By Ramakant Chaudhary
The Kashmir Valley is shrouded in an eerie silence. The hustling bustling of the Valley is conspicuous by its absence. The Chinar leaves on the streets appear motionless. The markets are missing its merriment. The vendors and shop owners belonging to minority communities are told to return home early as a precautionary measure. A sense of scary is rife. In less than three days, five civilians hailing from the minority group have been gunned down in the Kashmir Valley. Apparently it reminisces the winter terror chill of 1990 that witnessed mass exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Valley in the face of brutalism wrought by the Islamist backed perpetrators. Kashmiri minorities are undoubtedly sitting ducks, but the Valley cannot be back to square one of the situation prevailing during 1990s.
In a desperate bid to widen communal fissure and destabilize the tranquility in the Kashmir Valley, Islamist terrorists are killing soft targets. Hundreds of families, including many government employees, who returned to the Valley after being given jobs under the Prime Minister’s special employment scheme for Kashmiri migrants, have left the transit camps where they were housed. In the wake of targeted killings, scores of Kashmiri Pandits abstained from attending office. As many as 4, 00,000 Kashmiri Pandits were forced to flee their warmth of home in the Valley. However, the Jammu and Kashmir administration and local leaders urged the panic-stricken people not to consider any idea of migration.
India celebrated the birth of Naya Kashmir post 5th August, 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made fervent appeals to 130-crore people of India to join hands together in order to return the glory of Jammu-Kashmir which once was deemed “Paradise on the Earth”. Barring a few skirmishes regarding the communication blockade after the birth of Naya Kashmir and later the pandemic, this year saw robust tourism in Jammu-Kashmir. Houseboats and hotels were thronged by tourists. Locals were renovating their guest-houses to welcome backpackers. Markets were picking up. The government-sponsored development work seemed to be in full throttle. People started feeling that the Valley was heading towards normalcy.
The fact of the matter is that the peace and prosperity in Jammu and Kashmir triggers unease among Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and Kashmir’s Islamist terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hizbul Mujahideen. They become restive when communal peace prevails in the Valley. Seeing the normalcy limping back in Jammu-Kashmir, the perpetrators resorted to bloodbath killing innocent civilians. The wave of violence is taking place against the backdrop of an uptick in tourist inflow to the Valley and the Central government’s push to promote scores of development schemes. Whereas Kashmiri Pandits are the indigenous people of the Kashmir Valley, but they are on an edge politically, socially and economically. There seems to be no end to what they faced more than three decades ago in the Kashmir Valley. It is palpable that they are targeted for being Hindu even after thirty two years of exile.
Hate against them is visible even in the administration of the J&K Union Territory despite abrogation of Article 370, 35A. They fought for these constitutional changes to happen but have been selectively made victims of official apathy and discrimination besides political marginalization. The recent spate of targeted killings has thrown fresh challenges to security forces and the government as well, while there has been a noticeable decline in big-ticket terror attacks since the Article 370 was nullified in 2019. In their desperate bid, terror outfits seem to destabilize the peaceful environment that defied expectations of massive unrest after the revocation of special status. The targeted killings suggest that the terrorists want Kashmiri civilians to lose faiths in the India state.
Over a period of time, Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha’s office has delivered some serious statements about the prevailing situation in the Valley. He firmly said that the latest trend of terrorist strikes against ‘soft and easy’ targets shall be dealt with iron hands with revised strategy to dismantle the entire terror ecosystem. “We shall not buy peace but instead establish peace. It is our duty and responsibility to secure the people and their livelihood and we shall discharge it with utmost sincerity,” said the Lt. Governor. It is for the first time in the recent political history of Jammu and Kashmir that any authority with the official mandate of the government of India has spoken with such credibility and consistency. No political party excepting for the BJP has anything to offer to Kashmiri Hindus so far as their political empowerment and representation are concerned.
What mistake slain lady principal Supinder Kaur did that she incurred all expenses of education for an orphaned Muslim student? Teacher Deepak Chand was killed only because he would always invite his relatives in Jammu to visit Srinagar, pointing to the “good weather” and “very good people”. Street vendor Virendra Paswan was gunned down only because he was catering to the needs of Kashmiri people’s taste-buds by feeding them Golgappas. Chemist Makhan Lal Bindroo was murdered in cold blood because he safeguarded many lives across the social rank and file—be it Hindus or Muslims—by giving them medicines during the Covid pandemic. Terrorists are cowards so they target soft civilians. The recent killings of minority civilians are a part of a well-planned terror action plot to drive out the remaining minorities in the Valley. The Kashmiri community must know that this is not 1990, rather 2021 where such hydra-headed militants will be demolished fiercely. Only need is to have faith in the ruling establishment of democracy. Kashmiri people must underline the assertive statement of ML Bindroo’s daughter: “You can kill body, but not spirit.” A Kashmiri can be killed, not Kashmiriyat.
(Ramakant Chaudhary is Contributing Editor to Daily News Post. He has worked with The Times of India, Hindustan Times (Mint), Dainik Jagran Group, The Pioneer and The Political and Business Daily. The views expressed are personal.)