Caught between Lashkar, Army, villagers pay with their homes

And Rahi, 23, has lost all that her family collected for her wedding to the flames.

A night of horror, and this neighbourhood in Gamroo is homeless, having faced the wrath of the Army after Lashkar-e-Toiba militants turned the nearby mountains into their stronghold and visited the villagers for food and shelter.

The Army lost a jawan and killed two militants in the encounter. Villagers say the soldiers then burnt down seven houses and cowsheds, telling them this was punishment for allowing militants to be there.

It began in Gamroo at 5 pm yesterday. Since the killing of a Lieutenant Colonel in an encounter in Bandipora a few days ago, the Rashtriya Rifles unit has been keeping vigil in the area. On a tip-off that militants were seen walking through paddy fields towards this hamlet, the troops lay siege.

“We saw a few militants roam around. But what could we do?” asks Sonaullah Dar, a farmer. “They are armed and come and go at will. How can we stop them?”

He alleged that the Army burnt their houses as collective punishment because militants were traced to their village.

Villagers said the Army laid a cordon around the village and a shoot-out began. They said they all left in fear. “We didn’t think they would take out their anger by setting our houses ablaze,” Dar said. “Even our cattle was burnt alive.”

Sheikh, the armyman who was on holiday, says he went up to the soldiers and told them he lived there, but even his house was not spared. “My house, my brother’s, our cowshed— everything is in ashes. Even my uniform and shoes are gone,” he said.

A spokesman of the Army’s 15 Corps said that two militants were killed in the fire-fight soon after the army suffered a ‘‘fatal casualty and injuries to few of its men.” But he refused to comment on the fire that burnt seven houses and cowsheds.

Of late the Army has been facing problems in curbing militant movement in the Harkukh range of Bandipora, which Lashkar-e-Toiba has made a base.

In Srinagar Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s coalition partner, the People’s Democratic Party, today said that a ‘‘sense of insecurity has engulfed people” due to the increased instances of excesses committed by the security forces. PDP president and MP Mehbooba Mufti said: “Such unfortunate incidents cast a shadow of despair over the peace and reconciliatory process.” She said this was disturbing, especially since such behaviour comes after the prime minister’s May 24 assurance that there would be zero tolerance for human rights violations.