Stone-pelting in Valley claims life of tourist from Chennai
Elite forces will take on insurgency and train state cops
A tourist died in stone pelting on the Srinagar-Gulmarg road in Narbal area of central Kashmir on Monday, according to police officials.
The pelting occurred in protest over Sunday’s killing of 10 people — five militants and an equal number of civilians — in the southern district of Shopian.
Officials identified the deceased as 21-year-old Thirumani of Chennai. They said he was hit by a stone on his head and was taken to the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) where he succumbed.
“He was hit by a stone in his forehead and was severely wounded. Now he has succumbed,” said an official at police control room, Kashmir.
Director general of Police, Shesh Paul Vaid confirmed the death. The DGP said that a local girl was also injured.
“It is very sad and heartbreaking,” chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said. “Let’s try and wrap our heads around the fact that we stoned a tourist, a guest, to death,” said former chief minister Omar Abdullah.
NEWDELHI: The Union Home Ministry has approved the deployment of elite counter-terror force National Security Guards (NSG) in Kashmir as part of the counterinsurgency (CI) grid, officials in the ministry said on condition of anonymity, adding that this would provide an opportunity for the special force to keep its skills sharp even as it reduces casualties in security forces in the state that may not be equipped to handle all situations.
The NSG has also been asked to train both the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) State Police and the CRPF in counter-terror operations in densely populated areas. That this was being considered was first reported by the Hindustan Times on April 4.
Home secretary Rajiv Guaba on May 4 issued written directions to national security agencies to the effect that Black Cat commandos will be part of the CI grid in Srinagar city as a first step and will also train the two forces within city jurisdiction.
The instructions have been communicated to both DG NSG Sudeep Laktakia and DG, Jammu and Kashmir Police, S P Vaid.
In this context, DG NSG is sending a senior officer team to meet Director General of Police Vaid to assess the requirement of personnel and the kind of counter-insurgency training needed.
The NSG is India’s elite counter-terror force with around 10,000 men, directly recruited and on deputation from Army, at its command.
According to the Home Ministry officials, the NSG will undertake high-risk house intervention operations, which are aimed at flushing out terrorists and suicide attackers holed up in dense localities in Srinagar and other strife torn towns.
While the Central Reserve Police Force does conduct house intervention operations, this has a high human cost particularly when the adversary is all ready to die. The army avoids this highrisk operations due to the human costs involved and tries to neutralize the holed up terrorists by bringing down the building itself.
The National Security Guards will use state-of-the-art weapons including “through the wall” radars, sniper rifles and corner shot assault weapons, and demolition experts trained for such interventions.