Kakapora residents accuse army of attempting to torch militant’s house

Pulwama: A shocking purported video that has gone viral shows how locals of Gundibagh village of Kakapora in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district have been accusing army of attempting to set the house of a local militant on fire.
In the disturbing video, the locals can be seen claiming that soldiers from Kakapora camp tried to set the whole village on fire.
The residents alleged that army personnel from a nearby camp surfaced in the village in the dead of night and tried to torch the house of Jaish-e-Muhammad millitant Adil alias Waqas Commando.
“The army put some paddy hay around the house, sprinkled kerosene, and then set it aflame,” alleged locals.
He said some neighbours noticed the fire and immediately put it out.
The purported video of the incident has gone viral on social media in which people could be seen putting out the fire. A man could be heard appealing the people to spread the video as much as possible.
The youth who has shot the video shows the windows sprinkled with kerosene oil while amid sounds of wailing, a woman could be seen cursing army soldiers for the act.
Locals said that ‘unbridled’ army soldiers tried to create fear psychosis among villagers. “It was a cowardice act on part of shrewd soldiers who are fond of harassing common unarmed people than to face armed militants,” said a visibly angry elderly man.
Pertinently, a soldier and a civilian were killed when militants attacked Kakapora based army camp on May 27.Since then according to locals, army soldiers can be frequently seen patrolling in different villages.
Meanwhile, the Gundibagh incident sparked protest and clashes in Kakapora. Reports said that police lobbed tear-smoke shells to disperse the protesting youth who raised anti-army slogans. “The shameless establishment has been giving free hand to soldiers to harass and torture common people in Kashmir while at the same time expects peace to prevail across Valley. In Nehma the army damaged property worth lakhs while in Shopian besides ransacking houses, these unaccountable soldiers chopped off apple trees. Now, here in Kakapora, they tried to set the village on fire without any provocation,” said the locals of Gundhibagh.
SSP Pulwama Muhammad Aslam Choudhary said that police have taken cognizance of the incident. “We have registered a case and started an inquiry into the incident,” he said.
Srinagar based Defense Spokesperson, Colonel Rajesh Kalia while terming the allegations baseless said that not a single soldier can be seen in the video that has gone viral. “These are only allegations while the fact is that army has nothing to do with the incident,” he added.