Kashmiri police face public wrath amid anti-India uprising

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Before the crack of dawn and before the protesters hit the streets to resume demands India leave Kashmir, he dressed like an ordinary man and made sure not to carry anything identifying him as police.

He joined six passengers in a shared taxi outside his village in a lush pine forest near the militarized boundary that divides the Himalayan region between India and Pakistan. A young woman asked if he was a policeman, warning that it could mean trouble for all of them if he was found out by the anti-India protesters who regularly check IDs at highway roadblocks.

“I couldn’t lie,” the officer said. He managed to convince them he could pass undetected. “But deep down I was shattered, and scared, given how hard it is to hide one’s identity in this place.”

As Kashmir enters a third month of tense conflict marked by violent street clashes and almost daily protests, Indian government troops backed by local police are maintaining a tight security lockdown throughout the region.

That’s left the local Kashmiri police, tasked with patrolling the streets, gathering intelligence and profiling anti-India activists, feeling demoralized, afraid and caught in the middle between the Indian authorities who employ them and the friends and neighbors who question their loyalties.

The plainclothes officer in the taxi — one of 12 police officials who spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of both public reprisal and official retribution — managed to avoid detection until he reached his precinct in the main city of Srinagar.

But a few days later, he said, his colleague wasn’t so lucky. He was slapped and beaten, his clothing torn, at one of the protesters’ ad-hoc checkpoints, “let go only after some elders intervened.”

Many of Kashmir’s 100,000 or so police officers say they are facing increasing suspicion by locals since the July 8 killing of charismatic rebel leader Burhan Wani by Indian government forces sparked the latest unrest.

An ongoing curfew, a series of communication blackouts and the deployment of tens of thousands of Indian soldiers has so far failed to stop the protests against Indian rule. More than 70 civilians have been killed and thousands wounded, mostly by government forces firing bullets and shotgun pellets. Two local policemen have also been killed and hundreds other injured during the clashes.

In recent weeks, Kashmir’s separatist leaders have begun calling the police out — naming individuals as having betrayed the Kashmiri community. When one officer was publicly accused of firing a shotgun at a protest rally last month, his family showed up at the home of separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani and pleaded for forgiveness.

The family of another officer accused of fatally shooting a protester fled their Srinagar home after it was covered with graffiti reading “Killer” along with the officer’s name.

Police stations are being attacked with stones and gasoline bombs.

At least a dozen stations have been damaged, including four burnt down. Officers’ families are facing harassment including public jeering and verbal abuse.

“We get panic calls from our families about our well-being,” said a senior police official who commands some 4,000 officers in the region. “The situation is quite grim, and we’re caught between the devil and the deep sea. It takes a lot of effort to keep my men motivated.”

More than 20 have seen their own sons detained for participating in anti-India protests, according to a senior officer who said he facilitated their release.

“Orders flow from the top, from Indian officers who have no stakes here,” the officer said. “We’re just earning a living. We are hostages to our livelihood.”

For some, the stress of being in a position deemed traitorous has proven to be too much.