Government forces on Friday night searched a village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, while cordon and search operations were launched in two hamlets of neighbouring Shopian district on Saturday. In another village of Shopian district, residents protested against the alleged harassment by forces, which the latter denied.
A police official said that forces laid a siege aroundWaspora, Pulwama, at around 11:30 p.m and launched a door to door searchoperation after receiving inputs about the presence of militants.
In the neighbouring Shopian district, a joint team of army,police and Central Reserve Police Force cordoned Heff Shirmal and MooluChotragam villages early Saturday morning and launched door to door searches.
A police official said that the operations in both thevillages were launched after they received information about the presence ofmilitants in these villages.
He said that during the operation in Heff Shermal forcesfired some speculative shots.
“However no contact was established with themilitants”, the official added.
The official said the operations in both the districts werecalled off after no militant was found in these areas.
In Kellar block of Shopian, residents came out of theirhomes and staged protests against the alleged high handedness by army men inthe area.
The residents alleged that army men from neighbouringMastpora camp summon the local youth to their garrison where they are tortured.They also accused the army men of snatching the mobile phones from localresidents.
Defence spokesperson Rajesh Kalia, however, dismissed the allegation as baseless.
Gulzar Bhat