there were only 17 active local terrorists in the Union Territory: three in the Jammu region and 14 in the Valley. Only seven local youth joined militancy in 2024. 22 local youths had joined militancy in 2023, 100 in 2022 and 134 in 2021.
With improvements in the security situation, the government decided to restore the State Assembly, following the elections in October 2024.
Concerns, nevertheless, persist. As the data suggests, the number of civilian fatalities jumped from 12 in 2023 to 31 in 2024. On June 9, nine civilians were killed and 43 were injured when unidentified terrorists opened fire on a bus transporting pilgrims returning from Shiv Khori in the Ransu area, Reasi District. The incident occurred near Jandi Morh in the Pouni area of Reasi District. The June 9 attack was the worst single incident, in terms of civilian fatalities, in J&K, since the June 12, 2006, attack, when unidentified terrorists in combat uniform shot dead nine labourers, including some Nepalese, as well as one soldier, in broad daylight, near Yaripora in the Kulgam area of Anantnag District.
Moreover, to instil fear and havoc among non-locals, terrorists have repeatedly targeted them. Indeed, of the 31 civilians killed in 2024, details of 24 (local and non-local) were available, and of these, 12 were non-locals. In the incident of October 20, 2024, The Resistance Front (TRF) terrorists killed seven persons, including a doctor and six labourers (both locals and non-locals), and injured another five, in an attack targeting a construction company camp site at Gund in the Gagangir area of the Sonamarg region in Ganderbal District. Some of the other incidents targeting non-locals included:
- October 24: A migrant worker, Shubham Kumar (19) from Uttar Pradesh, was injured, after militants fired on him in the Tral area of Pulwama District.
- October 18: A non-local civilian, Ashok Chauhan (30), son of Kuldeep Chauhan, resident of Kaitha, Bihar, was shot dead by an unidentified terrorist at Wandana Malhora in Shopian. The Muslim Janbaz Force-Jammu and Kashmir claimed responsibility for the shooting.
- May 18: Unidentified terrorists fired upon and injured two non-local tourists, Tabriaz Khan alias Sunny Khan and his wife Farha, both residents of Behrampora, Jaipur, Rajasthan, at Yanner, Pahalgam, Anantnag District
- April 17: An unidentified militant shot dead a non-local vendor from Bihar, identified as Raja Shah, in the Bijbehara area of the Anantnag District.
- April 8: Terrorists shot at and injured a nonlocal taxi driver, Dilranjeet Singh, a resident of Delhi, in Shopian District.
A spike in violence in the Jammu Division is also provoking concerns. Of the 15 fatalities in 2025, 12 were reported from the Jammu Division and three from the Kashmir Division. In 2024, of the 127 fatalities, 45 were reported from Jammu and 82 from Kashmir. In 2023, of 134 fatalities, 59 were in Jammu and 75 in Kashmir. In 2019, of the 283 fatalities, 16 were in Jammu and 267 in Kashmir.
The security situation in J&K has once again improved to a level from where paths to a permanent peace can be opened up. This would, however, require a measure of political sagacity that is, regrettably, more or less absent in the prevailing scenario, where politics of opportunism and polarization has taken centre stage.
