Kashmiri police face public wrath amid anti-India uprising
Indian policemen stand guard during a curfew in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir.
AP, Srinagar :
Before the crack of dawn and before the protesters hit the streets to resume demands India leave Kashmir, he dressed like an ordinary man and made sure not to carry anything identifying him as police.
He joined six passengers in a shared taxi outside his village in a lush pine forest near the militarized boundary that divides the Himalayan region between India and Pakistan. A young woman asked if he was a policeman, warning that it could mean trouble for all of them if he was found out by the anti-India protesters who regularly check IDs at highway roadblocks.
“I couldn’t lie,” the officer said. He managed to convince them he could pass undetected. “But deep down I was shattered, and scared, given how hard it is to hide one’s identity in this place.”
As Kashmir enters a third month of tense conflict marked by violent street clashes and almost daily protests, Indian government troops backed by local police are maintaining a tight security lockdown throughout the region.
That’s left the local Kashmiri police, tasked with patrolling the streets, gathering intelligence and profiling anti-India activists, feeling demoralized, afraid and caught in the middle between the Indian authorities who employ them and the friends and neighbors who question their loyalties.
The plainclothes officer in the taxi – one of 12 police officials who spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of both public reprisal and official retribution – managed to avoid detection until he reached his precinct in the main city of Srinagar.
But a few days later, he said, his colleague wasn’t so lucky. He was slapped and beaten, his clothing torn, at one of the protesters’ ad-hoc checkpoints, “let go only after some elders intervened.”
Many of Kashmir’s 100,000 or so police officers say they are facing increasing suspicion by locals since the July 8 killing of charismatic rebel leader Burhan Wani by Indian government forces sparked the latest unrest.
An ongoing curfew, a series of communication blackouts and the deployment of tens of thousands of Indian soldiers has so far failed to stop the protests against Indian rule. More than 70 civilians have been killed and thousands wounded, mostly by government forces firing bullets and shotgun pellets. Two local policemen have also been killed and hundreds other injured during the clashes. In recent weeks, Kashmir’s separatist leaders have begun calling the police out – naming individuals as having betrayed the Kashmiri community. When one officer was publicly accused of firing a shotgun at a protest rally last month, his family showed up at the home of separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani and pleaded for forgiveness.
Meanwhile, a police officer and four militants were killed in separate incidents Sunday in India-held Kashmir as hundreds of residents clashed with security forces in the region hit by weeks of deadly unrest.
Indian soldiers shot and killed four militants as they tried to cross the heavily militarised border that divides the disputed Himalayan region between India and Pakistan, an army official claimed.
“They tried to infiltrate into Nowgam sector and were intercepted. Four militants were killed and their AK rifles were recovered,” army spokesman NN Joshi claimed, referring to the area northwest of the main city of Srinagar.
Before the crack of dawn and before the protesters hit the streets to resume demands India leave Kashmir, he dressed like an ordinary man and made sure not to carry anything identifying him as police.
He joined six passengers in a shared taxi outside his village in a lush pine forest near the militarized boundary that divides the Himalayan region between India and Pakistan. A young woman asked if he was a policeman, warning that it could mean trouble for all of them if he was found out by the anti-India protesters who regularly check IDs at highway roadblocks.
“I couldn’t lie,” the officer said. He managed to convince them he could pass undetected. “But deep down I was shattered, and scared, given how hard it is to hide one’s identity in this place.”
As Kashmir enters a third month of tense conflict marked by violent street clashes and almost daily protests, Indian government troops backed by local police are maintaining a tight security lockdown throughout the region.
That’s left the local Kashmiri police, tasked with patrolling the streets, gathering intelligence and profiling anti-India activists, feeling demoralized, afraid and caught in the middle between the Indian authorities who employ them and the friends and neighbors who question their loyalties.
The plainclothes officer in the taxi – one of 12 police officials who spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of both public reprisal and official retribution – managed to avoid detection until he reached his precinct in the main city of Srinagar.
But a few days later, he said, his colleague wasn’t so lucky. He was slapped and beaten, his clothing torn, at one of the protesters’ ad-hoc checkpoints, “let go only after some elders intervened.”
Many of Kashmir’s 100,000 or so police officers say they are facing increasing suspicion by locals since the July 8 killing of charismatic rebel leader Burhan Wani by Indian government forces sparked the latest unrest.
An ongoing curfew, a series of communication blackouts and the deployment of tens of thousands of Indian soldiers has so far failed to stop the protests against Indian rule. More than 70 civilians have been killed and thousands wounded, mostly by government forces firing bullets and shotgun pellets. Two local policemen have also been killed and hundreds other injured during the clashes. In recent weeks, Kashmir’s separatist leaders have begun calling the police out – naming individuals as having betrayed the Kashmiri community. When one officer was publicly accused of firing a shotgun at a protest rally last month, his family showed up at the home of separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani and pleaded for forgiveness.
Meanwhile, a police officer and four militants were killed in separate incidents Sunday in India-held Kashmir as hundreds of residents clashed with security forces in the region hit by weeks of deadly unrest.
Indian soldiers shot and killed four militants as they tried to cross the heavily militarised border that divides the disputed Himalayan region between India and Pakistan, an army official claimed.
“They tried to infiltrate into Nowgam sector and were intercepted. Four militants were killed and their AK rifles were recovered,” army spokesman NN Joshi claimed, referring to the area northwest of the main city of Srinagar.
