An annual human rights report on Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh by a nationwide group of illustrious citizens has found an increase in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) casualties because of insurgency after the removal of the region’s special status.

Although the overall security situation has improved over the past year, there has been a rising trend of violence after the removal of the constitutional autonomy of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and its bifurcation into two Union territories without legislature, said the report.

Titled “Five Years Without An Elected Administration: Human Rights In Jammu And Kashmir, August 2022 To July 2023”, the report has been drawn up by the Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir.

“While the number of lives lost due to armed attacks and counter-insurgency operations was lower than in the previous year, the number of police personnel who died, including the CRPF, continues to be unacceptably high. 71 CRPF troops were killed in the four years between 2019-2022, twice as many as in the previous four years, 2014-2018, when 35 died,” the report said.

“Looked at over the past four years, 2019-2023, the figures show a rising trend of violence between 2019 and 2020.... Total deaths due to militant attacks and counter-insurgency operations were reported to be 52 in August-December 2019, rising to 321 in 2020, followed by a declining trend, when the number fell to 274 in 2021, 253 in 2022 and 51 in January-July 14, 2023.”

The forum is chaired by G.K. Pillai, former Union home secretary, and Radha Kumar, a former member of the Group of Interlocutors for J&K. Its members include five former judges of higher courts, retired bureaucrats and defence officers and intellectuals.

“After decades of peace, the bordering areas of Poonch and Rajouri districts in Jammu division are re-emerging as a locus for militancy with cross-border support from Pakistani-held territories of the former state. The 2022 delimitation of fresh legislative constituencies, adding Poonch and Rajouri to Kashmir’s Anantnag, may have added to the alienation that these Muslim-majority areas face with the sharpening of communal divides in Jammu,” the report said.

Releasing the report on Thursday, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah said: “Delhi has played its games, it continues to play its games. It was the same in Jawaharlal Nehru’s time, it is the same today. No difference. People will suffer and they continue to suffer. It doesn’t make any difference as you see in Manipur. The question is, how do we win the hearts of the people? Not by money or by making rules. What is missing is trust.”

Abdullah added: “We are a Muslim-majority state in a Hindu-majority India. What brought us to India? Why couldn’t we have gone to Pakistan? The only thing that brought us here was Gandhi and his utterances that this nation is for all... irrespective of what language you speak, the culture you have, we are one nation. Where is he today? How much division has taken place between religions? How much division is further happening? Look at Manipur.”

The report highlighted “arrests under draconian legislation such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA) continue, despite judicial attempts to limittheir application. Along with Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir has the highest rate of undertrials as a proportion of its prison population, at 91 per cent, considerably higher than the national average of 76 per cent”.

Speaking at the release, RJD MP Manoj Jha said: “We expect people who burn bridges to build bridges. The party which is in power has expertise in burning bridges.”

He added: “The fact of the matter is, it is not only about Jammu and Kashmir. They are using Jammu and Kashmir as fodder in north Indian politics. Unless that fodder is challenged day in andday out, I think that will be a very difficult proposition. Release of prisoners? Why are they in jail? For sayingthe same things that are saidin other parts of India. But for the same language, the moment you cross JawaharTunnel (between the Jammu hills and the Kashmir valley), the idea of human rights changes.”

The recommendations in the report include:

■ The release of all remaining political detainees who were taken into preventive detention on or after August 4, 2019, as well as journalists and activists arrested under anti-terrorism laws.

■ The decongestion of prisons.

■ Immediate Assembly elections. Put on hold the reservation bills until the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the August 2019 presidential orders.

■ Inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution (which facilitates the establishment of autonomous district councils). Restoration of the executive authority to the Kargil and Leh hill councils.

■ Action against security personnel found guilty of violating human rights. Ensure the independence of the army’s additional directorate for human rights.