The increasing braid chopping incidents in the valley have scared people to the extent they have started guarding villages at night. Police, however, have accused radical elements and detained worker of a political party for raising the false alarm of braid chopping.
According to a report by The Hindu, the police in North Kashmir revealed that miscreants who attacked women had three objectives.
“It is aimed at disturbing peace; creating animosity between people and security forces, especially the police; and creating an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty for women to confine them to home so that the radical religious agenda of these elements is realised,” a Srinagar-based police spokesman said.
The police said some 45 trouble mongers had been identified in Baramulla. The Baramulla police said they had arrested 18 persons “involved in the attack on three territorial Army men” on October 18. “A notorious stone-thrower, Qaiser Bilal Bhat, had hatched a conspiracy to get Army men killed by falsely accusing them of being braid-choppers,” the police said.
On the 12 braid-chopping incidents in Baramulla, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Imtiyaz Hussain said, “Some occurred within the four walls of victims’ houses. One of the victims was consulting a psychiatrist. There are some radical elements who don’t want women to be given a free hand. They want to stop women from pursuing education and government and private jobs and this is happening right now.”
