New Delhi: Civilian protests seeking to stop security operations against militants in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) are being encouraged by militant groups based in Pakistan, a senior paramilitary force officer said on Monday.
“The militants and infiltrators prompt the local inhabitants and their own over-ground workers to come and disrupt the security operations and help save them from the security forces. They send out appeals to the local people to come and disrupt the operations and create a diversion,” Zulfiquar Hasan, Inspector General (operations) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Kashmir said.
His remarks come a day after civilians hampered security operations in Tral by pelting security personnel with stones and surrounding them in a bid to snatch their arms.
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Similar disruptions have also taken place in Kulgam.
Eight months after Hizbul Mujahideen poster boy Burhan Wani was killed by security forces in Kashmir in July, his close aide Aqib Ahmed was gunned down on Sunday in Tral. In a bid to disrupt operations on Saturday and Sunday, civilians tried to break into the security cordon and engage with security forces carrying out operations during a 16-hour gunfight.
The trend was established after Burhan Wani’s killing. On 12 February, a shoot-out between militants and security forces ran into trouble in Kulgam after protesters cornered security forces and hurled stones at them.
Ten days later, search and combing operations in Kulgam had to be suspended after crowds pelted stones at security personnel.
These incidents took place just a week after Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat sounded a warning that protestors and stone-pelters would be treated as “anti-nationals”.
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However, the CRPF said although the Jammu and Kashmir Police had imposed Section 144 of the CrPC (prohibiting assembly of five or more people) and the civil administration was issuing appeals asking locals to stay away, the situation on the ground was far from calm.
“This is a very tricky problem. Despite a high level of troop deployment and the element of surprise during operations, the locals come and engage with the cordon around the area and try and break into the cordon by attacking troops. There is heavy firing on at that time, and it is extremely detrimental if the civilians engage with us then,” Hasan added.
According to home ministry data, following the Burhan Wani episode, stone-pelters in Kashmir have injured 2,580 CRPF personnel. Data also shows there were 43 incidents of petrol bombs being hurled at security forces and 142 incidents of stone-pelters attacking CRPF camps.
The army, too, has been left flummoxed with the recent civilian engagement. “It makes things extremely difficult because civilians can get caught in the cross-fire and we are always trying to minimize damage to ensure that no civilian gets hurt,” said a senior Indian Army official of the Northern Command, requesting anonymity.
