The union government, the state government as well as the BSF have already announced a probe into the case. The BSF team of 30 personnel, which was deployed at Dharam to look after the security of the newly opened Qazigund-Banhihal rail link vacated the camp in the night of July 18 itself, and the state police has taken over the premises.
Earlier, on June 30, 2013, a civilian identified as Irfan Ahmad Ganaie was killed in army firing in the Sumbal area of Bandipora district when the army launched an operation in the region after being tipped off about the presence of militants there. On the same day, another youth, Irshad Ahmad Dar, was killed in the same area, after soldiers allegedly opened fire at protesters demonstrating against Ganaie's killing. On July 3, 2013, Police arrested an army ‘informer’, Manzoor Ahmad Sheikh, who had misinformed army about the presence of militants to take revenge against Irfan, with whom he had had a fight.
These were not isolated incidents. According to partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management, the SFs have opened fire on violent protesters on at least nine occasions since 2011, resulting in six fatalities. Another two protesters drowned after being allegedly chased by the SFs. It is pertinent to recall here that at least 112 protesters were killed in SF action against violent demonstrators during the turmoil in 2010. Kashmir has sporadically witnessed such incidents, though at varying scales, since 2006. According to a July 2013 police report, there have been 2,317 incidents of stone pelting in the state, resulting in injuries to 5,643 state police personnel and 1,356 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, since 2008.
These protests have largely been orchestrated by various fronts linked to Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and have capitalized on every opportunity that presents itself by accident or design. The objective of such a mobilization has invariably been to provoke SF responses that will result in fatalities, and to use such fatalities to feed an unending cycle of street violence – a process that met with its greatest and most protracted success in the stone pelting campaigns of 2008.
Unfortunately, it appears that the state’s administration and political leadership is yet to learn the lessons of the past and have inclined, quickly, to add fuel to the fire. Instead of waiting for the reports of enquiries into the Ramban incidents, extraordinarily imprudent statements have been made by people in various positions of power. State minister for home, Sajjad Ahmad Kitchloo, claimed the ‘riots’ began after BSF personnel walked into a mosque with their shoes on. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, despite, admitting that the tension escalated as a result of exaggerated rumours and reports about the incident in a section of the media, nevertheless added his own inflammatory remarks to the already heated debate, declaring,