[orc]The terrorist attack in Paris has once again turned the focus onto terrorist incidents in the country and the subsequent damage. The data collated by MHA indicates that a total of 137 such major incidents took place in the country between 1989 and 2015, while more than 2000 people have lost their lives.
The terrorist attack in Paris has once turned the focus onto terrorist incidents and the subsequent damage. A detailed analysis of the these incidents in India from 1989 to 2015 indicates that more than 2000 people have lost their lives, while more than 6000 people have sustained injuries. The details of these terror related incidents are compiled by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Number of Incidents
A total of 137 terrorist incidents/bomb blasts took place in the country between 1989 and 2015 as per the MHA data. The year 2004 saw the highest number of such incidents (17), followed by 2003 (15), 2002 (13), 1991 (11) & 1992 (11). Seven out of the top 10 years are from the 21st century. The years 1990-1992 also saw an abnormally high number of incidents due to the extremism in Punjab. 37 incidents took place between 1991 and 2000, compared to 76 such incidents between 2001 and 2010. The number of such incidents more than doubled in the decade starting 2001, compared to the previous decade.
Highest Number of Casualties
The years with highest number of casualties are those years where there was a major attack/s. In 2008, there were 3 such major incidents in Jaipur, Ahmedabad & Mumbai (26/11). 333 people lost their lives in 2008. In 1991, there was the Ludhiana train attack that killed more than 70 people. 1993 was well known for the Mumbai Blasts while 2006 saw the serial blasts in Mumbai local trains. 2007 saw the Samjhauta Blasts and blasts in Hyderabad. More than 100 people lost their lives because of these incidents in each of the eight different years.
Casualty to Incidents Ratio
A similar trend is observed in the Casualties to the Incidents Ratio. Years that had seen major incidents have a higher ratio and vice versa. 1993 tops the list with 89 deaths per incident followed by 2006 with 60 deaths per incident. More than 10 such incidents took place in the years 2002, 2003, 2004 & 1992, but their casualty to incidents ratio is less than 15, indicating that the incidents in those years were of low intensity. More than 6 years have a casualty ratio of more than 25 per incident, while 17 of the 27 years have a ratio of 10 or more.
States with Highest Number of Incidents
As expected, most such incidents took place in states with greater extremist activity and major urban hubs. Punjab saw 36 such incidents while Jammu & Kashmir saw 31 such incidents. 21 such incidents took place in Delhi while 13 such incidents took place in Maharashtra (11 in Mumbai & 2 in Pune). Most of the incidents in Punjab took place in the early nineties, while most of the incidents in Jammu & Kashmir took place in the last 10 years. Quite a few incidents took place in Assam, Karnataka & Uttar Pradesh in the last few years.
Notable Exclusion
The information compiled by the MHA, for some strange reason, does not include the Rajiv Gandhi assassination incident of 1991 and the Coimbatore Blasts of 1998 that were targeted at L K Advani. More than 70 people lost their lives in these incidents.
Featured image is adapted for representation purpose only from: Vinukumar Ranganathan | Flickr
