Police arrest over 700 suspected terrorist sympathisers in Kashmir

Jammu& Kashmir: Security forces in Kashmir are reported to have arrested 700 people in connection with the killing of seven civilians in the last weeks in the valley. The arrested people are believed to have linked with banned Jamaat-e-Islami or are suspected overground workers (OGW).

Those who were killed belonged to Kashmiri Pandit, Sikh and Muslim communities.

The security officials are of the stand that the arrests were made to break the chain of attacks in the valley while the killing of civilians triggered fear among people, prompting the opposition leaders to slam the administration for its inability to control the attacks.

The police said that the recent attacks might be the result of the increased radicalisation of people in the wake of the Taliban's emergence as the rulers of Afghanistan. Several Kashmiri Pandit families who live in temporary transit camps have reportedly moved out for safety.

Supunder Kour (a Sikh) and Deepak Chand (a Hindu), the two victims who were shot dead by gunmen in Srinagar, were the government schoolteachers. Reports suggest that men with pistols fired at the teachers after confirming their identities.

Makhan Lal Bindroo, 70, the owner of a pharmacy in Srinagar's Iqbal Park, was shot at inside his store on Tuesday. Two others killed on Tuesday were Mohammad Shafi, a taxi driver in Bandipora, and Virender Paswan from Bihar, a street food vendor in Srinagar.

Police have attributed most attacks to 'The Resistance Front' reportedly an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba. They have also said seven of the 28 civilians killed since January are non-Muslims.