Dr.Sudershan Kumar
For the past three decades the role of Pakistan in waging a proxy war against India has certainly been ascertained. The hawks in Pakistan resorted to proxy war against India as they were well acquainted of their inability to defeat India in any type of full scale war. Hence they adopted a policy enunciated by Z.A.Bhuto to “bleed India with thousands cuts.” Therefore Pakistani army and its Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) have been using terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen(HM) as their strategic assets to forment trouble in the valley and keep the pot boiling for internationalizing the issue. By this Pakistan has always tried to balance the asymmetry of power between the two countries and create a bulwark of instability in the region. Over the years , the Pakistani army and ISI have used various means to terrorize the innocent peace loving Kashmiris who have always believed in the peaceful co-existence of the three main principles of Kashmiriat, Innsaniyat and Jamhuriat. This composite culture has been the main fabric of secularism in the Kashmir valley. To spoil this culture and to create unrest in valley, Pakistani army and ISI have adopted number of ways including military and financial assistance and ideological indoctrination.
For instance the aggressive use of media via internet, You-tube, twitter, etc for spreading false propaganda and substantiating misinformation campaign among the local people against the security agencies. They are also using these tools for spreading communal hatred and religious fanaticism for radicalizing disgruntled people, anti social elements and innocent teenagers. Besides, some of the leaders of various terrorist organizations have been giving extremely provocative speeches from across the border, with sole aim of inciting the Kashmiri masses and spreading communal hatred.
Secondly, the agents of these organizations through their over ground workers are trying to lure the teenagers to join jihad on the name of Allah by offering them money and terrorizing their parents and other innocent people. To further facilitate this, the concept of jihad i.e “striving for justice” has been wrongly equated to violence for the fulfillment of spiritual obligation in the name of Allah.
Also notably, foreign missionaries and the vulnerable youths are being recruited and trained in the training camps established in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir(POK) and across the LOC. These trained terrorists are then infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir state facilitated through frequent ceasefire violations. Their sole aim is to kill people who try to oppose their ideologies and target army installations.
Moreover, the Pakistan army and ISI is pumping substantial amount of funds in the valley for inciting the youths for stone pelting during demonstrations and at encounter sites.
The culture of stone pelting in Kashmir valley has gradually emerged as a way of lodging protests mostly by common people. Hence stone pelting can be regarded as a complex process, rather a psycho-socio phenomena to understand. Kashmiris regard this as violent way of expressing their sentiments but has even emerged as a tool for deviance and fun. This is prevalent over the years in the valley. Pakistani army and ISI with the support of LeT and HM have succeeded in exploiting this aspect of Kashmiri youths by playing religious card and pumping large amounts of money through Hawala and other means. Therefore, from the year 2010 onwards there has been manifold increase in stone pelting incidences in the valley. Earlier there were stone pelting incidences during demonstrations and protests only but now there has been a shift in their strategy at the behest of their masters sitting in Pakistan.
These radicalized youth have started gathering at the encounter sites and resorting into heavy stone pelting at security forces with the sole aim of causing disruptions during combing operations. The recent incident of 27th March at Chadoora area of Central Kashmir, Budgam district was the glaring example of this sudden shift in strategy of Pakistani agencies. In this incident one HM militant was killed and a para commando was injured during fierce encounter with militants and the security forces. It is pertinent to mention here the hold of Pakistani masters across the border on the local radicalized youth with the support of WhatsApp and internet in quickly mobilizing them to the encounter sites. These protesters start heavy stone pelting towards security forces resulting into large number of injuries to CRPF jawans. Their sole aim was to create disruption in the on going counter insurgency operations with militants.
General Vipan Rawat’s statement immediately after taking over as our Army Chief mentioning that the civilians, who prevent army from doing its job by reaching at encounter sites will be dealt with a strong arm was widely condemned in the valley. Some political parties also criticized the statement made by the Army Chief for the sake of cheap vote bank politics. This has further emboldened goons, anti social elements, radicalized youth and their masters across the border to create anarchy in the state especially in Kashmir valley. The incident of violence and heavy stone pelting during bypolls at Srinagar is another glaring example of this:
Unfortunately even now the policy planners both at centre and state levels are taking lightly the deep rooted conspiracy and nefarious designs of Pakistan in creating turmoil in the valley not to overlook the extent to which they have penetrated by using the radicalized elements and local populations against the security forces. It is unfortunate that instead of solving this problem, political pundits especially from Kashmir are cashing on this situation for their vote banks. Some have started calling them as so called nationalists, others own and extend support to them and few view it as a law and order problem.Separatists treat them as jihadis where as their own childern are studying abroad. Besides some feel, they have some grievances which can be adequately addressed. But every body must keep in mind the agenda of Pakistan and the support extended by them in pumping large amount of funds through various means for inciting mob for stone pelting, reviving local militancy and pushing foreign terrorists for creating trouble in Valley.
Therefore it is high time that those who are at the helm of affairs in dealing volatile situation in Kashmir must re-work their policy along with other stakeholders especially the situation arising out after killing of dreaded terrorist Burhan Wani. These policy planners must also keep in mind the following aspects:
(i) The flow of funds across the border must be stopped by bringing stringent regulations and law.
(ii) Border along IB and LOC be sealed completely. For that the pool of ex-servicemen from Jammu& Kashmir, Himachal & Punjab (especially from infantry) may be tapped as they have the service liability for five years under reserve category and they are well versed with local conditions.
(iii) Plights of people in POK, Gilgit and Balistan and their sufferings should be aggressively highlighted. The treatment given to these people by Pak rulers is pathetic and equivalent to slaves and this should be told to the people of J&K. For that aggressive use of information technology in the form of videos, documentaries be exploited. These misdeeds of Pakistani army for quelling unrest in POK, Gilgit Baltistan be also told to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. (iv) To counter Jihadi propaganda , its repercussions locally and around the globe must be explained to the people of Jammu and Kashmir especially to valley through muslim clerics across the country as India has 200 million muslim population.
The author is of the opinion that for the better future of our younger generation ,all political parties should join hands together to evolve a policy for addressing the issues of people from Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions rather than criticizing each other for personal gains. This combined effort will definitely inspire youths to hold books rather than stones.
(The author is former Director General DRDO & Special Secretary, Ministry of Defence GoI)
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