On November 3, 2014, army opened fire on a private vehicle without provocation or intimidation killing two civilians on the spot and injuring other two. The first thing that came out of the panic ridden Chattergam in Budgam district was reports that tried to justify the cold blooded murder. Without losing any time or confirming facts a reputed Delhi based news gathering agency dubbed the unfortunate duo as militants who have been successfully eliminated by the army in an encounter.

The report not only puts a question mark on the credibility of the news gathering agency but also exposes the haste and carelessness that is being employed while reporting Kashmir. Within no time all New Delhi based leading newspapers were humming the same lines without confirming the facts. The reports were only corrected when army through it PRO regretted the loss of civilian lives in yet another case of mistaken identity.

It is not for the first time that army has killed civilians in ‘mistaken identity’ encounters in conflict ridden Kashmir; there are numerous incidents where army has used brutal force without confirming the identity of the victims.

In July this year army allegedly killed a 17 year boy named Irfan Ahmad Ganie in Markundal Village in Bandipora district in the wee hours of morning. Though the army denied firing any shots or killing the teenager, it had admitted to have cordoned the area for military operations.

With complete impunity under controversial AFSPA, army acts virtually without any accountability. In case of recent Chattergam killings army could have avoided casualties if only they would have acted with restrain – a word that is often used after loss of civilian lives.

There is no way to make people feel secure in their respective areas while travelling after dark as the threat of becoming another mistaken identity case always looms large. It looks like the entire Kashmir is turned into an active war zone as soon as the sun sets. Kashmiris have learned to stay away from peril’s way in last two decades of conflict but not concealing their identities as humans. What if the same ‘mistaken identity’ encounter involving civilians would have happened in any part of mainland India, would the killers had still been shielded by the media? There is immediate need to rein in on the triggers of army so that no civilian is killed just because a person in uniform felt threatened by their movement or presence on a road meant for public. The first step in restoring the faith of people is to give them some breathing space. A space that has been shrunken by the overwhelming presence of men in uniform in areas meant for civil inhabitation.

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