New Delhi:
The Army has been called in to help restore calm and strictly enforce curfew in Srinagar, which saw fresh violence on Tuesday. In New Delhi, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) met today to discuss the Kashmir situation and Union Home Secretary GK Pillai and the Director General of Military Operations will visit Srinagar to review law and order.
Sources said after Wednesday's meeting of the CCS the committee had endorsed the deployment of the Army, which was done on a formal request from the Omar Abdullah government. An overnight order after consultations between the state government and the Centre cleared the use of the Army.
Sources have told NDTV that the Army's primary role will be to restore law and order and that it has a mandate to strictly enforce curfew. It has taken out several flag marches through Srinagar. (Read: Stray bullet kills woman, curfew in tense Srinagar)
The Army, the sources said, would be used in a calibrated, strategic way as a deterrent for now. It would not be used for crowd control and would, in fact, avoid direct confrontation with crowds.
The CCS also debated the political impact of using the Army, the sources said, and there was the realisation that a political approach would be needed at a later stage.
Since Monday night there have been four more civilian deaths in the city and curfew was imposed on Tuesday as protesters clashed with security forces in many places.
Tuesday began with protests against one death. Those led to a second death and then a third and fourth and suddenly, Srinagar was back under curfew. The cycle of violence had spun out of control all over again.
Ironically, the fresh violence erupted on a day when Omar Abdullah tried to reach out to his people as part of his political intervention to deal with the crisis. On Tuesday, he was in Anantnag, in south Kashmir, which saw some of the worst violence last week.
Sources said after Wednesday's meeting of the CCS the committee had endorsed the deployment of the Army, which was done on a formal request from the Omar Abdullah government. An overnight order after consultations between the state government and the Centre cleared the use of the Army.
Sources have told NDTV that the Army's primary role will be to restore law and order and that it has a mandate to strictly enforce curfew. It has taken out several flag marches through Srinagar. (Read: Stray bullet kills woman, curfew in tense Srinagar)
The Army, the sources said, would be used in a calibrated, strategic way as a deterrent for now. It would not be used for crowd control and would, in fact, avoid direct confrontation with crowds.
The CCS also debated the political impact of using the Army, the sources said, and there was the realisation that a political approach would be needed at a later stage.
Since Monday night there have been four more civilian deaths in the city and curfew was imposed on Tuesday as protesters clashed with security forces in many places.
Tuesday began with protests against one death. Those led to a second death and then a third and fourth and suddenly, Srinagar was back under curfew. The cycle of violence had spun out of control all over again.
Ironically, the fresh violence erupted on a day when Omar Abdullah tried to reach out to his people as part of his political intervention to deal with the crisis. On Tuesday, he was in Anantnag, in south Kashmir, which saw some of the worst violence last week.
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