SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir — The deaths of three Jammu and Kashmir civilians allegedly by the hands of the Indian army have prompted an investigation, as an uptick in violence within the disputed Himalayan area threatens to undercut New Delhi’s narrative of peaceable improvement in an election yr.

On Dec. 22, the day after 4 Indian Army troopers had been killed in an obvious ambush within the area, as many as 9 males from a tribal group had been detained for questioning. Families say they had been tortured, leading to three deaths — Mohammad Showkat, 22, Safeer Hussain, 45, and Shabir Ahmad, 32.