Eyes on army-civil relations: Kupwara incident follows death of three civilians in army custody in Poonch

New Delhi: The clash between Army and police personnel inside a police station in Kupwara is the latest in a series of Army-civil confrontations in Kashmir to have caught the eye of the government that has been making a determined push for normalisation in the Union Territory.

The sharp increase in voting percentage, greater involvement of locals in central schemes and widespread expected participation in assembly polls later this year has been marred by sporadic incidents of alleged misuse of power that is reminiscent of the past when such incidents were frequent.

The incident on Wednesday allegedly took place inside a police station in Kupwara, where the police alleged that several soldiers from a Territorial Army (TA) battalion clashed with policemen. The matter is being investigated but it seems to have been triggered by a police raid on a TA soldier's house. The TA unit mainly comprises local soldiers, with the officers coming from the regular Army.


The clash comes as a surprise as the Army and police operate very closely in Kashmir, unlike other states where interaction between the two is limited or non-existent. Most anti-insurgency operations are jointly conducted by the police and Army and are often based on intelligence collected and verified by the local cops.

Earlier, in December, the government had to intervene and pushed for stringent action when three civilians died while being interrogated in Army custody in Poonch. The three had been picked up from Topa Pir village on suspicion of involvement in a fatal attack on an Army convoy.

The deaths had sparked strong outrage and protests in the local community and had far-reaching political consequences. The Army did launch immediate action by attaching a Brigadier and other officers for an inquiry and removing erring troops from the location.

In July 2020, the Army got embroiled in a major controversy over the killing of three alleged terrorists in Shopian. It was later found that the three were labourers who had been shot dead and passed off as dreaded terrorists.