The army likes to talk to folks early in the morning. Between 3 and 4 a.m. they will seal an area off, roust folks from their beds and take them to an open area. They are divided into young, middle-aged and old. Women are allowed to return to their homes. Then the men are paraded in front of "cats," hooded informers who point out Kashmir insurgents. (The term "cats" comes from Concealed Apprehension Technique.) Anyone who looks like a bad guy is taken away for further interrogation. Some of the men never return home.
While the male population plays What's My Line, soldiers go through the houses, searching for weapons. In many cases, the unprotected women have been raped and the homes looted.
The Indian Army is known for their violent and poorly planned hostage rescue attempts, village shoot-outs and brutal interrogations of prisoners. Although we don't expect many DP readers to become prisoners, it is not uncommon to stumble in on a village shoot-out as we did in Kashmir. As for being rescued by the military if you are a hostage, you have a 50/50 chance of surviving . . . if you duck.
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