Pallavi Sareen
Jammu, Oct 26: A 19-year-old civilian Shahid Rather was shot dead in Shopian in what his family termed as “cold-blooded murder” while Union Home Minister was on his first official visit to Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of its special status on August 5, 2019.
This comes a day after the Home Minister grilled security agencies and administration for failing to contain militancy, bring peace and ensure development of Jammu and Kashmir post-Aug 2019.
The police said in a statement “unidentified terrorists attacked” a security petrol at Babapora village in Shopian. As the troops retaliated, “one unidentified person got killed” during the “cross-firing”.
However, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and President of People’s Democratic Party, Mehbooba Mufti, tweeted “Another innocent civilian killed allegedly by CRPF in Shopian today” and added, “Ït’s sad that armed forces show little restraint and operate with such impunity.”
Another innocent civilian killed allegedly by CRPF in Shopian today. Its sad that armed forces show little restraint & operate with such impunity. My heartfelt condolences to his family. pic.twitter.com/GRh0M12tC9
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 24, 2021
This was the 12th civilian killing this month in Jammu and Kashmir. There has been a spike in the number of attacks on non-locals and people belonging to minority communities in Jammu and Kashmir.
Chronology:
October 2: Mohammad Shafi Dar, a resident of Batamaloo and Majid Ahmad Gojri, a resident of Chattabal Srinagar were attacked by terrorists and later succumbed to their injuries.
October 5: Three civilians were shot dead by terrorists in separate incidents just few hours apart in Kashmir. This included Makhan Lal Bindroo, a Kashmiri Pandit and the owner of Srinagar’s most famous pharmacy who was shot at point-blank range at his pharmacy in Srinagar. Virender Paswan, a street food vendor from Bihar was shot dead the same day in Srinagar’s Lal Bazar. In Bandipora, the president of a taxi stand Mohammad Shafi was shot dead on the same day.
October 7: Terrorists stormed Government Boys Higher Secondary School in the Eidgah area and killed the principal Supinder Kaur and a teacher Deepak Chand, a resident of Jammu.
October 16: Terrorists attacked another non-local street vendor Arbind Kumar in Srinagar and a carpenter from Uttar Pradesh Sagir Ahmed, killing them both in separate incidents.
October 17: Terrorists opened fire on non-local labourers after storming their rented accommodation killing Raja Reshi Dev, a labourer from Bihar and Jogindar Reshi Dev while injuring another.
Immediate Response:
The immediate response of the Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha, after the killing of two teachers was a tweet saying “befitting reply will be given to the perpetrators of the terror attack.”
I strongly condemn the barbaric killing of two of our teachers, Supinder Kour and Deepak Chand by terrorists. A befitting reply will be given to the perpetrators of the heinous terror attacks on innocent people.
— Office of LG J&K (@OfficeOfLGJandK) October 7, 2021
Jammu and Kashmir Police launched minority distress helpline to assist the members of minority community. Divisional Commissioner Kashmir asked the concerned authorities to ensure migrant employees working in the valley were posted at safe and secure zones for the time being.
From Security Point of View:
Within a week of the attack on three civilians, Jammu and Kashmir Police issued a statement saying two out of four cases of selected killings stand solved as two militants who were involved in the killings had been killed. To prevent any more attacks, security deployments were strengthened and visuals of frisking of people in Srinagar flooded the social media. There was additional surveillance and troop deployments added to the streets. More than 900 people, as reported by CNN-News18, most of them associated with terror activities in the past, were detained to ‘break chain of attacks’ on minorities.
Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered a case to “bust the militant networks in Kashmir” and look into who the conspirators were.
Former Director General Police Dr S.P Vaid, Former DIG Israr Khan and Former IGP J.P Singh, all had one common point of view regarding the attacks and the failure to prevent the same – lack of precise human intelligence.
“The success of any counter-militancy operation depends on how precise the intel is. And people gave us information because they believed in us, because our officers built that trust with people. You can’t minus people from the equation and hope for success,” said Dr Vaid.
“Policing is not something cut-off from the people. It is not an imposition. It is ensuring the implementation of law by taking people into confidence,” said Khan.
Aftermath Of the Attacks:
These unpredictable attacks on religious minorities living in Kashmir, non-locals as well as natives of Kashmir created an environment of fear. Migrant labourers from Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Bihar who were doing menial jobs in Kashmir left the valley overnight and gathered on Jammu Railway station so they could return to their villages.
“Ï used to sell Gol Gappas in Srinagar but when I heard that labourers were attacked even inside their homes, I packed my bag overnight and left,” said Binod, a resident of Jharkhand.
There were similar stories of labourers fleeing Kashmir, and some of them mentioned that security agencies had their part to play in their decision to leave as well.
Kala Ram from Ludhiana said, “Army had arranged for trucks in Anantnag, for those who did not have bus fare to reach Jammu. Even the police says, it is better if you leave Kashmir right now and come back when the situation is better.”
Confidence-building measures and lack thereof:
Assurance was given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, as he addressed a rally that the government of India was working to ensure that “no civilian gets killed in the violence in Kashmir.” But no concrete measures on the ground, to address the fears of the migrant labourers leaving Kashmir or the Minority community still living in Kashmir were announced.
Retired ADGP of Jammu and Kashmir Police and a prominent member of Civil Society of Jammu and Kashmir Masood Choudhary said that the first step has to be posting of “local officers in both administration and police.”
“It is not just about religion or ethnicity; you want officers to be approachable. An officer might be very high in merit, but in places like Jammu and Kashmir, you should have someone who people can call their own. This build trust,” he said.
Jatinder Singh alias Babu Singh, a former minister said, “Jammu and Kashmir’s issue is an unsettled political issue and the solution cannot be found through military means. Neither militancy nor counter-terrorism can solve anything.”
He added, “Militancy is just an offshoot of the mishandling of the unresolved political dispute. The only thing that can resolve this is trilateral dialogue process.”
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 18 Civilians lost their lives in cross-firing and 39 due to terror incidents in 2019. There were 22 civilian deaths due to cross-firing in 2020 and 37 due to terror attacks.
(This report was supported by The UNESCO, Public Media Alliance, and Media Action Nepal Fellowship.)
