Police arrested a 22-year-old militant when he threw chilli powder and stabbed a Railway Protection Force (RPF) jawan before snatching his rifle in the Kulgam district of south Kashmir on Tuesday.
Forget automatic rifles, meat cleavers and chilli powder are the new weapons of militants to target the security forces in the restive Jammu and Kashmir.
Police arrested a 22-year-old militant when he threw chilli powder and stabbed a Railway Protection Force (RPF) jawan before snatching his rifle in the Kulgam district of south Kashmir on Tuesday.
This is the third incident that has rocked south Kashmir in the last two months. On October 16, police arrested a burqua-clad militant armed with a meat cleaver before he could carry out a sensational attack in the Pulwama town of south Kashmir.
Earlier on September 11, suspected militants decamped with a service weapon of a policeman when they threw chilli powder at him in Kulgam district of south Kashmir.
Police said Tariq Ahmad Bhat, a BA first year student, threw chilli powder and then stabbed RPF jawan before trying to run away with his rifle at the Khudwani-Kulgam railway station on Tuesday afternoon.
However the quick reaction team (QRT) of the RPF immediately swung into action and arrested the militant before he could flee from the spot. The 22 year old militant was put to sustained questioning to unravel the conspiracy behind such incidents.
“He stabbed the jawan and also used the pepper powder. However our QRT apprehended him and recovered the weapon which he snatched from the jawan. A big knife was also recovered from him. Investigation is on and he is being questioned,” Zahid Malik, superintendent of police, RPF, Kashmir, told dna.
Police sources said Bhat of Asthan Moholla-Redwani of Kulgam district, was tasked by the militant outfit to snatch the weapons of the security forces to augment its arsenal in south Kashmir, which has seen heightened activities of the militants in recent times. Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Abu Qasim was recently gunned down by the security forces in Kulgam district.
“Carrying knives and using pepper or chilli powder is a cheap option available with the ultras. It serves them two purposes –inflicting casualties and taking away the weapons with minimum risk. Plus no one can suspect a man carrying a meat cleaver or chilli powder. All these factors are being exploited by the ultras to carry out their activities,” said a senior officer.
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