Hyderabad: Terror-related deaths see 12 per cent rise in India

Hyderabad: India is ranked seventh among the countries most affected by global terrorism; Pakistan retains its fifth spot. Vision of Humanity — a data driven independent body — studied trends of peace, economic value and terrorism. In its latest report, it has ranked countries based on the number of terror attacks reported.

The report — Global Terrorism Index 2018, states that deaths from terrorism in India rose 12 per cent to 384 in 2017. The scope for terrorism and violent conflict in India is particularly broad with 51 different terrorist groups being responsible for at least one terrorist attack and 25 groups were responsible for at least one terrorism death.

Jammu and Kashmir had the most deaths in 2017, with 102 deaths committed by five different terror groups, most notably Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).

While Hyderabad witnessed twin blast in 2013, which killed 13 and injured 93 persons.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, the most active Islamist terror group in India, was responsible for 10 per cent of deaths in 2017. The same group was also responsible for the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. The remaining 37 per cent of terror deaths were committed by 21 different groups, further highlighting the wide distribution of terrorist groups in India.

Prannv Dhawan, a senior member of the Council for International Relations and International Law, NLSIU, said, “The rise in the terror attacks is symptomatic of the fact that despite the Pulwama terror attack, the Indian strategic establishment has not executed a robust and comprehensive response to tackle the menace of home grown and global terrorism and sub-conventional warfare emanating from foreign soil. This challenge has been exacerbated by the polarisation of the public. In this regard, the Indian foreign policy establishment must act towards a coherent global strategy to eliminate both terrorism and its roots."

While deaths from 2016 to 2017 increased by 12 per cent, deaths in India have been on a downward trend since they peaked in 2008 at 775 deaths. However, the number of incidents in India are on the rise, with 2017 having the second highest number of terrorist incidents on record with 886 attacks. The year 2016 saw more terror incidents. These attacks were carried out by a number of smaller Islamist and nationalist terrorist groups, with 35 separate groups being responsible for five incidents or fewer in 2017. The CPI Maoist group was responsible for 205 deaths and 190 terror incidents in India, or 53 per cent of deaths in 2017.

“The group has been active for several decades with 2010 its deadliest year on record,” said another expert on Indian Defence, who wanted to be anonymous.

The most targeted are police and military, private citizens, government officials, businessmen. The total number of deaths reported in India between 2001-2017 was 8,123 carried out by groups such as the CPI Maoist, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).