Kashmir strike is running into fourth month. Life is paralyzed in more than one way. The biggest victims of this state of affairs are the school going students. The worse is that miscreants have adopted the policy of torching Government school buildings. They are pursuing a design in which students in rural areas would be forced to seek admission in the seminaries of Jamaat-i-Islami where only religious education makes up the curriculum. Despite appeals from the Chief Minister and exhortation by various philanthropic sources, the leaders who are repeatedly extending calls for strike have not seen reason and persist with their obstinacy. Paralyzing normal life is terribly hard for the daily wagers, small scale shopkeepers, street vendors, taxi drivers, hoteliers and many other people. The losses defy computing because these are huge.
We have reports about the losses suffered by the Northern Railways which had to indefinitely suspend the rail service between Banihal and Baramulla ever since the strike call was given. As per Railway figures 15 pairs of train run regularly over 137-kilometer-long railway line from Banihal to Baramulla. These trains carry nearly 30,000 commuters including students and Government employees. On an average, railways have Rs 3 lakh earning daily on this line. This computes to a total loss of Rs. 363 crore till date. Normally a major part of this income is spent on improving rail service and providing more facilities to the commuters. Thus indirectly, this is a loss to the people of the State as well and in a big way.
It is a matter of great regret that the violent and frenzied mobs have turned their ire into violence and thus caused enormous damage to public property of which railways are an important component. Violent mobs attacked rail installations at several places in South Kashmir including Panjgam, Malangpora, Pampore and Hillar. The protesters at Kakapora attempted twice to set ablaze the local station but the paramilitary personnel deployed there foiled the attempts. The point is that the same people had hailed the coming of railway for the first time in Kashmir. It had brought a sea change in the communication system within the valley and people had begun to find a new opening in business and services. For example Government employees from Baramulla and from Banihal commuted daily to attend offices in Srinagar and return to their homes in the evening. This had reduced pressure on residential accommodation which is becoming more and more difficult in the capital city of Srinagar. Besides that, thousands of others are involved with rail service and they earn their living thereby. The railway stopped the service over 137 kilometers long stretch owing to insecurity of railway line and installations. It will take a long time for repairing the damaged stations so that rail service is resumed. The Railways will also become more cautious in conducting service within the valley. Maybe more security forces would be deployed to maintain safety and security of railway installations.
It is a matter of great regret that people have become surcharged with emotions whipped up by intransigent leadership. Protests against the Government are not something unknown. Even a few cases of vandalism are also not totally unknown. But embarking on such a massive scale of destruction and damaging is a matter of serious concern. We would appeal saner elements among Kashmir leadership to rethink what the irritated mobs are capable of doing and damaging. This is national loss and not the loss of any particular party or regime. Even with this scale of violence unleashed by the mobs on the prompting of their mentors, the Government has not taken stringent measures that would lead only to deterioration of the situation. We still hope that the dissenting leadership will not make negative use of their influence with the people and advise the youngsters in particular not to damage public property. Doing that is a dangerous move and can have more dangerous counter move. That should not happen. Reason and sensibility should prevail.
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