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In recent weeks, as anti-Indian rebel groups claimed to have launched attacks, a series of shootings by civilians has escalated tensions.
A spokesman for the Indian military said that in the deadliest incident since February, suspected insurgents shot and killed 5 soldiers in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
“A JCO (junior officer) and four soldiers may have been killed by infiltrators during a search operation… the operation is ongoing,” Colonel Devonde Anand said on Monday.
The shooting took place at a mountain pass near the Line of Control (LoC), which was divided by the disputed Himalayas between India and Pakistan.
The shooting was the deadliest attack on the military in the region since India and Pakistan declared a ceasefire along the de facto border in February.
Both India and Pakistan claim sovereignty over the entire Kashmir region. Since independence in 1947, they have managed parts of the Kashmir region.
For more than 30 years, rebel groups have been fighting Indian soldiers, demanding Kashmir’s independence or merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and insurgents were killed in the fighting. India accuses Pakistan of supporting the rebels, but Islamabad denies these allegations.
Since August 2019, the region has been affected by a legislative blitz, and tensions have soared after New Delhi abolished Kashmir’s semi-autonomy, applied new laws, and cancelled other laws.
A series of killings
In recent weeks, tensions have increased again A series of shootings Civilians, including two teachers in the area last week-an anti-Indian rebel group claimed to have launched an attack.
Seven civilians were shot and killed in six days last week, including two teachers on Thursday, which caused public outrage in Kashmir and across the country. Politicians on all sides condemned the killing.
Indian paramilitary personnel stood guard on the campus, and suspected insurgents killed two school teachers in the suburbs of Srinagar [Farooq Khan/EPA]On Sunday, a senior police officer who asked not to be named told AFP that after the shooting, nearly 500 residents suspected of ties to banned religious and rebel groups were detained in the disputed territory.
“Sparing no effort to find the murderer,” the official added.
New Delhi sent a senior counter-terrorism intelligence officer to the area to lead the investigation.
Authorities said that so far this year, at least 29 civilians have been shot dead in Indian-controlled Kashmir, including staff members of pro-Indian political parties.
The official added that 22 of them were Muslims.
The two teachers who were shot by gunmen in government-run schools came from Sikh and Hindu communities. They were ethnic minorities in Muslim-majority areas.
A relatively new rebel group, the Resistance Front, claimed responsibility for this and accused the deceased of working for “occupier mercenaries and occupier lackeys.”
These statements, which were only published in English, circulated in several WhatsApp groups, and Al Jazeera could not independently verify them.
These killings have caused fear among the ethnic minorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and local media reported that many people are fleeing the area.
On Saturday, Human Rights Watch called on the alleged perpetrators and Indian security forces accused of ill-treatment, including harassment, torture and extrajudicial executions, to be held accountable for their actions.
“Kashmiris are caught in endless violence due to militant attacks and abuse by government authorities and security forces,” Human Rights Watch’s South Asia director Meenakshi Ganguly said in a statement.
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