Cutting across party lines, in the opening session of the Legislative Assembly political leadership condemned the killing of the elected members of Panchayats by the terrorists. The Speaker included the slain Panchs in the obituary reference of the Assembly. Supporting the leader of opposition in this move, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah rightly said that whether the slain members of Panchayats were the targets of the militants or of personal vendetta, it did not matter. The fact was that they had undertaken to serve the people selflessly.
Soon after elections to Panchayats were completed in 2011, there appeared signs of militants readying for reaction to and subversion of a move of the Government purported to empower people through the institution of Panchayats. In this way a body comprising 33,000 elected members came into being. The credit of reviving the grassroots level democratic institution in the State after a gap of more than three decades goes to Omar Abdullah Government. Naturally, the Government saw great merit in the process and engaged itself in finalising the modalities of devolution of power to the institution in letter and in spirit. On finding that successful functioning of the Panchayats would popularize the Government in power, and in the process deal a crushing blow to the phenomenon of alienation of people, militants, under directions from their external mentors, undertook sabotaging of the process. They adopted their usual tactics of unleashing violence against elected members whom they found just sitting ducks. Simultaneously, there emerged elements motivated by either self aggrandisement or personal vendetta, which unwittingly lent moral support to the nefarious design of the militants.
Many responsible members in the legislature have condemned the killing and threatening of the elected members of Panchayats. However, the issue merits comprehensive and in-depth debate in the assembly and formulation of consensual guidelines for the Government about how to handle this menace and disarm those who want destabilization of the State. Condemning and including the assassinated in the obituary reference of the Assembly is what the Assembly rightly did but perhaps more will have to be done to nip the evil in the bud. Attack on Panchs is an attack on democratic arrangement for the perpetuation of which nation has made big sacrifices. It has to be dealt with a stern hand. The assailants have already achieved their objective partially by creating fear psychosis among the elected members many of whom have tendered resignation albeit unwillingly just because they have no security of life. The Assembly will have to come out with concrete suggestions of how personal security of the elected Panchs can be made foolproof. Rumours are that some MLAs in cahoots with a section of bureaucracy with vested interests are also finding solace in this sadistic mayhem. The assembly will have to discuss how to break the nexus between the underground militants and their over-ground sympathisers. Unless such subversive elements are exposed publicly and brought to book, the Panchs will feel insecure and unwilling to serve the interests of the people of their respective localities.
Simultaneously the Unified Headquarter has also met and discussed the situation arising out of threats and killings in North and South Kashmir. The picture of what new measures the Unified Headquarters meeting has suggested to counter this menace cannot be made public owing to the sensitivity of the subject. That is why what has come in the press touches only on the fringes not the core. But a few things that have trickled down do give an inkling that security will be beefed up in various new ways. For example, mounting of night patrols of combined police and army personnel will certainly work as deterrent to nocturnal movement of militants. In the same way, the police will intensify scrutiny and surveillance to isolate those trying the deceptive methods of mixing with the mobs in the day and rubbing shoulders with them so as to gather intelligence they need. Likewise, identifying vulnerable areas where militants are very active and subjecting these to multi-layer surveillance is also desirable. We all know very well that Pattan-Palhalan-Kreeri-Sopore region in North Kashmir is highly infested with militancy from the very beginning. A number of militancy related killings have taken place there. Close vigil of these areas will deter militants from what they otherwise easily plan and execute… Local political workers and social figures are likely to know through their own sources the militants, their movements and their whereabouts. But out of fear they dare not divulge information. That fear has to be removed and hopefully Unified Headquarter will have focused on that question also. Killing and intimidating Panchs is different from armed infiltration across LoC or hurling of bomb on a moving vehicle or in public place. The considered opinion is that the responsibility of stemming violence against Panchayat representatives lies on the shoulders of the politicians to a large extent. They cannot pass on the buck to the security forces or the police organization. If violence is not stopped it would mean that they are unable to exert influence on people and dissuade them from giving space to militants. They can form mohalla, village and group committees and assign them the task of monitoring movement of suspected persons and report these to authorities. True, the Government cannot provide security to each and every Panchayat member. Therefore it has to think of alternative strategies. Panchs have to be secured at all costs.
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