As turbulence continues unabated in the Valley, the army has quietly moved an entire brigade into South Kashmir as part of operation ‘Calm Down’ to clear it of militants and protesters.
Amid intelligence reports of a virtual ‘Jungle Raj’ prevailing in the area, with militants and their sympathisers calling the shots, holding protests and blocking arterial roads, nearly 4000 additional troops have been pressed into service to restore normalcy, but with clear instructions to use minimum force, official sources said.
The troops, mobilised from reserves have fanned out in all the four districts of South Kashmir namely, Pulwama, Shopian, Anantnag and Kulgam.
The army troops assisted by CRPF and the state police are combing the areas minutely and clearing the road blocks put by the protesters by felling trees, electric poles and placing huge boulders and burnt vehicles, to facilitate movement of people, they said.
After “clearing” Karimabad area of Pulwama, the troops have moved into Shopian and Kulgam. The process, which was halted briefly for Bakrid, will resume after the festival, sources said, adding that more troops were likely to be pressed into service.
The decision was taken after intelligence reports claimed that Kashmiri youth, armed with batons, stones and petrol bombs, were patrolling the arterial roads leading to the National Highway and preventing people from venturing out of their homes or moving towards Srinagar.
Three Die on Bakra Eid in Kashmir Valley, Separatist March Foiled
Three people died and many others were injured as clashes between protesters and security forces in parts of the troubled Kashmir Valley marred Eid-al-Adha celebrated under curfew for the first time in over two decades.
With the city under a total clampdown, a separatist call for a march to the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) was also foiled by the police and paramilitary forces.
Two of the dead were protesters killed in clashes with security forces – one each in Shopian and Bandipora districts – while one person in a mosque died, apparently of heart attack, after a teargas shell crashed into the shrine at Awantipora in Pulwama district.
The death toll in the ongoing unrest sparked by the 8 July killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani has climbed to 86.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)