The killing of seven civilians in the post gunfight clashes in Sirnoo village of Pulwama district is not the first incident of its kind but the killing of civilians in the aftermath gunfight with intolerable intensity have been witnessed at least thrice before the December15 incident in Sirnoo village of Pulwama district. We are repeatedly told about the police advisory the government has issued to appeal people to stay away from gunfight cites almost six months back but there is no word from the government on the intolerance government forces show in controlling angry crowds near the gunfight cites. Instead of using tear gas shells and opening fire in the air to avoid collateral damage the government forces are resorting to indiscriminate firing on angry crowds which is a brazen violation of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and the policy of restraint. The top functionaries of the police, paramilitary forces and army though reiterate it dozens of times that government forces are not happy to see civilians killed in the post gunfight clashes but blame the civilians for violating the advisory asking them to stay away from gunfight sites. Instead of hoping people to adhere to the advisory asking them to stay away from the gunfight sites the government forces can easily impose strict curfews in the areas the way it is imposed on the day when Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) calls for a protest march in Srinagar.
Instead of focusing attention on the policy of restraint required to avoid collateral damage in post gunfight clashes the State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by Governor Satya Pal Malik himself takes the controversial decisions on creation of new institutions at regional levels to generate an atmosphere of regional animosities in the state where restoration of the confidence of people in the working of government forces should have been the first priority.
Government forces choosing not to impose curfews in the areas where gunfights erupt to avoid collateral damage shows that they don’t tend to do what they say on the policy of restraint vis-à-vis the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and the police advisory asking people to stay away from the gunfight sites. Week after week we hear about the killing of civilians near the gunfight sites but we don’t hear about the change in a failed policy of the restraint vis-à-vis the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and the police advisory asking people to stay away from the gunfight sites. Instead of focusing attention on the policy of restraint required to avoid collateral damage in post gunfight clashes the State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by Governor Satya Pal Malik himself takes the controversial decisions on creation of new institutions at regional levels to generate an atmosphere of regional animosities in the state where restoration of the confidence of people in the working of government forces should have been the first priority. Better for Governor Satya Pal Malik to focus on restoration of public faith in the working of government forces and not on creating institutions at regional level to generate an atmosphere of regional animosities in the state.
