Kulgam mayhem

It was yet another bloody day for Kashmir. The horrible deaths and injuries of civilians on Sunday have seen streets of Kashmir smeared with blood of innocent civilians. At least seven persons were killed and around 50 others wounded in a blast in southern Kulgam district. The blast took place at an encounter site at Laroo village almost an hour after the gunfight between militants and security forces ended. The security forces used highly improvised ammunition and rockets to blow up the house militants had taken shelter in. Three militants were killed in the gunfight. As the security forces left the place, a huge crowd of local residents gathered on the encounter site to douse the fire the house had caught during the encounter: then occurred a sudden but enormous blast causing havoc.

Limbs of dead and injured persons scattered around, a person without hands; another person with visible chest bones; blood oozing out from the head of other injured persons; some motionless bodies lying here and there is what a journalist on the blood scene witnessed. The bloodbath has caused outrage across the valley. Politicians of all hues including pro India National Conference and PDP have come out with statements expressing anger over the bloody incident. The valley shut on Monday to mourn the death and injured. People used social media to express their anger against the killings. Killing of any person, more so when he or she is a civilian, is always a brute thing never to be condoned. The blame directly lies on the doors of the police and security forces that left unexploded ammunition behind. They left the encounter site without any thorough search for explosives which is mandatory under the Standard Operating Procedure. In 2011 the then government had asked the police, army, and paramilitary forces to draft a standard operating procedure for avoiding the loss of human life after IEDs remain undetected owing to non-clearance of debris at encounter sites. The government had instructed all deputy commissioners and the police to sensitize the people to the risk of visiting encounter sites before the debris is cleared. The most inhuman on the part of the police is that instead of expressing regret over the incident they put the onus the victims saying that the deaths were caused by the “non-cooperation” of the people. As the house was in flames, it was natural for the local residents to gather at the site and try dousing the flames. It is what they did. They did not gather there for some picnic. One must say that the police authorities exhibited extra degree of irresponsibility by putting the blame on the victims.

This capricious behavior of police authorities have added to the outrage caused by the Kulgam killings. Police authorities need to do some soul searching and demonstrate a human heart and face while dealing with common people.  Governor and his advisors should take note of the irresponsible and ruthless statement of some senior police officer regarding the incident. Given the amount of anger and outrage in the wake of the killings, it was expected that the people in government would realize their folly and discipline the forces, they only but added to the anger in the streets by their stupid stuff. The incident was avoidable had the police and other related forces acted responsibly. In the first place, they should not have left the place before it was cleared. But once they left, they should have warned residents not to visit the place before it was cleared. They could have used public address system of local mosque for asking people to remain away as they often use it during search operations. By putting blame on the people, they are simply demonstrating their inhuman mindset.