Author: Arun Joshi
Publication: Hindustan Times
Date: February 18, 2002
Introduction: Spectre of terror
over Jammu by-poll
The massacre of eight Hindu villagers
at Narala village of Rajouri district has cast a shadow over the February
21 by-poll for the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat. Fears of a low turnout
in the hilly and thickly wooded areas now threaten to turn into reality.
The early morning carnage on Sunday
is the first major militant strike so close to an election in Jammu and
Kashmir's 13-year history of militancy. Though the state has been rocked
by 60 small and large mass killings, none of the earlier massacres took
place at election time. Which raises the question: have the terrorists
now decided to try to achieve through the gun what they have long been
trying to accomplish through calls of a poll boycott?
Sunday morning's incident would
have sent shock waves through Jammu and Kashmir's now tiny minority population,
but the majority community is unlikely to remain unfazed.
Though by now possibly accustomed
to living in the shadow of the gun, the omnipresent fear of a major killing
coming true would not have been welcome.
Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah,
aware of the tremendous anxiety, had been trying to reassure the people,
promising them security, and urging them to vote fearlessly. "Come out
in large numbers on election day and cast your ballots," he had been telling
the electorate.
The Narala massacre may have changed
all that. If past experience is any guide, the election to this constituency
- consisting of two hill districts, Rajouri and Poonch, and with a nearly
six lakh-strong electorate - now seems faced with a situation similar to
that before the September 1999 parliamentary polls.
Though Pakistan-backed militants
had not carried out any major strike then they had hiked up the levels
of violence enough to scare people off voting.
Narala is a good eight hours' trek
from the nearest major police station. Massacres of this sort in distant,
forested villages have been common in Jammu and Kashmir. Despite stepped-up
Army and police station, terrorists often roam freely in the upper reaches
of the mountains. The movements have become more frequent since the withdrawal
of troops from the hinterland to the borders after the December 13 assault
on the Indian Parliament.
