New Delhi: North East witnessed lowest terror incidents and related civilian deaths last year in more than two decades, since 1997, said Defence ministry’s annual report 2018-19.
“The year 2018 witnessed the lowest number of insurgency incidents and civilian deaths since 1997,” said the report. It said that the overall security situation in the North Eastern (NE) states improved substantially since 2013. The report said that compared to 2017, insurgency incidents have registered a decline of 18 per cent in the year 2018.
“Similarly, there was 25 per cent reduction in number of civilians and security forces personnel deaths in 2018. In the first three months of 2019, security situation has further improved in the region with the decline in insurgency incidents, civilian casualties, security forces casualties and kidnapping/abduction cases,” said the report.
The report said that while there is almost no insurgency left in Tripura and Mizoram, there has been a marked improvement in security situation in other states of region.
The report said that inputs reveal that insurgent groups are facing acute administration and financial crunch due to relentless operations by security forces and have been forced to form umbrella organisation to maintain their capability for orchestrating violent activities.
“Concurrently, the tribal and ethnic divide, fuelled by the issues of illegal immigrants, has gained momentum and is likely to have a pan North East impact,” said the annual report.
