by Farzana Nisar
Srinagar: Residents of Kakapora and adjoining areas of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district are witnessing the scenes of 90’s as the government forces have tightened the noose in and adjoining villages of Kakapora area of Pulwama.
Passengers coming from different villages of Pulwama district are asked to get down of the vehicles near Kakapora army camp and identity cards are being asked to display causing a lot of inconvenience to the commuters.
Residents of Kakapora and other commuters have complained of stringent frisking by government forces and expressed resentment over harassment by them.
Stopping of the vehicle is what we have witnessed in the era of the nineties, said Mukhtar Ahmed, a resident of Pulwama. “This is the renewal of the 1990s, even the older and sick persons are not spared”, he added.
With a couple of incidents of Cordon and Search operations in the area, the residents compare frisking with the crackdown era of the nineties.
Expressing resentment over harassment at the hands of the army, locals allege that people who do not have their identity cards with them are sometimes beaten and abused.
Local sources said that government forces while stopping the vehicles ask the passengers to come down and checked their identity proofs.
“They stop the vehicles every day and ask us to get down. If they think they can maintain peace by wasting our precious time, then they are wrong”, said Altaf Ahmad, a daily passenger from Murran Chowk Pulwama.
“We are being asked to prove our identity on daily basis and by mistake, if one has forgotten his identity proof the person lands into trouble,” he added.
However, when contacted Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pulwama, Mohammad Aslam, he said that the presence of militants in South Kashmir cannot be ruled out. “We have specific information regarding the increase of militant activities in the area. The frisking is for security reasons and people need to cooperate.”
(The photograph used in this story is representational)
