In less than a month, army has established two new camps in Shopian district, a move strongly resented by local residents. The force maintains that the camps were aimed at curtailing the movement of militants.
The newer installation has come up in Dhobipora area and it has been set up in a play field - a move being resented by residents. Earlier, Army’s 62 Rashtriya Rifles set up a camp in a building of Public Health Engineering (PHE) department in Nagisharen village.
Superintendent of Police Shopian, Ambarkar Shriram Dinkar, told Greater Kashmir that it was a matter related to army, and not police.
His comments came despite the fact that no security force can establish camp in any district without prior permission of the concerned SP as the counterinsurgency forces like army’s RR and paramilitary forces are here to assist the local police.
The residents resent the establishment of the new camps. “It will have adverse impact on our daily lives,” said a group of affected villagers, who called Greater Kashmir over telephone.
They stated that only a day after establishing camp in Nagisharen, army personnel beat up residents of the village, a charge denied by the army.
On the other hand, army said that these bases will help them in ensuring area domination. “The move is aimed at curtailing the free movement of militants across Shopian, Kulgam and Pulwama districts that have emerged as militant influenced zones,” said an army official. “The camps have come up after a spate of attacks on security forces.”
On May 4, army carried out a day-long search operation spanning nearly two dozen villages and involving more than 4,000 soldiers in Shopian district. However, no arrests were made. After the operation ended, militants in the evening attacked an army patrol leading to the death of a civilian driver and injury to some soldiers.
An army spokesman said here that this is a “routine re-deployment based on operational requirement.”
