After stones, engine oil riles security forces

SRINAGAR: As if stone-throwing protesters weren’t enough, security forces in Kashmir now have a new irritant, particularly in Srinagar. Hostile locals are making

SRINAGAR: As if stone-throwing protesters weren’t enough, security forces in Kashmir now have a new irritant, particularly in Srinagar. Hostile locals are making things difficult for the men in uniform by pouring automobile engine oil on shop fronts where troopers sometimes sit and rest after standing for hours.

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In the Bohri Kadal locality of the old city area, several shop fronts have been painted black with the lubricant so that security personnel on duty cannot sit on them.

There is heavy deployment of both state police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Srinagar, especially in sensitive areas like the old city, to contain the current unrest.

“They do not want us to sit here when we get tired standing. And they also do not want us to keep our helmets, or protection gear on it… so the black oil,” said a CRPF personnel from UP.

Another jawan said that in times of unrest when their duty stretches for hours, shop fronts become convenient to either keep their belongings or sit for a while in between patrolling the streets. “The paints were put last night and I have not been able to sit once. And I can’t leave this position and take rest somewhere else because then it will be a lapse in duty,” he said. Locals say the used engine oil is probably acquired by the youth from garages.