Massacre at Wandhama - The Indian Express
Editorial
()
January 28, 1998
Title: Massacre at Wandhama
Author: Editorial
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: January 28, 1998
There was a method in the massacre of 23 Kashmiri pandits at
Wandhama on Sunday night. The idea was to drive home the
Message, on the eve of the country's Republic Day, that Kashmir
is still very much a disturbed territory, no matter how many
tricolours are unfurled in Srinagar; no matter if the state's
first National Winter Games is to open at Gulmarg on January 28;
no matter that 1997 recorded the lowest number of militancy-
related killings in the last seven tragedy-filled years of
mindless militancy perpetrated by Pakistan-trained mercenaries.
The Kashmiri pandits in the state and elsewhere are
understandably extremely agitated over the incident, which is the
second major attack on their community after the Sangrampur
killings in March last year. Theirs has been an unending saga of
despair, with large numbers of them living as refugees in their
own state or in the camps of the Capital. They have called for a
boycotting of elections to demonstrate their bitterness and
anger. But it is precisely such a response that the perpetrators
of the carnage desire.
After all, if the democratic processes in the state are
disrupted, it would testify to the world the hollowness of
India's claims that normalcy has largely been restored in the
state. But history has shown, time and again, that the ballot has
the power to silence the bullet. It is therefore extremely
important that the people of Wandhama, along with people
elsewhere in the state, fearlessly exercise their franchise on
March 7 when the state is scheduled to go to the polls. There
had been 5,041 incidents of terrorist violence in J&K in 1996,
but their number came down quite significantly after a
democratically-elected government was put in place in September
1996. The year 1997 recorded 3,420 such incidents. Yet there is
really no room for complacency.
Sunday night's killings reveal that the forces of terrorism are
as potent as ever in the state, with fundamentalist groups
proliferating across the border. The Pakistan magazine, Herald,
recently investigated into the affairs of one such group which
went by the name of Lashkar-i-Taiba, or the Army of the Pure. Its
leader admitted the loss of 350 guerillas in covert operations in
J&K. Organisations like the Lashkar-i-Taiba often target
vulnerable groups in the most despicable and cowardly fashion. It
is only by local communities coming together, jointly resisting
them and exposing them for what they are, can the state hope for
peace. The one heartening aspect of the Wandhama incident was the
response of ordinary Kashmiri Muslims to the carnage. Clearly,
the tragedy touched every man, woman and child here. According to
eye-witness reports, women beat their breast in anguish, grown
men broke down and sobbed, the whole community brought wood for
the funeral pyres. It is precisely in such spontaneous public
responses that J&K's redemption lies. A people united can
ultimately, defeat the cruel and cynical efforts to divide the,
state along communal lines and destroy it.
