It is a ‘positive sign’ and won’t amount to violation of human rights, he says
The people in Kashmir are now saying they will “lynch terrorists” and this is a “positive sign”, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat said at the Times Now summit.
“Nobody [terrorists] are being allowed to go scot free… The same locals are now giving information about the terrorists. In fact, now what we are told is, the locals are saying we will lynch the terrorists, which is a very positive sign that is coming in,” Gen. Rawat said on the ground situation.
“You go to social media. There are now statements coming out where locals are saying, if you want, we will now start lynching these terrorists because we will not allow these [terror attacks] to happen,” he said when asked the source of his claim.
He said what has so far been happening is people knew these terrorists and where they were operating, but it was the fear of the gun that kept them from disclosing information. But now they are coming forward with a different thinking saying either we will lynch them or make such arrangements that they get lynched.
Stating that he does not know whether this is a message for terrorists by the locals or whether it is being played up by the intelligence agencies, Gen. Rawat said if it was the former “then I would say it is a good card being played”.
Gen. Rawat said it is a good card as we need to “put fear in the mind” of the terrorist.
Asked if that would amount to encouraging vigilantism and violating human rights, Gen. Rawat questioned, “How can killing a terrorist be a human rights violation? If there is a terrorist operating in your area, why should you not lynch him?”
Asked about the recent spate of civilian killings in Kashmir, Gen. Rawat said anyone carrying out a terror attack is being “eliminated or apprehended” within 48-72 hours. Terrorists also realise they are getting caught and that’s because locals are giving information about them, he said.
Last month saw a series of terror attacks on civilians for which The Resistance Front, believed to be an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, had claimed responsibility.
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