Cordon-and-search operations return to Valley after 15 years
SRINAGAR: Cordon-and-search operations are back in Kashmir after 15 years, the state police chief said on Wednesday, as a sharp rise in the number of local youth joining militant ranks forced security forces to change their anti-insurgency strategy in the Valley.
Officials said the cordon-andsearch operations — which involve security personnel going door to door — was launched overnight at Heff and Shirmal villages in Shopian district, where an army officer was abducted and killed by suspected Hizbul Mujahideen militants last week. The operations concluded on Wednesday morning.
Though a similar cordon-andsearch operation – known as CASO among security forces – was carried out last week in Shopian, the official confirmation was made on Wednesday by Jammu and Kashmir director general police SP Vaid.
CASO was abandoned in 2002 after widespread public resentment over entire villages being cleared out and the people paraded in front of “informers” to pick out militants or their sympathisers. Kashmir has been on the boil since last year when the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani sparked violent street protests, which saw security forces retaliate in equal measure.
With anti-India sentiments rising, the Valley has also been witnessing sporadic student protests in capital Srinagar over alleged rights abuses by forces.
Vaid said the operations are “part of a larger strategy to flush out militants in south Kashmir”, identified as the epicentre of antiIndia protests and militant activities. He said they will continue.
Search operations will be carried out in militancy-hit areas such as Kulgam, Pulwama, Tral, Shopian and Budgam, sources said. The decision to make CASO a permanent feature of army’s anti-terror operations in Kashmir also came after the killing of Lt Ummer Fayaz.
Last week, nearly 4,000 police and army personnel took part in CASO across two dozen villages in Shopian. Unmanned drones and army helicopters were part of the operations.
Former Kashmir police chief Javeed Gillani recently said that around 200 militants are active in Kashmir, of which 110 are local youth, most of them drawn to militancy over the past few months.
Analysts say the growing antiIndia sentiments in south Kashmir – the native place of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti – was due to her aligning with the rightwing BJP. “Most of the militants operate from their own villages or neighbouring villages where an effort to catch them generally meets serious resistance,” said a police official who did not want to be named.