Indian Army said that Pakistan-terrorists-separatist nexus is trying to mobilise gullible youths.

Agencies

New Delhi, December 16:

The Indian Army has asked people of Jammu and Kasmir to not follow the Joint Resistance Leadership’s (JRL) call to march at Army’s 15 corps headquarters situated at Badami Bagh in Srinagar.

The Army, in a statement, said that the call for march was aimed at instigating and mobilising gullible youth in Kashmir.

The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) gave a call for a three-day shutdown starting Saturday (December 15) following the deaths of civilians in an encounter with terrorists in Sirnoo village of Pulwama.

JRL had also called on the citizens to march to the Badami Bagh Army base camp on Monday.

Indian Army said the call was a part of a scheme hatched by the terrorists-separatists-Pakistan nexus to pit civilian population against the armed forces.

Seven civilians were killed during security forces’ encounter with terrorists in Pulwama on Saturday.

Though the encounter ended in 25 minutes with the killing of the three militants, the security forces faced a tough time as people started climbing onto Army vehicles, locals said, according to PTI.

Post the encounter, the J&K Police made “appeal to citizens to remain away from encounter site as it is a prohibited zone which involves significant danger to life.”

Government sources have said that Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) wants Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) to take the Indian Army head on so they are forced to fire on civilians and casualties mount. Sources said that this new strategy is being adopted as Pakistan has failed to destablise Jammu and Kashmir through the terrorist network it sponsors and facilitates.

The Army is, hence, taking precautions and has made security arrangements to keep the people away from Badami Bagh cantonment by putting up barricades and check-posts along the roads leading to the camp.