Locals accuse troopers of loot, ransacking shops and houses

At a time when Indian Army lay stress to avoid collateral damage during any encounter with militants in Kashmir, the encounter between Government Forces and militants not only took the life of an innocent civilian but according to locals, the men in uniform went on a rampage shortly after the culmination of the encounter in Redwani hamlet of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Monday.

 “The shutters of our shops were damaged and the goods present there were looted and ransacked,” group of shopkeepers told CNS.

Manzoor Ahmed Dar owning a medical shop, Muhammad Ashraf Bhat, the proprietor of a readymade garments shop and Ghulam Nabi Wani the proprietor of a fertilizer store and others were seen busy in collecting their items lying in scattering form on the road. “My medical shop is at a long distance from the encounter site and yet I fail to understand why government forces broke the shutter and looted the medicines and cash there,” Manzoor Ahmed Dar said.

The proprietor of a readymade garments shop alleged that after failing curb and control the protesters, government troopers always target innocent people. “Look at these pants and shirts and sweaters. They all need washing and nobody will be ready to purchase them if I did the same. I still don’t know who many pants and shirts are missing from my shop,” Bhat said and demanded that stringent action should be taken against those men in uniform who harass people under the cover of gun fights.

It were not only shopkeepers that were targeted after the gun fight but handicapped Gul Muhammad Bhat of Redwani Bala alleged that after ransacking the goods in shops, troopers barged rushed upstairs and barged into his room where they not only beat him and his family mercilessly but also damaged the washing machine and other items. “I am physically unfit and can’t harm them (troopers) in any way. Look they did not even spare me and my family,” he lamented.

“Government forces especially Army have been under taking numerous initiatives to bridge the gap between men in uniform and common people in Kashmir. A singly folly on part of some indisciplined fellows spoil everything,” lamented an official.