22 civilians lost lives since army chief’s Feb warning
Two civilians were killed near an encounter site in Anantnag on Saturday, with police saying they were caught in the crossfire, even as the restive state saw a spike in civilian killings after the army talked tough.
Witnesses said hundreds of protesters had moved towards the site to save cornered militants when forces allegedly opened fire. Expressing grief over the incident, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti appealed to people “to keep away from the points of conflagration so that precious human lives are not lost”.
So far, 22 civilians — mostly protesters — have been killed ostensibly in firing by forces since February 15 when Army Chief General Bipin Rawat warned of stern action against civilians who would try to disrupt counter-insurgency operations.
Spot media reports of the 22 deaths, corroborated by rights activists in Kashmir, say the deaths were caused either by alleged firing by forces to quell protests or in some cases, as authorities said, by a stray bullet in cross firing. In some cases, witnesses claimed, the victims were not even stone pelters and were simply caught in the chaos.
The number of deaths is a steep rise from the figures of the corresponding period of February 14 to July 1 last year, which saw the killing of seven protesters.
From July 8, however, the Valley slipped into a state of unrest for over five months, registering 90 civilian deaths as forces fired bullets and pellets on protesters.
The first protester killed after the general’s warning was a 14-year-old boy, Amir Nazir, of Pulwama district, whose family says he was among hundreds who rushed to an encounter site at Padgampora on March 9 to pelt stones at security forces engaged in the gun battle, to distract them and help the militants escape.
April saw a major spike in civilian killings in forces’ firing with 10 protesters — including eight on the day of Lok Sabha bypoll for Srinagar constituency in Budgam — being killed. After the killing of Tawseef Wani near an encounter site in Pulwama last month, the Valley’s joint separatist leadership in a statement said the forces were provided with a licence to kill at will after the General’s warning.