Bihar laborer shot dead in targeted killings in J&K

• ‘The Resistance Front’ claims responsibility for the majority of recent attacks in Kashmir.
• Two of the victims died on the spot, while the third was gravely injured.
• The new breed of Kashmiri militants is turning to asymmetric warfare to challenge security forces’ authority.

Two of the victims died on the spot, while the third was gravely injured, according to a senior police official. “Chunchun Reshi was taken to GMC Anantnag for treatment, and his status is stable,” officials said.

The shooting occurred in Kulgam, the hometown of Abbas Sheikh, the founder of the terrorist group ‘The Resistance Front,’ which has claimed responsibility for the majority of recent attacks in Kashmir on security forces and local and non-local minorities.

“In the Wanpoh region of #Kulgam, #Terrorists opened fire on #NonLocalLabourers indiscriminately.” Two non-locals were slain and one was injured in this #terror event. The area was blocked off by police and SFs. More information will be forthcoming. J&K Police tweeted, “@JmuKmrPolice.”

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A joint team of J&K Police’s SOG and Army arrived in the area shortly after the shooting and began searching, but the assailants had managed to depart the area. The attack has not been claimed by any extremist group.

The back-to-back killings of four non-locals in the last 24 hours have exacerbated the current worsening in Kashmir’s security climate, heightening the sense of dread and terror among non-local employees residing in Kashmir, who are increasingly becoming targets of militants.

Thousands of non-local employees, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Punjab, work as carpenters, barbers, painters, masons, and tailors in the Kashmir Valley’s skilled and non-skilled industries.

Soon after the Kulgam attack, an order purportedly issued by Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar circulated on social media, instructing his subordinate police officers to bring all non-local workers to the nearest police station, central paramilitary forces’ camp, or army establishments.

Chandigarh-based The “SOS message was transmitted to the police on the ground following intelligence reports that promised further such targeted strikes,” according to the Tribune. According to the English daily, “reliable sources stated Intel reports warned of militants targeting locations in the valley with a high density of laborers from outside the valley, including fruit and vegetable mandis.”

The directive was “false,” according to the J&K Police’s official Twitter feed, which quoted Inspector General Kumar. “Order instructing district police officials to shift non-local laborers to Police/Army camps is bogus: IGP Kashmir @JmuKmrPolice,” said the tweet, which was accompanied by a copy of the “fake order.”

According to Reuters, IG Kumar said that non-local workers were being relocated to safe locations. “I have asked officials to relocate the vulnerable as soon as possible,” Kumar said.

Two district police heads and a CRPF officer in Kashmir confirmed receiving the instruction, according to the Indian Express. When contacted by The Wire, IG Kumar stated that these allegations were “false.”

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According to the J&K Police, the increase in civilian deaths reflects a shift in strategy by Kashmiri militants, who are increasingly using “hybrid warfare” to attack “soft targets” via their overground networks.

According to sources, after losing their senior commanders in recent months in clashes with security forces, the new breed of Kashmiri militants is turning to asymmetric warfare to challenge security forces’ authority.

The recent wave of civilian killings in the Muslim-majority union territory has brought back memories of the early 1990s, when Kashmir Pandits, a minority Hindu community, were forced to flee the Valley following the outbreak of armed rebellion.

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