K B Jandial
Barely nine days after the Defence Minister Arun Jaitely claimed that the situation in Kashmir is much better than what the media has been projecting, another cycle of violence erupted in some parts of Kashmir following killing of Hizbul Mujahedeen ‘chief’ Sabzar Bhat in an encounter at Tral in wee hours of Saturday.
What made Jaitely to say so at Srinagar without fear of contradiction?Admittedly, at that point of time there was semblance of peace in the summer capital of the State.It is not that Jaitely does not know that Kashmir is volatile. Kashmir’s undercurrents have never been positive but it is also known for changing colours and vacillating people’s mood. Today’s mood of a sizable part of population is linked with the killing of youthful and iconic armed militant. After Burhan Wani, the killing of his successor Sabzar Bhat in an operation has put Kashmir again on boil. This is Kashmir!
No one is willing to hazard a guess about situation returning to reasonably peaceful to which Jaitely referred to a week ago. Even the Kashmir watchers who have seen many colours of Kashmir in the past nearly three decades would not risk of their credibility to predicting future situation, given many factors involved in it.
Pakistan is not lowering its involvement and infiltration bids are increasing even though security forces are getting successes. Anti-militancy operations have begun in South Kashmir and met with some successes. Every prized catch or elimination like of Sabzar Bhat & Burhan Wani is fraught with negative fallout that is more wide spread law and order problems that the encounter itself. In this phase militancy security forces successes are negated by anti-India forces and Pak sympathizers by organising stone-pelters at site of the operation, shut down in the cities and call for marches to encounter site (Tral chalo).
Straight Talk
The youth has become the main plank of belligerent militancy. Using mobile, internet and mosque loudspeakers youth are called upon, either by the cornered militants themselves or their sympathizers to rush to the site of operation and throw stones on the security forces engaged in the operation to facilitate besieged militants escape. Sabzar had successfully escaped last time when he was surrounded by the security forces in his hometown Rathsuna, Tral but this time it didn’twork.
The student protest is the latest barometer of Kashmir unrest. In a way previous unrest had declined as student unrest restricted to a handful educational institutions. If out of 15000 odd institutions, trouble in 4 to 5 educational institutions cannot be called “widespread unrest” as is being made out by the media. This was a much needed relief to the Govt. And less reportage of violence in media has brought another hopeful development- presence of some tourists; many of them are reportedly Muslims. But Kashmir has again taken a full turn and much awaited tourists’ season has been spiked even before it could take off.Kashmir tourism is almost doomed.
The continuing armed militancy has undisputedly cast its ugly shadow on Kashmir’s otherwise beautiful landscape. If the Govt. suspends anti militancy operations as happened before Lok Sabha by-poll for Anantnag seat, the militants managed to get dominance and the area become unsafe for all those who either don’t subscribe to armed struggle or work for the Govt. especially the police and security forces. And when militants are eliminated in operations, every causality is being exploited to spread disturbances and make life almost standstill.
After establishing their writ in South Kashmir, militants had committed gory acts against their own local people. The current month of May witnessedthe abduction and subsequent killing of a promising Kashmiri army officer, selective attack on local police, increasing terror strike on army, police and security forces petrol/convoys, looting J&K Banks cash and rifles, attacks on political leaders, frequent display of Pak flags in protests, now playing of Pak national anthem by youth and a JKP jawan decamping with 4 rifles and joining a terror outfit are matter of concern for everyone.
The militants were so emboldened that on very first day May, a group of 7 sons of the soil, 5 serving in the JKP and 2 guards of J&K Bank, were gunned down by militants when they stopped their bank van near Pombai village in Kulgam district and fired indiscriminately and later decamped with rifles of martyred policemen. There was no cash in the van that was emptied at earlier locations. Why did militants kill their own people? Are not they worried on possible backlash?
Nine days later, a promising young Kashmiri army officer, Lt Ummer Fayaz was abducted from a marriage function of his cousin and killed in cold blood in Kulgam. What was his fault? He was not posted in Kashmir and had not been part of any anti-militancy operations. Was working for the Indian State his fault? But then, lakhs of people of Kashmir including wards of separatists are working for the Govt. and many of them are excelling too. More than 500 youth of South Kashmir are in Indian Army (much more than the youth joining militancy) and many more are keen to make it their career.
These two incidents of targeting sons of the soil reflect a new type of terrorism that was not seen after early 90s.Old hands recall a few such incidents of abduction and killing of locals in security forces in the initial days of terrorism. Ironically, the killing of Lt Ummer Fayaz and 7 J&K Police and J&K Bank guards comes at a time when youth of Kashmir have been thronging the recruitment centres of the army and Para-military forces which obviously cannot be to the liking of militants and separatists and their mentors across the border. These killings could be as a watershed event in Kashmir situation.
These terror attacks appeared to instill fear in the minds of the enthusiastic youth who in total defiance of separatists are flocking at the recruitment rallies of the army and Para-military forces. On the very next day of Sabzar’s killing amidst a visible surcharged atmosphere and curfew in the capital, as many as 1292 Kashmiri youth defied Hurriyat’s call for shutdown and militants’ call for stone pelting appeared in Army’s JCOs’ and other ranks national competition at Pattan and JKLI centre Srinagar. In all, 1315 youth had applied for this test. For them, Lt. Ummer is the icon and not Burhan Wani and Sabzar. Lt. Ummer’s killing has not reversed this trend. This is another facet of Kashmir.
An unintended fall out of militants’ gory acts could have been the voices against these ‘jihadis’ by the outraged local villagers for shedding the blood of sons of the soil as happened in Punjab but unfortunately it wasn’t to be so except some concerns expressed on social media. Why are Kashmiris becoming meek before these ‘jihadis’ whose acts are against the tenants of Islam?
Social media which continued to function despite official ban in Kashmir through VPH (Virtual Private Network technology that allows users to access any site by setting up proxy internet connections) and the order quietly allowed to lapse after one month, has debated the killing of five policemen and Lt Ummer Fayaz. Several Kashmiri users have criticized the killing of a young local army officer after being abducted by militants. This is the second time in the current month that social media has debated the rationale of killing of an unarmed local youth who had not done any harm to his own people. He was posted at Akhnoor, away from the killing fields of his native place. Many raised questions over the way the unarmed Fayaz was abducted and killed.
“I do not think it was a right decision to kill an army officer, who was unarmed, and had come home to attend a marriage function. He was not a combatant. He was not fighting a war, neither he had done anything which was against the people’s cause,” wrote one Wasim Khalid on Facebook.
The militants have instilled their fear so strongly in the minds of the people that the mourning came to be restricted to the affected families and their relatives. Whatever little kashmiriyat was left in Kashmir too has died. While most of the intellectuals, columnists and doyens of civil society conveniently maintained silence, Jammu, New Delhi and many other parts of India mourned Ummer’s killing and candle marches were taken out to express solidarity with his family.
Those of the people who claim to the torchbearers of the ‘Azadi movement’ on the plank of secularism and kashmiriyat should hold their head in shame for accepting such inhuman acts. Lt Ummer Fayaz did not deserve this treatment from his own people in his motherland. Unlike the privileged wards of the separatists who managed to grab important Govt jobs; the latest addition in the list is the grandson of Geelani who was quietly inducted in the semi-Govt, SKICC for a hefty salary, Ummer Fayaz, son of a small time fruit trader, had competed at national level competition and rightfully earned the entry into the prestigious Indian Army. Had misguided youth not cut his bright future Ummer would have risen to a position of honour for every Kashmiri.
If Ummer’s dastardly killing has failed to stoke the conscience of Kashmiris who preferred to maintain silence, the Army and Govt of India have made it an issue to dispense justice to his family by tracking down the killers, three of them stood identified. They would not escape retribution (justice) for long. They are bound the meet their fate sooner than later.
Separatists, their sympathizers, Human Right activists and anti-Delhi politicians are over busy in raising hue and cry over army Major’s action in tying a stone- pelter on the bonnet of the jeep to ensure safe passage of poll staff and ITBT men who were on poll duty on 9th April and were besieged by a violent crowd at a polling station, but are maintaining criminal silence on killing of Ummer, five JKP jawans and two bank guards. It appears the human right is the exclusive domain of terrorists and anti-India elements while the Govt personnel have no such luxury.
These killings brazenly violate the very spirit of Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat and jamhooriyat which are buzzwords in Kashmir and are being pushed by some peaceniks as basis for dialogue with separatists. Are these killings part of Kashmir’s new concept of Insaniyat or Kashmiriyat?
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