Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Aug 18: Army today said that infiltration attempts from across the border have increased during the unrest in Kashmir but they have been foiled by alert troops. He said that Army’s mandate in the State is to tackle militancy and they have nothing to do with law and order.
General Officer Commanding of 15 Corps, Lt Gen SK Dua told reporters on the sidelines of a passing out parade of Army recruits at JKLI Centre here that Pakistan feels that security forces are busy with tackling unrest in Kashmir and want to infiltrate more militants.
“These days there have been efforts from across the border by Pakistan that our attention will be for inwards and this is the time for infiltration. Their effort was to make more infiltration. But you have heard in the news and reported that how many encounters have taken place. Day before on the occasion of Independence day 5 militants were killed and before that 3 in Nowgam and 4 in Macchil”, he said.
The GOC said that some of the infiltrated militants were tackled just on the LoC and they managed to flee back towards Pakistan. “These are only those who have been eliminated and besides there were 4-5 encounters where they were forced to flee back to Pakistan”, he said.
Lt Gen Dua said it is difficult to say how many youth joined militancy during the unrest. “And how many have joined militancy in last 40 days we don’t have the figures. As on today when Police goes to pick up someone they are not found in their homes. We can’t comment on this at this stage”, he said.
The GOC said that the militants are hiding behind the stone pelters and are trying to provoke security forces for firing on them but they are exercising restraint to avoid civilian casualties. “We are seeing this, today there is stone pelting and attacks. They want us to fire on them and we will not do it. Security forces are exercising maximum restraint to avoid collateral damage”, he said.
The Army Commander said that Army is not involved in law and order duty in Kashmir as their mandate is to tackle militancy in Kashmir. “The situation is far from normal. And as you rightly said for initial few days after the 8th of July there were spontaneous protests and thereafter we have seen cycle of engineered protests as in North Kashmir and now we are seeing cooling down of the protests, not all the protests are violent. They are not pelting the stones all the time, which is a good thing. Army is dominating the areas, that is our mandate in the hinterland so that they remain free of militancy. As far as law and order is concerned it is being handled well by the police and the CRPF. You are right to say that the things are coming under control and thereafter fatal casualty takes place and then cycle of violence again starts”, he said.
The GOC said that army has assisted police in certain situations but they have nothing to do with law and order in Kashmir. “We met Chief Minister for security review. However, at no stage was any of this discussed. The factual position of our mandate is that we are here to control terrorism and militancy. For law and order there is police, CRPF and there have been additional forces that have come in last 30-40 days. So we are no longer going with them or to assist them. But when we go for patrolling we need a component of them for law and order situation as when we are faced with stone pelting situation we need them to extricate us as we don’t have no-lethal weapon. However, there have been a few cases, more in the initial days when 24 police stations and police posts were burnt and many police camps were attacked and there have been a situation where we had gone to assist the police to extricate them when they were surrounded by huge mobs whose intention was very serious and dangerous at that point of time”, he said.
Lt General Dua said that the Army has clear instructions not to get involved into law and order situation and they take police and CRPF along during their patrols for tackling stone pelting on them.
“I must tell instructions to Army soldiers are very clear. We don’t get involved into the law and order situation at all. Wherever we go for patrolling we take a law and order component along with us, be it police or CRPF or both. At several places I have so many of my men admitted to hospitals because they had, people who fractured their arms, there are so many injuries of the Army personnel because we take the hit of the stone pelters also”, he said.
The Army Commander said that Army is exercising maximum restraint and will fire only when the life of a jawan is at risk. “We have nothing to respond, we have no non-lethal weapons to respond, like I said instructions are clear, we will take that hit but we will not fire rifle unless a man, jawan’s life is at risk”, he said.
Lt General Dua said that Army is investigating the killing of youth in Pampore area of South Kashmir. “There was one incident in Kulgam Churet area where because of the mob attacking the Army movement and they were left with no option. My orders are very clear, we exercise the restrain till the last. Please do remember, Army does not have any tear gas or pellet guns and if we are constrained as a last resort and we have to fire bullets which we aim low and try to fire at the legs. So there was this incident in Churet where regrettably it happened because our man was virtually going to be lynched by a mob. Other than that incident, there was this incident last night which that you mentioned, it is regrettable, it was a joint petrol that had gone there and thereafter one death has taken place, you are aware of that this morning it has happened. We are looking into it. It is too soon for me to say anything but I assure you that we have process of investigation which is kicked in whether anyone asks or not. We will look into the matter. We will investigate this and look into in”, he said.
The Army Commander said that the response of Kashmiri youth to recruitment rallies is enormous. “On one hand, you see the youth who have joined the Army and every time we have a recruitment rally, the response to the rally is enormous. We are having another rally, two of them next month. So the response of the youth to the rally is also huge”, he said.
The GOC appealed for peace and ways and means to restore peace in the Valley. “I would also like to appeal to the youth of Kashmir, it is regrettable what is happening for the last 40 days on part of violence. We need to devise ways and means to get back peace in the Valley again”, he added.
Lt Gen Dua said that Army convoys that were moving during the night to avoid inconnivance to the Hajj pilgrims and Yatris will not move during the day and they will ensure that the roads are through for both military and civilian traffic.
“Army was moving during the night not because we could not take care of roads for the movement of Army convoys. We were moving the convoys during the night for two reasons, one to avoid any collateral damage and second because of the Haj period till tomorrow. There is a lot of movement on the roads leading towards Bemina as relatives were going to see off the Haj pilgrims and we didn’t want to cause inconnivance to them. So as tomorrow onwards we were going to move the convoy during the day time and it has nothing to do with the attack on the convoy”, he said.
“On whatever roads our conoys move they will be secured. You will see, there were issues of yatra and Haj and they are ending tomorrow. You will see the traffic, both civil and Army will be restored for all types of vehicles”, Lt Gen Dua said.
The Army Commander said that first the peace is to be restored in Kashmir and then the State will engage the political and other groups. “For de-escalation of the situation, first we have to end this cycle of violence. I want to appeal the youth of this place as how long you would do it and what would happen by this. Just CM said in her 15th August speech to give peace a chance. Now, the time has come that we have to restore the peace. Children are not able to go to school, fruit is not able to go to the market to Delhi and patients are not able to go to hospital and there are so many hardships faced by the people. First we have to control the cycle of violence not only by security forces but with the cooperation by the people. I appeal people of this place especially youth to cooperate with us. After that the State will take the steps and I can’t comment on political aspect for being an Army officer. The State will do the engagement with different groups and political parties and it is their job”, he said.
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