Terror recruitment down in J&K, zero stone pelting incidents in 2025: Defence ministry

Terror incidents down in Jammu and Kashmir , with local terror recruitment down to just one single instance in 2025. (Image credit: Chinar Corps)

Fresh data released by the defence ministry paints a telling picture of the security landscape in Jammu and Kashmir, one marked by falling infiltration, dwindling local recruitment into terror ranks, but a sharp spike in ceasefire violations, largely tied to last year's Operation Sindoor.

The defence ministry has attributed these changes to various policies of the centre.

The report also cites growing tourism numbers as a sign of stability and growing prosperity in the state.Infiltration attempts along the Line of Control (LoC) fell to one of their lowest levels in years in 2025, with just six bids recorded and 12 Pakistani terrorists killed while attempting to cross, according to data released by the defence ministry.

While infiltration through the LoC has declined steadily, the ministry assessed that terrorist activity has increasingly shifted toward the International Border sector instead, now used more for smuggling narcotics and war-like stores than direct infiltration.The trend line over recent years tells its own story. Eight infiltration bids were foiled in 2021, rising to a dozen in 2022, then jumping to 18 in 2023, before easing to 10 in 2024 and finally six last year.

Between 2021 and 2025, a total of 97 terrorists were killed attempting infiltration, with 2023 alone accounting for 36 of those killings.Even as cross-boundary infiltration has reduced, the hinterland of Jammu and Kashmir has continued to see a high tempo of counter-terror operations and vigil by the security forces. A total of 19 terrorists were neutralised in 2025, eight of these terrorists were of Pakistani origin, accounting for nearly 40% of the total, underscoring Islamabad's continued role in sustaining proxy warfare in the Union Territory.Ceasefire violations along the LoC, however, saw a sharp spike last year, with 163 violations recorded in 2025, 124 of these incidents occurred during Operation Sindoor alone. This marks a considerable jump from just two ceasefire violations in 2024, no such incident in 2023 and only one in 2022. The figure for 2025 is still considerably lower than the figures for previous years, such as 2021, which saw 594 such violations, the number for 2020 stands at 4,645 and 2019 witnessed 3,233 such firing incidents.Perhaps the most striking trend in the data is the collapse in local recruitment into terror ranks. Only a single local youth joined terror ranks in 2025, continuing a trend of steady and steep decline from 146 in 2021, 121 in 2022, 19 in 2023, and just four in 2024.The defence ministry has described the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir as firmly under control, attributing the improvement to sustained government initiatives that have also brought down overall violence levels, scaled back protests and eliminated stone-pelting incidents entirely, a marked shift from the unrest that once characterised the region.