India said on Thursday that the death toll from 17 years of separatist fighting in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) stands at just over 41,000, while separatists and human rights groups claimed the figure was far higher. According to police records: 16,231 civilians; 4,984 members of Indian security forces; and 19,966 militants have died since the insurgency began in the disputed territory in 1989. One senior Indian police officer, who did not wish to be identified, said that the death toll of 41,181 had been tallied up to Oct 31 of this year. “The figure does not include those who died on inaccessible snow-clad mountains while crossing over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or while returning after receiving arms training,” he told Reuters. The figure also does not include missing people. In 2004, then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Mohammad Syed, had put the number of people missing as a direct result of the conflict at 3,700. Local human rights group, the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS), put the death toll much higher, estimating that more than 50,000 people had died and more than 10,000 had disappeared since the armed insurgency against Indian rule.
“These figures are based on daily newspaper reports – we completely disagree with the government figures,” said JKCCS coordinator, Khuram Parvez. “We have already started a door-to-door survey in (Indian-held) Kashmir to compile the list of total deaths. Thousands of Kashmiris remain unaccounted for,” he added.