19 policemen killed in Kashmir since August

Azhar Qadri
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, December 12

As insurgency has escalated over the last two years in the Kashmir valley, spreading to all its 10 districts and militants managing a steady flow of local recruits, the police have faced the major brunt with 19 cops getting killed in the past five months.

The police have suffered from increased militant attacks and threats of abductions, most of them in the volatile south Kashmir districts. Officials in the police department said August was the most violent month of the year for the police when eight policemen were killed, including the four who were shot dead by militants when they were repairing their vehicle at a market in Shopian district of south Kashmir.

Four cops – among them three special police officers who were abducted from their houses in Shopian and later shot dead by militants — were killed in September. November was the only exception when the police faced zero casualties, the officials said.

The latest attack against policemen took place yesterday when four policemen at the guard post of a minority community neighbourhood were killed by militants in Shopian.

The police casualties during the past five months included policemen who had taken leave to visit home. A sub-inspector who was heading home in his car in October was waylaid near south Kashmir’s Pulwama district and shot dead.

To counter the threat of attacks and abduction against policemen, the authorities had issued several advisories which directed them not to visit home. The advisory, several police officers said, was not easy to follow.

“It is impossible to convince anyone not to visit home. What is the purpose of doing a job if one cannot go home and spend time with family?” a mid-rung police officer said.

Munir Khan, Additional Director General of Police, said there was a need to rethink on measures to ensure more safety for cops. “We will have to think how to be more safe… we will have to see how to improve the safety,” Khan said.

Casualty count
August 8
September 4
October 3
November 0
December 4