The Army chief has ordered an investigation into several cases of fragging, the army term for soldiers turning their weapons on colleagues.
Military officials feel 17 years of violence is taking its toll on the soldiers
NEW DELHI: The Army chief has ordered an investigation into several cases of fragging, the army term for soldiers turning their weapons on their colleagues, in Kashmir, officials said on Thursday.
In the past 10 days there have been four cases of distraught soldiers in Kashmir fatally shooting colleagues, then committing suicide. General J J Singh, the army chief, ordered the probe after the latest incident, in which a soldier shot dead his senior one day earlier, said an army spokesman, Vijay Joshi. “We will inquiry into the circumstances which led to the shooting,” he said.
Certainly some of this is about simple opportunity: soldiers have ready access to dangerous weapons. But military officials say 17 years of violence in Kashmir is taking its toll on soldiers.
During Diwali, a soldier in Kashmir shot dead four others, then killed himself with his AK-47 assault rifle. The army gave no reason for the shooting, but news reports said the soldier had been refused leave to visit his family over the holiday.
The Army has an estimated 700,000 soldiers in Kashmir. “This is an insurgency-wracked area. Soldiers operate in an environment where they are not sure about the future. This situation generates stress, and sometimes results in such incidents,” said Col Hemant Juneja, an army spokesman in Srinagar.
Other changes may also be contributing to the pressure on troops. The military, long a high-status profession, has been eclipsed by the far-better-paying jobs in the private sector.
But prolonged deployment in dangerous situations is the largest factor in increasing stress levels, says Brigadier Harwant Singh, a retired army officer. “In terrorist- and militancy-affected areas, the potential presence of terrorists in close proximity takes its toll,” said Brig Singh. “This makes them edgy, resulting in some taking the extreme step of either shooting themselves or their superiors whom they perceive to be the cause of all their miseries.”
Military experts also say the army is becoming “overstretched” with soldiers having to do long spells in difficult areas. The solution, they say, lies in training paramilitary troops to take over some of the duties now left to the army.
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