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The cold-blooded murder of seven members of the minority community
near Srinagar on Friday is a revealing reminder in more ways than
one. First and foremost, it marks the mounting desperation of an
insurgency on the retreat. The retreat has been made obvious enough
by the elections that saw a high voter participation despite dire
threats and calls for its boycott. Perhaps, it is this visible
marginalisation of insurgent outfits that is most dangerous. This
is because the zealots are now more likely to take their
frustration out on soft targets like the isolated Hindu families.
This is the only option left to them to register their presence.
But exercising this option is not without its cost. Needless to
say, violence that is divorced from political content has nothing
more to recommend itself.
Popular reactions to the senseless massacre underlines the dilemma
of the terrorists. The brutality has obviously shaken even those
who are partial to the concept of azadi to condemn it. As former
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader and now a leading light
of the All Party Hurriyat Conference said, the authors of such
"dastardly acts" only malign the "otherwise just movement of the
Kashmiris". But it would be wrong to infer from the alienation
that the heinous act has invited will register on its perpetrators.
These elements are now beyond the pale. Perhaps, they live only to
show the world that insurgency in Kashmir is not yet dead. The
irony is that their acts of terror against innocent and unarmed
civilians is the most efficacious demolisher of their cause.
Additionally, the task of their sponsors and sympathisers abroad to
whip up sympathy for their cause will be that much more difficult.
But waiting for the insurgents to commit mistakes cannot be a
policy. For all its barbarity, the terror has realised one
objective. To put a halt to the rehabilitation of the Kashmiri
Hindus who fled the state. No Kashmiri migrant will now seriously
entertain thoughts of returning to their hearths and homes. The
state government will have to redouble its efforts to make the
conditions for the return of the migrants propitious. And this
includes sterner and more targeted efforts against purveyors of
terror.
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