4 Kashmiri rebels killed near border

SRINAGAR, India -- The Indian army said it killed four militants in a fierce gunbattle Sunday near the Kashmir border separating Pakistan from India's portion of the Himalayan region.

Army spokesman Col. N. N. Joshi said the gunbattle began early Sunday in the state's Kupwara district when the rebels were seen moving in the area. When challenged by soldiers patrolling the area, the rebels opened fire and a gunfight followed in which four of them were killed.

In a separate gunbattle, a policeman was killed in fighting between rebels and security forces in the state's Poonch district.

The July 8 killing of rebel leader Burhan Wani by Indian government forces sparked the latest unrest. In the two months since Wani's death, more than 70 civilians have been killed and thousands wounded, mostly by government forces firing bullets and shotgun pellets to quell the protests.

Many of Kashmir's tens of thousands of police officers say they are caught between the Indian authorities who employ them and the friends and neighbors who question their loyalties.

In recent weeks, Kashmir's separatist leaders have begun calling the police out -- naming individuals as having betrayed the Kashmiri community. When one officer was publicly accused of firing a shotgun at a protest rally last month, his family showed up at the home of separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani and pleaded for forgiveness.

Family members of another officer accused of fatally shooting a protester fled their Srinagar home after it was covered with graffiti reading "Killer" along with the officer's name.

Police stations are being attacked with stones and gasoline bombs. At least a dozen stations have been damaged, including four burnt down. Officers' families are facing harassment including public jeering and verbal abuse.

"We get panic calls from our families about our well-being," said a senior police official who commands some 4,000 officers in the region. "The situation is quite grim, and we're caught between the devil and the deep sea. It takes a lot of effort to keep my men motivated."

More than 20 have seen their own sons detained for participating in anti-India protests, according to a senior officer who said he facilitated their release.

"Orders flow from the top, from Indian officers who have no stakes here," the officer said. "We're just earning a living. We are hostages to our livelihood."

For some, the stress of being in a position deemed traitorous has proven to be too much. At least two counterinsurgency officers have resigned in recent weeks. One of them, Waseem Ahmed, said he was afraid for his family in the southern town of Sopore after local protesters had gathered outside their home. A video showing Ahmed apologizing to the crowd and chanting the slogan "We want freedom" along with them has gone viral.

The discomfort Kashmiri police face in their work has existed to some extent since the late 1940s, when India and Pakistan won independence from the British empire and began fighting over rival claims to the Muslim-majority region.

Many Kashmiris on the India-controlled side see police as tools of an Indian government bent on suppressing a widespread public demand for the region's independence or merger with neighboring Pakistan.

In the 1950s and '60s, police routinely detained people for listening to Radio Pakistan. Later, they worked to scuttle anti-India political movements and break up armed rebellions by infiltrating their ranks and locking up agitators.

When the latest armed insurgency broke out in 1989, police initially fought against it. Within a few years, as rebels began targeting their families, many abandoned the task and stayed at their posts and barracks. Some also began sympathizing with and supporting the rebel demands as the campaign morphed into a full-fledged rebellion with public support. Dozens even joined the rebel ranks, rising to become militant commanders -- including one of Wani's close lieutenants, former police constable Naseer Pandit, killed in a gunbattle in April.

Meanwhile, the size of Kashmir's police department has swelled from 18,000 officials in early 1990s to more than 100,000 today. And despite public suspicion, many joined for the steady paycheck in a region beset by high unemployment.

The police force says it is carrying out its duties and working to keep Kashmir safe. That has included launching raids in residential neighborhoods to hunt down rebels, ransacking homes, and even beating protesters who are out of line.

The harassment "doesn't deter us from doing our job," said the region's top officer, Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani. "We'll do what we have to do."

Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/12/2016

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