Hyderabad: Not a single stone pelting incident or protest has been reported in the Kashmir valley in the last 48 hours. This is the first time that the valley remained completely protest-free for two consecutive days during the last 51 days of lockdown in the Valley, which began on August 5, the day the Centre scrapped Article 370 and bifurcated the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories.
However, while the Valley remained silent, hectic activity has been recorded from across the Line of Control (LoC) in the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), where terror training camps have restarted and terror infrastructure like launch pads have been readied for infiltration.
Sources in the Jammu and Kashmir administration told Deccan Chronicle that the daily situation report (DSR) of the last two days had “nil reports” of stone pelting and protests in the Valley. The DSR gives district-wise data of the incidents, every day.
About 200 incidents of stone pelting were recorded between August 5 to 24, in which, about 60 CRPF personnel were injured. The stone pelting incidents rose by another 175 till September 22, taking total number of stone pelting incidents to 375, since August 5.
While close to 100 personnel were injured, an equal number of people who participated in protests were also injured. While some of them were hit by pellets, others were injured when forces used slingshots and teargas shells to disperse the protesters. The security forces describe a majority of stone pelting incidents as “minor” in nature.
However, in a majority of stone pelting incidents, the protesters are unable to mobilise large number of people owing to the suspension of internet connectivity and mobile phone services.
“In the last few weeks, only small groups of people pelted stones and then vanished into nearby lanes and by-lanes,” a CRPF official said.
There have been a few incidents where protesters hurled petrol bombs, which resulted in minor injuries. Due to severe restrictions in place, gathering large number of people has been rendered impossible, which has ensured peace in the Valley.
Though security forces are upbeat about two incident-free days, they know it will not last long.
“September 27 is a critical day as Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be addressing the UN General Assembly session and the focus would be on Kashmir and the scrapping of Article 370. We are expecting some trouble but do not anticipate anything major as precautionary restrictions are in place,” an official said.
Asked what could be the reasons for protesters not to resort to violence in last two days, another official explained that people were “lowly realizing that violent protests will not help anymore.”
However, while the Valley remained calm for last two days, forces have picked up hectic activity across the LoC in PoK where, over the last few days, all terror training camps and infrastructure has restarted.
“All training camps are active. A lot of activity has been noticed over last 20 days. We expect massive infiltration attempts in days to come,” officials said.
