New Delhi: Facing criticism over rising terrorist infiltration into the country and deaths of security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir, the minister of state for home G. Kishan Reddy said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that the “net infiltration” has reduced by 43% in the first half of 2019.However, the details he provided showed a sustained increase in infiltration over the past three years. He added that the number of security personnel killed or injured during confrontation with infiltrators has reduced in the same period.BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had asked the Union home ministry to give details of infiltration and number of security personnel killed over the past three years. But it appears that Dubey has posed these sensitive questions only to stem the criticisms against the government.According to data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the death of jawans in terror attacks has risen 106% in Jammu and Kashmir over the past five years. In 2018, 457 security personnel were killed, compared to the 354 in 2017.However, instead of asking for the cumulative number of terrorist-related violent incidents and subsequent deaths due to them, Dubey contained his concern only to “infiltration” and the violence carried out by the infiltrators.The way Dubey framed his questions helped the government show that its declared policy of “zero-tolerance” attitude towards terrorism has yielded results.Also Read: UN Releases Second Critical Kashmir Report, India Calls it Output of ‘Prejudiced Mindset’Responding to the question, Reddy said, “Attempts of infiltration from across the border are mainly in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been affected by terrorist violence, sponsored and supported from across the border.”“Government of India has adopted a multi-pronged approach to contain cross-border infiltration. This includes multi-tiered deployment along the international border/Line of Control, border-fencing, improved intelligence and operational coordination, equipping security forces with advanced weapons and taking pro-active action against infiltrators,” Reddy said, even as he put forward figures of the past three years that showed an increase in infiltration. “Net Infiltration in the J&K has reduced by 43% in the first half of the year (2019) over the corresponding period of 2018,” he said while accepting that there was a surge in such incidents during the Narendra Modi government’s first term. He did not provide the exact number for the current year.What is striking is that over the past three years, while the security forces were able to kill a significant number of alleged infiltrators, few – if any – have been arrested. For instance, in the year 2017, out of a total of 136 estimated infiltration-related incidents, 59 alleged infiltrators were killed, while none were arrested. Similar figures were provided by the Union government for 2016 and 2018 also.While the number of infiltrators that have been killed is high, the figures still show that a majority of infiltrators have evaded the government and the security forces.