Civilian deaths: Governor asks forces to exercise restraint

In the wake of death of two civilians two days back, Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra today directed security forces to exercise maximum restraint to minimise collateral damage while conducting operations against militants.
"Maximum restraint should be exercised to minimise collateral damage while conducting operations against militants/terrorists," Vohra said at a high level meeting he chaired to review the maintenance of security in Kashmir Valley.
The directions came two days after two civilians were killed allegedly in firing by security forces in Pulwama district during law and order problems in the aftermath of an encounter between security forces and militants.

The state government has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident leading to death of the two civilians, both University students.
The meeting was attended by two Advisors to the Governor, Chief Secretary, DGP, Principal Secretary to Governor, Home Secretary, Corps Commander of Army, Inspectors General of BSF and CRPF, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, IGP Kashmir and senior officers of the State and central intelligence agencies.
The Governor directed the DGP to hold urgent discussions with the security forces to evolve a fully-agreed standard drill to be followed before and post-operations against the militants.

He stressed the need for enforcing strict pre-emptive measures, including imposition of reasonable restrictions, as part of the approach to be followed in minimizing inconvenience to the people at large and ensure that the encounters against militants do not result in injury or any unfortunate killing of innocent civilians.

The DGP was also directed to review and enforce clear procedures for the firing of live ammunition in dealing with varied emerging situations.
The Governor also stressed the urgent importance of pro-active steps being taken for creating awareness amongst the people at large to keep away from the area where operations against militants were ongoing.
He pushed for use of increased application of technology to further improve the capability of security agencies and ensure against any colateral damage to the civil population while conducting anti-militancy operations.
The meeting discussed various important issues relating to the internal and external security situation in the Kashmir Valley, particularly in the backdrop of the Pulwama incident.