Shah Hilal
ISLAMABAD
Scenes of wreckage greet one at Kanelwan Islamabad. And from shards of ruined properties created under the notorious ‘Operation Ransacking’, the kitchens, the gardens, the farms now stand ravaged. Kanelwan faced the wrath in the dawn of the day when a scheduled march was due in the village.
But before the marchers could come, all six roads leading to Kanelwan Bijbehara were thickened with forces, aiming to foil the proposed ‘Kanelwan Chaloo’ march.
“We were peeling vegetables,” said Shabnum (name changed), a woman in pain after facing batons and gun butts, “when they raided our locality and unleashed hell. They didn’t even spare women and children.” She was being consoled by group of women adjacent to her ransacked residence marked with broken panes, plinth and path.
Earlier, CRPF personnel in large number were spotted on all entry/exit points with forces manning the streets in the village. The villagers said a majority of youth fearing trouble had already fled to other villages last evening.
In adjacent village Chandpora, some youth tried to march toward Kanwelwan and pelted stones on forces on being stopped. In retaliation, the villagers said, “forces went on rampage”.
In the trail of destruction left behind in the village, smashed windowpanes, broken parked vehicles, two electric transformers were badly damaged.
“What happened at Kanelwan must serve an eye-opener — as who is instigating the crisis in Kashmir,” said Abdul Hamid, a villager. “Before the protests could erupt, the forces had already done destruction in the village.”
Interestingly, ‘Operation Ransacking’ took place in Kanelwan a day after it ravaged Pazelpora village in Bijbehara.
