Kashmir is at the brink of unrest again with the police absolutely clueless about more than a hundred cases of alleged chopping of braids of girls, elderly women, minors that have taken place in the past few weeks.
The police on Friday said that they will make the victims take a lie detection test and narco-analysis test as they suspect in many cases the victims have raised a false alarm. “Braid chopping incidents so far have brought us to the conclusion that either they are patients of depression or attention seekers,” said director general of state police S.P. Vaid. When he was asked why the police has failed to arrest the culprits, he said that the cops have “no magic wands to solve such mysterious cases” in which there were no witnesses and little cooperation from the victims. Opposition National Conference and the separatist leaders are already holding anti-government protests. A senior police officer told this reporter that at many places they have lodged FIRs against political workers for inciting mobs to violence and thrash innocent persons. In Srinagar the police arrested six persons for spreading rumours and posting false news on the social media about the condition of alleged victims of braid chopping. The timely action by the police in the interiors of the Dal Lake saved six foreign tourists, after they were surrounded by a mob who mistook them for braid-choppers.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti held several high level meetings with different wings of the state police and told them to prevent the situation from going out of control. On Thursday, Mehbooba Mufti said that braid chopping incidents were being used to create mass hysteria and to undermine the dignity of women. One of her ministers told this reporter that the hand of opposition parties and separatists cannot be ruled out in these incidents. He said that they have credible inputs that the opposition parties were involved in organising women’s protests.
The separatists have blamed Central government agencies for these acts, as an attempt to divert attention from the basic political issue of Kashmir. The police admitted that more and more women are taking to the streets demanding the arrest of the culprits as soon as possible.