The Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to act tough on protesters, who have been on the streets for over 100 days now, and has decided to arrest within two weeks more than 8,000 new troublemakers it has identified, official sources have told this newspaper.
Director General, Police (Law and Order), S.P. Vaid said on Wednesday that intelligence agencies were investigating any possible role of ex-militants in the present unrest. In night raids carried out by the police with the help of the Army and the security forces in the last three days, over 600 people from different parts of the valley have been arrested on the charges of creating disturbances on the streets of Kashmir. According to human rights activists, the government since 9 July has arrested more than 25,000 people. But the police contended they have arrested 6,000.
The Army on Tuesday arrested 44 persons in a joint search operation in old Baramulla in North Kashmir after cracking down on the area for 72 hours. Midnight raids in Chattabal area of Srinagar resulted in protests on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday. Similar clashes were reported from Shopian where recently 37 CRPF and police personnel were injured. Meanwhile, National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah has said that the government is clueless about restoration of normalcy. Senior PDP leader and MP from Baramulla, Muzaffar Hussein Beig has accused the NC of hatching a conspiracy with some serving J&K police officers to topple the Mehbooba Mufti coalition government. Burhan Wani was killed in a controversial encounter on 8 July, he said, with an aim to topple the Mehbooba government by creating mass unrest. Meanwhile, the government has sacked 13 government employees after feedback from the CID and other intelligence wings that they were participating in the protests. But the Employees Joint Action Committee has threatened to launch a mass agitation if the government failed to reinstate them.