Excelsior Special Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 30: May 1999 was not only the culmination of decades long hostility and border skirmishes between the Indian and Pakistani armies but also a historic turning point. Armed confrontation in Kargil taught both the countries some significant lessons of peace and war. Make belief rhetoric from Islamabad should never lead to lowering of guard, or even a brief slumber, New Delhi learned. Incursion would always result into retreat and defeat, Islamabad learned.
Strategic and defence analysts insist that the border ceasefire of November 26th, 2003, would have never happened, or kept holding for years, in absence the lessons both the countries learned in Kargil. Barring some minor clashes in Krishna Ghati area of Poonch, R S Pura and Samba, earlier this year, ceasefire has been holding successfully and it has survived huge provocations like digging a lengthy tunnel.
Perhaps the first serious threat to the nine-year-long ceasefire and peace came in the middle of current year when heavily armed militants were pushed into the Indian-administered territories in Karnah, Keran, Machhil, Bugtoor (Gurez) and Uri. Significant infiltration was also noticed in Poonch, Jammu and Samba districts. Half-a-dozen fatal casualties took place, according to media reports.
When the flare up gained intensity and skeletal incidents began occurring, thousands of families on either side of the Internal Border and LoC began shivering with the nightmarish memories of 1990-2003 period. Invariably in all these cases of violation, firing from across the IB and LoC is perceived to be the Pakistani security forces’ covering to the militants infiltrating into J&K.
It met the first civilian resistance in Neelum valley of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. On the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, on August 31, 2012, residents, including women and schoolchildren in large numbers gathered and held a massive demonstration at the district headquarters of Athmuqam against the Pakistani Rangers’ and Army’s support, facilitation and encouragement to the hordes of armed militants being pushed into Kashmir.
With the comparative separatism and a tacit sanction to armed insurgency being common among all the mainstream and separatist outfits and politicians in the State, demonstrators at Athmuqam shouted slogans against their one-time “saviours”. They claimed that infiltration of insurgents under the umbrella of Pakistani troops could lead to the breach of ceasefire and eventually trading of gunfire between the two armies.
A series of similar angry demonstrations against the infiltration of Kashmiri and Punjabi militants across Neelum valley were witnessed at Athmuqam and other towns in the months of August and September.
Even as the local and national Pakistani media did a complete blackout, world media organisations like BBC, as also the leading Karachi-based daily ‘The Dawn’, carried reports and editorials on the unprecedented unrest in Neelum valley. Across the river, known as Neelum in PoK and Kishen Ganga in Kupwara and Baramulla districts of Kashmir valley, people incredulously watched the turnaround. Twenty years back, these twin districts in northern Kashmir came to be called as ‘Gateway of Militancy’ on account of the hordes of militants coming in and going out without the fear of being noticed or trapped in an encounter.
Devastation marred life, particularly agriculture activity, on either side of the LoC for 13 years until the ceasefire put a firm brake on it in 2003. Residents of Athmuqam would squirm on the thought of pre-ceasefire destruction. Groups of women and children walked straight into the brigade headquarters and submitted representations to officers, urging them to clear the Neelum valley of all hues of gunmen and stop facilitating them cross the LoC.
At an Eid congregation, residents of Athmuqam passed a resolution which declared that any attempt to disrupt peace in the area would be resisted by the people. A week later, two large demonstrations were held in Athmuqam to protest against the influx of militants which, it is argued, has sparked border skirmishes between Pakistani and Indian forces. Hundreds of school children held another protest march in the town, submitting a list of demands to officials at a military camp.
Residents told mediapersons that the language and dress of most of the militants coming to the area suggested they were from the Punjab province of Pakistan—a description of Lashkar-e-Toiba cadres. BBC reported that the locals looked fearful of being once again caught in the crossfire of Indo-Pak rivalry over Kashmir. They told the officials that they had “suffered the worst physical and material losses” in the days of skirmishes along the LoC and “could not afford its recurrence in the aftermath of any misadventure”.
The residents demanded that law enforcement agencies should immediately expel from the Neelum valley all elements “who were bent upon ruining its peace and tranquility for vested interests”, The Dawn reported. An official team, that included Commissioner of Muzaffarabad division, asked the residents to end their protest and assured them that their demands would be presented to the high-ups.
However, Syed Naseer Kazmi, a member of the Neelum Bar Association, told reporters that the talks had failed and the protest against the outlawed militant groups would continue. Another shutdown was observed on his call later that week. These demonstrations and demands of making Neelum clear of militants and infiltrators have not only become a regular feature but also spread voice to even Bagh and Mirpur districts in PoK.
A local civil society organisation ‘Press for Peace’ (PFP) claimed that a large number of women protested last weekend against recent activities of some banned Jihadi groups in the Neelum valley. According to the PFP, the women also approached the Pakistan Army in Athmuqam – the district headquarters of Neelum valley – and urged the officers to stop the “militants” from crossing into the Indian side of Kashmir. Interestingly, the anti-militant demonstrations in Neelum were on the boiling point when the rest of Pakistan and India was staging protest against a blasphemous American movie.
Is that a real yearning for peace or a mercurial distaste of the gun that came from the same route 24 years ago? Perhaps the JKLF chairman, Yasin Malik, who introduced the gun in 1987-88 and kept on glorifying it even after his group was fully relieved of it by the rival Hizbul Mujahideen, may answer better. If he really loves peace, he ought to have cleared his own Valley of the gun that has spilled the blood of over a hundred thousand Kashmiris. Thereafter, his voice against the other gun and AFSPA would hold some credibility.
Mr Malik has to remember that the first spine-chilling killing of Inspector Sadullah happened 20 yards from his home. And, also the last heart-rending killing of Maulana Showkat Shah happened 20 yards from his home.
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