SRINAGAR: Residents have started fleeing the militant-controlled south Kashmir town of Chrar, fearing an imminent confrontation between the militants and the security forces.
At least one-quarter of the town’s 25,000 residents- mostly women and children-have left their homes to stay with relatives, following the complete sealing-off of Chrar and 15 surround in g villages and hamlets by the Army. Official sources said that at least 200 foreign and Kashmiri militants were inside the town.
A group of residents, who had left their homes said that the militants were preventing others particularly men from escaping. They said that militants had constructed bunkers in some of the bylanes of the town areas, around the sacred shrine of Sufi saint Sheikh Noorudin Noorani called the Chrar-e-Shrif. Militants have recently received reinforcements from Anantnag and Pulwama, officers said. The Army was established a 2 km- radius cordon around Chrar town. Highly placed sources disclosed that, of the six hills surrounding Chrar town, the militants control two and the rest are under the control of the security forces.
The Army has launched psychological warfare against the militants in the area. They are playing audio cassettes in the village to “educate” civilians about the misdeeds and nefarious designs of militants, particularly the foreign mercenaries. “The Army is telling us about the rapes committed by the mercenaries, and about how they were spreading AIDS among Kashmiris,” a villager, who was reached Srinagar, said.
All the passenger bus services to and from the town have been suspended from last week. The fleeing residents travelled large distances to get the transport here.
Army helicopters also air droped leaflets early this month, carrying messages for the civilians of Chrar, in an attempt to dissuade militants from misusing shrines and religious places.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 17, 1995
