Security forces have detained over 700 people in Jammu and Kashmir in response to the killing of seven civilians, including those from the Kashmiri Pandit, Sikh and Muslim communities, in six days.
Several of these detained are believed to own links to the banned Jamaat-e-Islami or are suspected overground workers (OGW), and are available from Srinagar, Budgam or other areas in southern Kashmir.
A senior lawman told that they’d been detained to “break the chain of attacks within the (Kashmir) Valley”. The officer also said the attacks may are fuelled by a rise in radicalism following the Taliban’s rise to power, which the killers were going after “easy” targets.
The murders have sparked outrage within the already tense Kashmir Valley, with opposition leaders fiercely critical of the administrations’ apparent inability to prevent the attacks and locals living in fear.
On Thursday, National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said that innocent people are dying and demanded the govt. re-assess polices. Mr Abdullah also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to go to the Valley and offer reassurances to those living there.
Dozens of scared Kashmiri Pandit families living in transit camps have already fled the Valley.
The most recent deaths were of two government schoolteachers – Supunder Kour (a Sikh) and Deepak Chand (a Hindu), who were shot dead by gunmen in Srinagar on Thursday.
“The pistol-wielding men came… asked for ID cards of teachers and fired at two… one each from the minority Sikh and Hindu community,” press agency Reuters quoted a schoolteacher as saying.
On Tuesday, Makhan Lal Bindroo, 70, the owner of a pharmacy in Srinagar’s Iqbal Park, was shot at inside his store. He was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
A Kashmiri Pandit, Mr Bindroo stayed in Kashmir even during the 1990s – the height of terrorism.
Two others killed on Tuesday were Mohammad Shafi, a taxi driver in Bandipora, and Virender Paswan from Bihar, a street food vendor in Srinagar.
Police have attributed most attacks to “The Resistance Front” – reportedly an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba. they need also said seven of the 28 civilians killed since January are non-Muslims.
On Thursday the house Ministry sent a team of senior officers to Kashmir to supervise operations. This was after Home Minister Amit Shah held a gathering and reportedly criticised local officials.
J&K elected official Manoj Sinha has condemned the killings and warned terrorists that a “befitting reply” are given to those found involved within the attacks
