Boots Off The Ground

Many argue that demilitarisation would help build confidence in Kashmir.

- Naseer Ganai in Srinagar

IT can happen at any time. Amid an uneasy calm, they go about their business, identity cards always at the ready in a déjà vu harking back a quarter of a century. Fear prevails as they look over their shoulders, knowing that the soldiers might emerge at any moment from their camps planted deep in the poplar fields and apple orchards. The people know they mustn’t be caught with any damning evidence—and this is where the new age shows its face and we see that it’s not just a flashback, as they make sure to erase from their mobile phones any photographs or videos of militants, and indeed anything relating to the conflict.

This is reality in south Kashmir. The numbers of security forces deployed in the Valley are going up each year, according to official sources. Shopian district, which has a high militant presence, saw six camps established last year. Besides the permanent camps, the south Kashmir landscape is dotted with makeshift and mobile bunkers. The security forces have entrenched themselves in civilian areas over the past three years and carry out frequent operations. Cordon and Search Operations (CASO) are now so common that the acronym has entered the popular lexicon. The police say this helps keep militants in check, and there is a litany of outrages against civilians and policemen that they can point to. During the Ramzan ceasefire, militant-related incidents increased by more than 100 per cent from the previous month, while grenade attacks went up by 80 per cent, and around 25 youths were recruited.