The Home Ministry’s note circulated to members of the all-party parliamentary delegation that will be travelling to Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday states that the agitation in the State has no “identifiable leadership”.
The note, a copy of which has been accessed by The Hindu , states that among the current challenges in the situation in the Kashmir valley is the “use of social media and false rumours for instigating to lead and mobilise violent mobs”.
There has been an increase of stone-throwing by radicalised youth, parliamentarians have been told, and cases where armed militants have been using the cover of these agitating mobs to lob grenades at security forces, “thereby provoking the security forces to retaliate”.
The agitation currently under way in the State has been described as having “no identifiable leadership” with the ever present danger of infiltration from across the border from Pakistan. “There have been at least 63 peaceful protests in which pro-Pakistan, anti-India slogans have been raised,” the note said.
“A daily calendar of hartal has been announced by separatists on a weekly basis without any break from July 8 to September 8,” said the note.
The number of law and order incidents in the Valley, between July 8 (the day militant Burhan Wani was killed by security forces in an encounter) to September 2 has been put at 1,649, with 6,298 civilians and 5,365 security forces injured till now. The number of civilians having lost both eyes due to pellet guns is put at six, while those with injury to one eye is 21. The period of July 8-14 saw the most incidents at 476, with 34 deaths including one security personnel.
The delegation will leave on Sunday and return on Monday evening after meeting Jammu and Kashmir governor N.N. Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti apart from civil society and political groups in the Kashmir Valley.
