A blast which could have been avoided by a few hour curfew has blasted as many as seven innocents and it looked as if government was running out of ideas to follow the procedure of restraint to avoid collateral damage. Police takes the refuge under its advisory it has issued to appeal people to restrain from going to encounter sites in the aftermath of gunfights but it does not think about imposing a strict curfew to restrain marches of people from their localities to encounter sites the way they restrain people to take out protest marches on the call of pro-freedom leadership again and again. So taking the refuge under its advisory asking people to restrain from going to encounter sites does not mean police has no other alternative course of action to stop people from going to encounter sites during or after the encounters. The counter militancy specialists having advised both the central and the state governments to revive the policy of cordons and search operations (CASO) that was enforced in early nineties owe an explanation for their inabilities to advise government on measures required to keep people away from the gunfight sites before or after the gunfights. Since last three years the policy of cordon and search operations (CASO) is being followed vehemently in Kashmir but the number of civilians killed in the aftermath of gunfights would be most probably double the number of militants killed in gunfights in last three years.
The conduct of the government forces in the aftermath of gunfights near the gunfight sites matters and has to be changed to ensure that no civilian is killed in post gunfight clashes at the gunfight sites.
Not even a single case of the killing of any civilian in post gunfight clashes has been probed so for in last three years and had even a single case of killing of any civilian been probed and guilty been punished the blast at Laroo Kulgam won’t have blasted seven civilians and injured critically dozens of other innocent people. Unfortunately government talks about reaching out to youth but it reaches out to youth with bullets, pellets and explosions. Recently Governor Satya Pal Malik has said that militants can’t expect bouquets for bullets they fire on government forces but he did not bother to say that should government forces expect bouquets and not stones for bullets they fire on innocents in the aftermath of gunfights at the gunfight sites in Kashmir. In fact the conduct of the government forces in the aftermath of gunfights near the gunfight sites matters and has to be changed to ensure that no civilian is killed in post gunfight clashes at the gunfight sites.
