‘Jail Or Jahannum’: Centre’s Stance On Jammu & Kashmir Terrorists

New Delhi: A spate of terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir in the last two-three months has led to raised to raised eyebrows in the security system and intel information.

Minister of state for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai on Wednesday reiterated the Central government’s zero tolerance for terrorism.

Replying to a supplementary question posted by Congress MP Pramod Tiwari in Parliament, the minister said active terrorists’ designs won’t succeed, saying they will either be sent to jail or jahannum (hell).

Informing the House that 28 terrorists have been killed by security forces in the Union territory in the past few days, Rai said:

“Modi government has zero tolerance for terrorism. We will end terrorism. They (terrorists) will be either in jail or jahannum… I want to assure the House.”

He claimed that incidents of terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir came down from 7,217 during the UPA’s rule to 2,259 in July this year.

“These should not have happened. It is unfortunate but they (the Opposition) should not do politics over it,” Rai said.

The minister told the House that 2,829 citizens and security personnel lost their lives between 2004 and 2014, and this number has come down by 67 per cent since 2014 after Narendra Modi came to power. There has also been a reduction of 69 per cent in terror incidents.

“In the last few days, 28 terrorists have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir. What’s saddening is that some of our soldiers have also been killed in the firefighting. The soldiers killed are very less than the terrorists neutralised,” Rai stated.

The minister pointed out more tourists have visited Jammu & Kashmir as peace has been restored there.

The Modi-helmed Central government abolished Article 370 in 2019, thereby cancelling the special status of Jammu & Kashmir and bifurcating the state into two Union territories.