Article 370: Why more locals in Kashmir are becoming militants

Every time Bashir Ahmad Bhat's gaze falls on the blood stains on the walls, he is reminded of the night his brother, a policeman in Indian administered Kashmir, was murdered.

It was June; Mr Bashir had been preparing to go to sleep when he heard the sound of gun shots coming from next door. Alarmed, he sprang out of bed to check.

A heart-wrenching scene awaited him - his brother lay dead at the entrance of his home. His wife and daughter lay next to him, bloodied and struggling in pain. They died later.

"Those bullets destroyed a garden full of flowers in a minute," Mr Bashir said. "What was their fault? Nothing."

The police say the family was shot by militants. Officers like Mr Bashir's brother, Fayaz Ahmad Bhat, are often targeted in the Kashmir valley, which has long seen militancy against local security forces.

"These are the people the other side calls police informers or collaborators," said Ajai Sahni, the executive director of Delhi-based defence think tank, the Institute for Conflict Management.