As J&K Police vows revenge for 6 dead cops, people express outrage at all killings

Just when the Jammu & Kashmir government brought the otherwise runaway student protests under control by frequently closing down colleges, the steep rise in militancy related violence has sent the situation reeling again.

A dark start

The violence began on 13 June, when militants carried out six near-synchronised attacks in four districts, injuring 16 security personnel and looting four rifles.

The Director General of Police SP Vaid said the attacks had been undertaken in view of Battle of Badr, the first battle fought by a Muslim army in the seventh century in which, according to Islamic history, a small number of Muslims had defeated a much larger enemy. 

“Today was the 17th day of Ramazan, it is also the day of Battle of Badr,” Vaid had told the media. “We had inputs on escalation of their activities and grenade attacks”.

A bloody day

But the bloodiest day so far has been 16 June, with 11 people losing their lives.

However, unlike the simultaneous militant strikes on 14 June, this time the violence unfolded as a chain reaction from an encounter between militants and security forces.

The violence began when the security forces cordoned off a house at Arwani in Anantnag, where three Lashkar-e-Taiba militants, including district commander Junaid Mattoo, were holed out.

As soon as the encounter began, people from surrounding villages came out in droves and attempted to disrupt the situation to help the militants escape.

Two civilians, Mohammad Ashraf Khar, 22 and Ahsan Dar, 14, were killed in the firing that ensued. Many other protesters sustained bullet injuries and were rushed to various hospitals in Srinagar. 

The three militants were also killed.

But while the search was on for their bodies, their colleagues mounted a brutal revenge attack, just 16 km away, on a Sumo vehicle carrying six policemen including the SHO Feroz Ahmad Dar. The militants even disfigured the faces of the policemen and fled with their weapons. The bodies lay on the road for about half an hour before they were removed.

A grim scenario

This has brought Kashmir back on edge. Predictably, a hartal was called in response to civilian killings and the government imposed calm by shutting the colleges down for the umpteenth time since the student protests began in April.

Sri Pratap Higher Secondary School near Moulana Azad Road in Srinagar alone has been shutdown for the 24 days since 16 April when it was first closed following a violent student protest. The school has barely been open for a month in over two months of the academic calendar so far.

Overall, according to an estimate, schools, especially colleges and higher education institutes, have been open only for 50% of the time this year.

“Going forward the scenario looks grim. Despite the six month long unrest in 2016, there is little evidence of a protest fatigue in Valley. Government response remains one of knee-jerk reaction to the incidents as they take place,” says the political commentator Gowhar Geelani. “This will only cause more and more bloodshed and disruption”.

In a predictable turn of events, tens of thousands of people attended the funeral of the militant Mattoo at Khudwani. Five successive funeral prayers were held at the local Eidgah to accommodate an unbroken stream of mourners from the near and far villages. What is more, groups of militants also appeared to offer gun salutes. Similar events were replicated at the funerals of Adil Mir and Nasir Wani, two other militants.

Retaliation

The security prognostication for the summer ahead is thus grim - the J&K Police has vowed revenge. The DGP Vaid has identified Bashir Lashkari as the Lashkar militant responsible for the killings of policemen.

“We will track him down and make sure justice is done,” said Vaid.

Some police officers also took to the Twitter to voice their anger. “6 policemen including an SHO Feroz Ahmad martyred in Anantnag terror attack. Promise you Feroz we'll wipe out the whole killer terror gang,” posted Imtiyaz Hussain, Senior Superintendent of Police, Baramulla.

A rational argument

But the predominant sentiment on the ground, reflected in part by the discourse on social media wasn’t entirely in accord with the outrage in security ranks. In fact, these killings are rationalised in the context of the larger Kashmir situation. Many people demanded an equal outrage and the condemnation over the militant and the civilian killings.

“Three rebels were killed by fellow kashmiris and army in khudwani. Let us see those people who were beating chests for one Kashmiri will speak a word of condemnation for killing of these Kashmiri militants,” wrote a Facebook user on his timeline.

“After all, Kashmiris cannot be differentiated on the basis of their position and power. I bet those people will not speak a word. Check their timelines. They will generate discourses for one side only since they are the beneficiaries (barring selected few) sic”.

Besides, as against militant funerals, a disproportionately smaller number of people attended the burial of the slain policemen. Bizarrely, a day earlier, pro-Azadi slogans were raised at Ashtengo, Bandipora during the funeral procession of a policeman killed in a militant attack in Hyderpora area of Srinagar on 15 June.

Twin threats

The omens for the summer portend a grim year. The twin threats of mass protests and the growing militancy loom large.

“There are around 300 militants in Valley. And this effectively means 300 triggers for a mass unrest. That is if the numbers killed are not replenished and no more youth take up the gun,” the police office said.

“Right from the tracking down of the militants through the ensuing encounter to the funeral of the slain jihadis, there remains a constant threat of the situation spinning out of control. This guarantees a perpetual state of chaos and uncertainty in Kashmir."