The fledgling dialogue process under strain with the Hurriyat threatening to walk out, Army Headquarters summoned its top military commanders in Jammu and Kashmir today and directed them to be ‘‘extra careful’’ during counter-insurgency (CI) operations in the state and deal with any human rights violations by their men with a heavy hand.It is understood that 15 Corps Commander Lt General Nirbhay Sharma has ordered an inquiry under the Army Act into the ‘‘custodial’’ death of Ghulam Ahmad Mir at Tral in South Kashmir. Mir was allegedly taken by security forces for interrogation on February 22 and his body handed to his relatives the next day.While the Centre’s interlocutors have assured the Hurriyat Conference that their concerns over alleged human rights violations by security forces will be seriously addressed, the Army on Monday sent a detailed directive to all its CI formations in J&K to respect human rights.The directive comes after the killing of five porters in Bandipora on February 8 and the Tral death threaten to derail the Hurriyat-Centre dialogue.Sources said the meeting in Army Headquarters this morning was attended by Northern Army Commander Lt General Hari Prasad, Lt General Nirbhay Sharma, 14 Corps Commander Lt General Arvind Sharma and 16 Corps Commander Lt General Ashok Kapoor.Later, Defence Minister George Fernandes met Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani. After a 30-minute meeting, Fernandes told the media that action would be taken against those security personnel found guilty of human rights violations.It is learnt that senior military commanders have been told to direct their troops not to be ‘‘overtly aggressive’’ in CI operations and make efforts to minimise the civilian casualties. This step has been taken as the Centre knows that the Maulvi Abbas Ansari group is under pressure from militants and hardliners to suspend the dialogue with Advani.The Central interlocutors, who are in constant touch with the Hurriyat, understand the Ansari group’s anxiety over human rights as otherwise those involved in the dialogue process stand the risk of being accused of compromising on the Kashmiri cause.That the Centre is serious about the Hurriyat demand is clear from the fact that Advani addressed the chiefs of para-military forces on the human rights issue on February 14. Apparently, that meeting was to be chaired by Home Secretary Anil Baijal but at the last moment it was decided that the Deputy Prime Minister himself would address the Central Police Organisation chiefs and N N Vohra, Centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir, and Army Chief General N C Vij were called for the conference.While para-military personnel in CI operations got a clear-cut message from their chiefs, it seems the diktat took time time to percolate to its troops. But Army headquarters laid the law to its commanders this morning as all of these alleged human rights abuses took place in South Kashmir, which is a strong hold of J&K Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed’s PDP and near his own Bij Behara constituency.Although the public took to the streets in Yaripura, part of Mufti’s constituency, on February 24 after a militant Arif Khan was killed by the security forces, the Army says that Khan was a top Hizbul commander in South Kashmir. Sources said that Arif Khan was the brother of Amir Khan, who lives on the other side of Line of Control and at one time was the Hizb commander for entire Kashmir.
