SRINAGAR: Local recruitment in terrorism networks has reduced significantly in Jammu and Kashmir in four years starting 2021. According to the Ministry of Defence, it fell from 146 in 2021 to just one in 2025. The ministry also stated that there were only six infiltration attempts in 2025, the lowest in the last five years.
According to a report released by the ministry, 146 local youth joined terrorist ranks in 2021, followed by 121 in 2022, 19 in 2023, four in 2024 and only one in 2025. It stated that local youth have abandoned the path of violence and are reaping the benefits of various government schemes and policies.
The declining recruitment figures, it said, discredit Pakistan’s narrative of home-grown terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. The security situation has improved significantly in the state after the reading down of Article 370, leading to considerable fall of terrorism-related violence and terrorist recruitment in the region.
According to the ministry report, the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir has become much quieter. It said that six infiltration attempts were foiled in 2025, in which 12 terrorists were killed.
“In 2021, 8 infiltration attempts were foiled and 12 terrorists killed. In 2022, 12 infiltration attempts were foiled and 18 terrorists killed. In 2023, 18 infiltration attempts were foiled and 36 terrorists killed, and, in 2024, 10 infiltration attempts were foiled and 19 terrorists killed,” states the report.
However, the report stated that while the infiltration attempts along the Line of Control have declined, the infiltration attempts by terrorists are more directed at the international border in the Jammu region, which also included attempts at smuggling of narcotics.
According to the report, counter-terror operations remained on a high tempo in the hinterland in the Union territory. During various operations, security forces killed 19 terrorists in 2025, including eight Pakistani terrorists, accounting for around 40 per cent of the terrorists killed last year. “The figures indicated Pakistan’s role in the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir,” the Ministry of Defence report stated.
However, the report said that despite decline in the infiltration attempts, ceasefire violations witnessed a sharp increase in 2025, especially during Operation Sindoor.
“Against two ceasefire violations recorded along the LoC in 2024, at least 163 ceasefire violations were recorded in 2025, of which 124 occurred during Operation Sindoor,” it said. As per the ministry data, 3,233 ceasefire violations were reported in 2019; 4,645 in 2020; 594 in 2021; one in 2022; zero in 2023; two in 2024; and 163 in 2025.
The report further disclosed that there were zero incidents of stone pelting in the Union territory in 2025. The report noted that the tourism activity continued to show resilience in Jammu and Kashmir, as it recorded a tourist count of around 23 million in 2025 despite the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 25 tourists and a local ponywala were killed.