Srinagar, December 20 (KNO) : Under pressure for not following the standard operating procedure (SoP) while conducting the recent anti-militancy operations in Sirnoo village of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, various security agencies have put the anti-militancy operations on a hold for “framing renewed synergy strategy” so that civilian killings are put to a halt.
A top official in the State’s security grid revealed that “for a few days, anti-militancy operations are on temporary hold, just to fine tune the synergy between various security agencies like Police, CRPF, and the army.”
“The move comes after the forces were reprimanded by the Governor SP Malik and his security advisor Vijay Kumar in two back to back security review meetings held in Jammu in the backdrop of seven civilian killings at Sirnoo village,” the official told KNO.
On Friday last, three local militants and seven civilians including a teenager and a MBA graduate were killed in at Sirnoo during an encounter. Forces said that the encounter took place in an open field, where youth from all directions tried to march towards the “spot where militants were cornered” and in the heavy exchange of firing seven civilians got killed.
However, while on one hand, the killing of seven civilians triggered a three-day long shutdown in Kashmir amid protests, the Governor Malik asked forces to follow the SOP in true letter and spirit besides “streamlining their synergy while engaging themselves in counter insurgency operations.”
Governor’s advisor Vijay Kumar too chaired a meeting in Jammu and passed similar directions to the forces: “Follow the SoP to ensure civilian causalities don’t occur.”
A source said that all the security agencies have been in a huddle since past many days to “find out what went wrong in Sirnoo.” “It has unanimously been decided that the law and order component will be further strengthened to deal with the protesters who try to inch closer to the encounter sites in a bid to help militants flee,” the source said. “All the measures will be taken to fine tune the SOPs, to prevent collateral damage.”(KNO)