Amid spate of killings of non-local workers in the Kashmir Valley, the Jammu and Kashmir police issued directive to all police stations to bring all “non-local labourers” to the nearest police station, or Army or Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) camps.
Vijay Kumar, Inspector General, (Kashmir division), however, told The Hindu that the order was “fake.”
There was no clarity if a First Information Report (FIR) was being lodged to trace the persons who allegedly circulated the “fake” order.
As a copy of the order circulated on social media triggered panic, it being a tourist season, the police distanced themselves from the missive that was sent to all district police stations and offices of the Deputy Inspector General in the Kashmir division.
Explaining the rationale behind the unprecedented order, a senior government official said, “there has been several inputs to target non-locals over the past 2-3 months. In the wake of serial killings, it is better to provide them security. For the time being, if they feel secure living in a security camp, they can do so.”
The series of attacks on civilians come days before Home Minister Amit Shah is to make his maiden visit to Srinagar and Jammu after Article 370 that gave special status to the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir was read down by Parliament in August 2019. The State was bifurcated into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Targeted attacks
Officials of several Central agencies were rushed to the Valley after three civilians — a Kashmiri Pandit pharmacist, a street vendor from Bihar and a taxi operator from Bandipora — were killed in targetted attacks on October 5.
The Resistance Front (TRF), which the police believe is a front for the Pakistan-based Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Islamic State in Jammu and Kashmir, claimed responsibility for the killings.
On October 16, Mr. Kumar in a press statement said that “13 terrorists have been eliminated in nine anti-terrorist operations including three out of five terrorists of Srinagar city who were killed within less than 24 hours.”
The statement added that as of now “only two terrorists were active in Srinagar city — Mehran and Wasim” — and efforts were on to nab them.
