The number of active militants in Jammu and Kashmir has shrunk to 76, a report has revealed. About 59 of these are from Pakistan and just 17 are local – 3 in the Jammu region and 14 in the Valley. Among the foreigners, three are said to belong to Hizbul Mujahideen, 21 to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and 35 to Lashkar-e-Taiba. Official data, on the other hand, has indicated a significant drop in youth taking up guns, marking the lowest figures in 15 years. This is for the first time since 2011-12, that the number of active local militants has fallen to single digits, taking forward a trend from 2023 and 2024, with only one new recruit recorded in 2025 so far.
The drastically reduced number of militants has, in turn, resulted in a corresponding drop in the levels of violence, much more so in the plains. True, there have been occasional spikes in attacks but even these are growing now fewer and far between. Would this trend sustain? There’s hope that it will, although such moments in the past haven’t been built upon but frittered away. For example, the number of militants – both local and foreign – had, more or less, declined to the same levels in 2011. This had momentarily ushered in a peaceful environment. But the numbers surged again from thereon, especially the local recruitment, with south Kashmir as its hub. And by 2015, we had over 300 local militants in the Valley. However, the situation since has drastically metamorphosed, and, on their face, the things seem unlikely to go back to square one. But, it is also true that Kashmir remains an uncertain place.
The air in J&K is now filled with hope and a sense of foreboding. In recent years, Kashmir has transformed in most of its aspects. It is now easier to predict the continuation of the existing normalcy but the place can still surprise with its unpredictability. Last year, dramatic attacks claimed the lives of several security personnel and broke the prevailing calm. However, the occasional spikes in violence didn’t detract from the larger drift of normalcy. It is this normalcy in the UT that made possible the peaceful Assembly elections after the break of a decade.
Looking back at the last five years, the two trends have largely undergirded the current calm: one is the steady decline in militancy and another is the growth in tourism. Going by the government data, millions of tourists have visited the union territory, something that has lifted the local economy otherwise crippled by the extended post Article 370 blockade followed by the COVID-19 shutdown.
The current hybrid governance has succeeded in building on these security and economic gains. The central government has also made it known that it is working on a comprehensive security and development roadmap for the UT which hopefully will further improve the situation, and usher in lasting peace and prosperity. But, at the same time, it is important that the elected government is given its due precedence in the matters of governance, and which won’t be possible unless J&K is returned its lost statehood.
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