Anil Anand
To some these might be isolated incidents of killing by terrorists and others might view it has a new strategy by the gun-toting killers to pick up soft targets primarily belonging to the minority community of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. By the number count these could seem to be isolated incidents but the motive behind these “isolated killings” is sinister, design nefarious and the broader dimension which this plan reflects has much more hidden beneath than what meets the eye.
Even this phenomenon of “soft targets and isolated killings” has a new dimension added to it every other day. It all began with brutal killings of members of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community members- either performing their entrepreneurial duties, or in government jobs under the Centre’s much touted but flawed rehabilitation package for the community in Kashmir.
In picking up “soft targets for isolated killings” the Pakistan sponsored killers, with tacit local help in some cases, have adopted a two-pronged strategy. The strategy is based firstly on communal lines to further sharpen the Hindu-Muslim divide and secondly target those among the majority Muslim community of Kashmir who either have nationalistic credentials or are performing their duties as part of the government or security apparatus. The killing of Kashmiri-Muslim artist Amreen Bhat is yet another extension of this dimension to hit at Kashmir’s cultural core.
Ostensibly, the handlers of these killers are aware that isolated killings of Hindu or Sikh community members will get a greater traction in India’s current national context than resorting to random acts of terrorism through blasts and encounters. At the same time they are simultaneously carrying out the act of scaring the Kashmiri Muslims to force them into a shell lest they openly oppose acts of terrorism which has already caused irreparable loss to the Kashmiri society and badly bruised “Kashmiriyat”- the epitome of brotherhood and sufi culture.
The cold-blooded murder of an innocent 36 year school teacher Rajani Bala when she was shot dead while entering her school at Gopalpura village in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, is the latest in this series of killings, picking up soft targets primarily Hindus, but Muslims also. This is a case with altogether a new dimension and an alarming one.
A native of Jammu region’s Samba district, Bala was a regular employee of the UT administration and not under the displaced persons’ quota under Central schemes. Belonging to a Dogra- Dalit family she and her husband-both teachers- have been serving at different places in the volatile Kashmir valley for the last seven years to earn their livelihood. The couple’s efforts to at least get her transferred to a safer place shockingly found no favour with the authorities.
This incident happened in the immediate backdrop of terrorists daringly entering into a revenue department office and killing Rahul Bhatt, a Kashmiri Pandit clerk from point blank range. This new strategic blood-trail started in September-October 2021 with the killing of seven persons including a Kashmiri Pandit, a Sikh woman principal serving in a school in old part of Srinagar city, and two non-local Hindus who have come to the Valley to earn livelihood. In all 14 Hindus and even a large number of Muslims including security forces personnel lost their lives since August 2019 when the Article 370 of the Constitution was partially abrogated.
Mrs Bala’s killing, prior to this another person belonging to Jammu region but settled in Kashmir since long was gunned down, is a pointer to the terrorist handlers’ new strategy to expand their canvas beyond Kashmiri Pandits and engulf Jammu region. Ostensibly, the idea is to create societal strife with an even bigger dimension at a time when this deplorable phenomenon is already having serious internal connotations nationwide.
Yet another wakeup call for the official machinery- Centre and the Lt Governor’s administration, and of course the ruling party- to shed their own notions and ideological beliefs and deal with the situation on a real time basis. Jammu and Kashmir with multi-dimensional problems both of internal and external nature certainly cannot be a part of any politico-electoral experimentation to ensure victory or defeat.
First and foremost, the government cannot hide behind the cover of excuse that it cannot provide security to each and every individual. This argument has merit too. But if that was the case then why expose the minority community employees to the terrorists’ guns in the name of rehabilitation or posting them in hostile areas or opening new vistas for people from outside the UT?
The security forces have all along been handling the security situation with great success. But the political and the governmental systems have been a letdown all through and the current situation is no exception.
Let the security forces do their job but let the political and governmental systems also duly compliment their efforts. It will be a dangerous dimension if entire onus is put on the security forces and the other side remains busy calculating their electoral benefits.
The Government should on priority basis re-calibrate its Kashmir policy particularly the one about rehabilitation and postings with regard to displaced Kashmiri Pandits and other employees particularly those hailing from Jammu region such as the late Mrs Bala. This policy has been flawed in one respect from the very beginning.
Any rehabilitation process in Kashmir like situation cannot be planned and executed in air. This needed lot of ground work with the most important ingredient being creating goodwill in the society through sustained effort at various levels. Unfortunately, the present and the predecessor governments have all through ignored this aspect or done very little.
Creating exclusive zones, as has been done for the displaced Kashmiri Pandit employees working under Prime Minister’s employment scheme, was never a viable solution. It’s in-viability increased many-fold with the government’s realisation on inability to provide security cover to each individual.
An enabling atmosphere in this regard would require an enabling political process and environment which had received a set back with J and K’s status demoted to a Union Territory and subsequently creating confusion on the political firmament of the UT with a view to manufacture a single-party hegemony. This is something which should be left to the people.
It is imperative that the Government not sit on false prestige. Shed arrogance and be candid in admitting flaws if not the failures in the Jammu and Kashmir policy and accordingly take remedial measures. No such policy, at the administrative or political levels, can either be conceived or succeed in isolation as it has to be embedded in national discourse which would require that every word is spoken carefully so as not to create an adverse impact in the Valley.
The first priority of the Centre and the UT administration should be to safeguard the lives of the vulnerable sections, particularly the employees, of the population living under the shadow of terrorists’ gun in the Valley. More effective means of communications should be opened with these terrified employees rather than locking them in the exclusive residential zones allotted to them. Similar confidence building measures should also be taken with regard to Kashmiri Muslims vast majority of whome want peace.
And what about persons such as Mrs Bala who have been fending for themselves outside such exclusive zones? This is also a point to ponder over and direly need policy-planners attention.
The Government must incentivise these vulnerable sections of the society by placing a transparent and robust mechanism to decide about their postings and transfers, and quick compensatory mechanism in case of mishaps. Why should family of a terrorist victim working in trying conditions be begging for justice and compensation?
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