From Christian Science Monitor: “India sends more troops to quell protests“
“New Delhi ordered 1,900 new central paramilitary forces to quell the Kashmir protests, according to Indian media reports Tuesday. Another 3,200 paramilitary police already in Jammu and Kashmir State will be redeployed to centers of separatist unrest in the Kashmir Valley, reports said.
The state, with a population of 10 million, already has an estimated 700,000 security forces, giving it an extremely high (70:1,000) force to population ratio. Gen. David Petraeus’s counterinsurgency manual says experts recommend ratios close to 25:1,000, something the US has never met in Afghanistan.
Many Kashmiris complain bitterly about the heavy security presence, and tensions have risen in the past month as Indian forces have repeatedly fired on rock-throwing youth and peaceful protesters. Four people were killed Tuesday when protesters defied a curfew and marched in Srinigar, according to reports, bringing the death toll to at least 45 over the past seven weeks of street clashes.
Some analysts in New Delhi argue more forces are needed – but more who are trained in nonlethal crowd control.”
“Police leaders in Kashmir do mention the need for a jobs program targeted at former militants and returnees from Pakistani training camps.”
“Yet none of the six rock-throwing youths that the Monitor recently interviewed were unemployed, and they vigorously denied that the source of youth frustration was economic. Rather, they pointed to heavy-handed police tactics and a prevailing desire for India to quit Kashmir.”
Kashmir Solidarity Network 