Army says fired in selfdefence; fight over militant’s poster, allege villagers
CM HAS ALSO SOUGHT FUNDS FOR SETTING UP A POLICE ACADEMY FOR OFFICERS’ TRAINING IN SHIMLA
SRINAGAR: The Jammu & Kashmir police has registered an FIR against the Indian army, charging its 10th Garhwal unit with murder, attempt to murder and endangering life, over the killing of two civilians in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Saturday, officials said on Sunday.
The Army says it opened fire in self-defence after a convoy came under heavy stone-pelting by protesters who allegedly tried to snatch the weapon of a soldier and lynch him.
Some villagers were, however, quoted in the local press as saying that the army opened fire after an altercation over security personnel’s attempt to remove posters of a slain militant in the village. Firdous Ahmed, a militant killed in an encounter in south Kashmir on January 24, was a resident of Ganaupora.
Experts said such killings could vitiate the political atmosphere in the troubled region and hit several newly launched reconciliation policies by the PDPBJP coalition government, which recently said it was considering amnesty to second-time stone pelters in the Kashmir Valley, after withdrawing cases against over 9,000 first-time stone pelters.
The Centre is pushing for steps to bolster efforts by newly appointed special interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma to kick-start a dialogue and restore peace in the state. The state police has also been reiterating its stand on bringing back local militants into the mainstream and have encouraged them to surrender, assuring that no arrests would be made if the suspect was not named in any case.
A strike called by separatist leadership to protest the killings paralysed normal life in the Valley on Sunday. The roads remained deserted and local train services across Kashmir was suspended. Restrictions on movement were imposed in some sensitive areas of Srinagar. Highspeed mobile internet services, which remained snapped throughout the day, were restored at night. Shopian DC has been asked to probe the incident and submit a report in 20 days.
“If government is serious about the policies it has taken recently, then the forces should have been taken on board, in clear terms, so that such incidents could have been avoided. This vicious cycle has to stop,” said Srinagar-based political analyst Noor Baba. SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh government has requested the Centre to redeploy the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) along the militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir border in Chamba.
Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, who also holds home portfolio, met Union home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Saturday. In 2012, the MHA had recalled ITBP maintain that the Himachal’s boundary with Jammu and Kashmir had been peaceful. The states intelligence and security agencies had expressed it’s apprehension militant attacks.
Thakur also urged the MHA to raise allowance for SPOs posted in the border areas of the state on a par with those posted in Jammu and Kashmir. While SPOs deployed in the state get Rs 3,000 monthly salary, their J&K counterparts get nearly Rs 5,000.
Himachal Pradesh shares 224 kilometre boundary with J&K’s remote region that comprises Bhadrawah and militancy-hit Doda and Kishtwar districts.
There are currently 24 posts along the border adjoining J&K’s Doda and Kathua districts. Of these, nine were manned by the ITBP troops before they were withdrawn.
NDRF BATTALION SOUGHT FOR STATE
The CM also demanded an NDRF battalion for the state being in a disaster-prone zone.
Since response teams take time to reach the spot in case of natural calamities, stationing an NDRF battalion in the state will help people get prompt relief, he said. He urged the Union minister for heli-taxi services on subsidised rates for the state on the pattern of the northeastern states. He also asked the Centre for more funds to modernise the police force.