• by IPS Correspondents (srinagar)
• Friday, November 18, 1994
• Inter Press Service

SRINAGAR, Nov 18 (IPS) - AFTER DARK SRINAGAR, CAPITAL OF NORTHERN INDIAN KASHMIR, BEGINS RESEMBLING A GHOST TOWN AS SECURITY FORCES AND KASHMIRI SEPARATISTS HUNKER DOWN FOR ANOTHER NIGHT OF CONFRONTATION IN A DISASTROUS FIVE-YEAR OLD CIVIL WAR.

NOT A SOUL OF THE CITY'S ONE MILLION POPULATION STIRS. NO LIGHT SHOWS IN ANY OF THE POSH HOUSES ALONG THE BOULEVARDS OF THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OVERLOOKED BY SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS.

THE HOUSES HAVE BEEN PADLOCKED BY THOUSANDS FLEEING KASHMIRI MUSLIM SEPARATISTS FIGHTING OVER 1,50,000 INDIAN ARMY AND PARAMILITARY TROOPS FOR AN INDEPENDENT STATE, A THIRD OF WHICH IS HELD BY NEIGHBOURING PAKISTAN.

THE REMAINING PORTION OF KASHMIR IS ALSO CLAIMED BY PAKISTAN WHICH HAS TWICE BEEN TO WAR WITH INDIA OVER IT.

EVEN THE CROWDED DOWNTOWN AREA, SCARRED WITH BUILDINGS BLOWN UP BY MILITANTS OR THE SECURITY FORCES DURING THEIR FREQUENT CORDON-AND SEARCH OPERATIONS, REMAINS IN DARKNESS.

ANY MOVEMENT, HOWEVER SLIGHT, IS ENOUGH FOR MEN OF THE PARA - MILITARY BORDER SECURITY FORCE (BSF), TO INSTINCTIVELY RELEASE THE SAFETY CATCHES ON THEIR WEAPONS AND ASSUME FIRING POSITIONS BEHIND SANDBAGGED BUNKERS.

THE TENSION IN THE EERILY SILENT STREETS IS PALPABLE ALTHOUGH OFFICIALS CLAIM MILITANT ACTIVITY IN SRINAGAR HAS ABATED OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS. THE SEPARATISTS HAVE SHIFTED BASE TO THE COUNTRYSIDE, THE OFFICIALS SAY.

BUT EVEN DAYLIGHT DOES NOT DISPEL THE FEELING OF LIVING IN A WAR ZONE. FIRE FIGHTS BETWEEN BSF TROOPS AND KASHMIRI MILITANTS LIKE THE ONE NEAR THE AIRPORT SOME TWO WEEKS AGO WHICH LASTED TWO ENTIRE DAYS, ONLY RE - AFFIRM THIS NOTION.

SECURITY FORCES SAY THEY ARE PREVAILING OVER MILITANTS IN THE ONGOING INSURGENCY THAT HAS CLAIMED 10,000 LIVES, BUT THE NUMBER OF SOLDIERS AND SENIOR OFFICERS KILLED IN ANTI - MILITANT OPERATIONS ARE HIGHER THAN EVER BEFORE.

SINCE JANUARY , 103 BSF PERSONNEL DIED IN MILITANT CLASHES COMPARED WITH 93 FOR THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD LAST YEAR.

AND, THOUGH THE ARMY WAS LOATH TO PROVIDE ITS CASUALTY LIST, SAYING MORALE WOULD SUFFER, INTELLIGENCE SOURCES SAY AT LEAST 90 ARMY SOLDIERS AND OFFICERS WERE KILLED DURING INTERNAL SECURITY OPERATIONS IN KASHMIR IN 1994.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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