The Central government has drawn up plans to quell unrest in Kashmir since the encounter death of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on July 8. Sources said the government has drawn up plans to silence the violent protests within two weeks by carrying out intelligence-based counter intelligence operations (CI Ops) to weed out the militants who, exploiting the over two-month-long unrest, have milled among the protesters. The government move follows a briefing by intelligence agencies that the protests are increasingly having religious overtones that may prepare a fertile ground for IS elements.
The Army is concentrating in south Kashmir first since there is a total erosion of the state machinery as the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have vacated their stations and camps for fear of being overrun by the violent mob of protesters. "Our analysis shows that most of the violent protests in south Kashmir coincide with the movement of terrorists as much of the stone-pelting is being organised and encouraged by militants who have infiltrated," a top security official said.
At the same time, the Army will increase its vigilance and mount CI Ops along the Line of Control (LoC) and villages and towns close to it to stop further infiltration of militant and terrorists from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). According to estimates by security agencies, the unrest has proved counterproductive to check infiltration due to the Army's repositioning in some areas.
"The Army would be withdrawn to the barracks once the law-and-order situation is restored and the state police and CRPF get back to their usual role by reclaiming positions. This should not take more than two weeks," sources added.
While dealing tough with the "trouble maker" resistance groups, the government has asked the administration to show compassion to the "gullible youth" who have been instigated to join the protests but do not have any criminal background otherwise. Trying to widen the government's outreach effort, Union home minister Rajnath Singh has ordered an inter-ministerial committee to resolve the grievances of students from J&K studying outside the state.
As per government estimates, about 9,000 students from J&K are availing the Prime Minister's scholarship scheme. Some students had complained that their scholarship money was not being released. Officials said that, in most cases, the money was not released because of incomplete forms and admissions in institutes which are not recognised.
Rajnath Singh and human resources development minister Prakash Javadekar met about 30 students on September 7.
Clamp down on valley for Eid
A grenade attack by terrorists in Anantnag's Sherbagh police station killed one civilian and left 14 people including three cops critically wounded shortly after the state government decided to impose curfew in all 10 Kashmir districts to prevent any outbreak of violence. The valley did not see any Eid festivities on Tuesday with the state, after a high-level meeting of all security agencies, deciding to use drones, choppers and high-resolution cameras to monitor the situation and prevent movement of separatists, violent mobs and protesters during Eid. The decision was taken following a call by the separatists for a march to the Srinagar office of the UN, officials said. This would be the first time in 26 years since the onset of militancy in 1990 that there would be no Eid gatherings at Idgah and Hazratbal. The state also ordered shutdown of internet services of all telecom networks and mobile telephony except state-run BSNL for the next 72 hours.
The Army has been put on standby and will step in if there is fresh outbreak of violence. Troops have already been stationed at vantage points in rural areas which have a history of violent protests.
