Molotov cocktails (petrol bombs) are the next threat security forces in Jammu & Kashmir are wary of as the establishment fears their use by stone pelters in the coming days in their bid to “take violence to the next level” in the next few weeks.
Bracing for these attacks, security forces have been directed not to treat this as a “normal” way of protest and deal with the threat “appropriately.”
While stone pelting by the misguided youth is part of protests in the strife-torn Kashmir valley for the last few years, miscreants resorting to Molotov cocktail will be a new phenomenon. Molotov cocktail is an incendiary weapon which may be petrol bomb, fire bomb or benzene torch. Since these bombs are simple to make, Intelligence reports suggest that troublemakers are likely to use them to trigger mass scale violence.
Faced with this scenario, officials said on Saturday it could pose serious problems for the security forces especially when engaged in an encounter. Elaborating upon the risks involved, they said while stone injuries generally are not very serious, exploding Molotov cocktails can lead to fatal wounds.
Given such possibilities, operational commanders in the next few days will apprise their troops engaged in counter-terrorist operations to deal with the situation “appropriately”. As it is, security forces, including the Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and local police, are bearing the brunt of stone pelting.
In one such incident earlier this week in Budgam, three civilians were killed when crowds converged on an encounter site and started pelting stones forcing the forces to open fire.
Sixty CRPF and policemen were injured in stone throwing.
In fact, such attacks on security personnel at encounter sites have increased in the last few months thereby providing an opportunity to terrorists to escape. last month, at least three terrorists managed to escape from the encounter site during the confusion caused by the stone pelting crowds. Figures indicate that at least 25 terrorists evaded capture in 12 encounters in the last eight-nine months when the security forces were forced to fight a two-pronged battle with crowds and terrorists.
Expecting a “hot summer” this year, security forces are apprehensive that if miscreants start hurling Molotov cocktails, situation may take a serious turn. Determined to deny terrorists gain an upper hand through such tactics, commanders will be forced to take stringent steps, sources said.
Against this backdrop of youngsters surrounding operational areas in thickly populated areas of South Kashmir, Director General of Jammu & Kashmir Police S Vaid had urged them to refrain from doing so. He had warned that rushing to an encounter site was “suicidal” as bullets do not identify an innocent or a miscreant in such situations.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has charged Pakistan of using social media and WhatsApp to instigate the youth in Kashmir to storm encounter sites to help holed-up terrorists flee. Making this observation in the lok Sabha, he had said the region had seen a new trend of late in which the youth from nearby villages gather at the encounter sites and pelt stones.
Also, Singh appealed to youth not to get swayed propaganda launched by Pakistan through the social media.