Deterioration in situation on the ground in Kashmir of late, is a matter of serious concern. Violence has increased manifold. It continues to take heavy toll of the civilians, political activists and the security forces' personnel. The Deputy Chief Minister had a miraculous escape when terrorists attacked him in the heart of the city.
During the first six months of this year 345 civilians and 219 security personnel were killed in 1034 incidents of violence. The civilian casualties include 44 women and 30 children. A whole clan in Poonch was wiped out by the terrorists. This indicates the level of attrition on the civilian population.
The brutal killings of IRCON Engineer, his brother and the massacre of the GREF labourers are attempts by the terrorists to rake up anti-India hysteria. The terrorists have also intensified attacks on pacifist leaders in the separatist camp. The 105-year old Islamia High School, run by Anjuman-e-Nusrat-ul-Islam, headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, was gutted completely in an act of arson. The organisation blamed the police for its failure to take pre-emptive action, despite advance warning. Eruption of sectarian violence in Wattergam reflects the casual approach of the administration.
The politicisation of the Amarnath Yatra by mainstream politicians in Kashmir is only facilitating the designs of terrorists and their mentors across the border. For the first time, in Kashmir's contemporary history, attempts are being made to whip up anti-India and anti-hindu hysteria on Shri Amarnath Yatra. Its impact on the common man has already started. Around 40,000 people attended the funeral of Arif Khan, a notorious Hizb militant, in Kulgam. Two years back, the same people had not allowed the burial of Pakistani militants in their village graveyards.
The State Governor, Lt General (Retd.) SK Sinha, in an interview to a Jammu Daily, waxed eloquent on the politician-militant nexus in Kashmir. He lamented that the mainstream politicians were not mobilising public opinion against the militants, even as militant continued to commit gruesome crimes. GOI cannot be faltered for facilitating the return of democratic process in the state. Its calculations were that elected government, perhaps, would mobilise the people against the terrorism and also deliver better on the governance front. This perception ignored the long legacy of subversive politics in the Valley, which the mainstream politicians have perfected into an art.
BJP's policy on Kashmir also contributed
to the drift. It gave enough hints that 'Simla Agreement' was not all that
sacrosanct and the party had the will to change the status quo on Kashmir.
It was for the first time, during BJP's reign, that internal dimensions
of Kashmir politics were sought to be dealt with outside the framework
of the constitutional process. What did BJP leaders mean by
'talks within the framework of Insaaniyat' and 'Give and Take' on
Kashmir? The sharp escalation in terrorist violence is more a consequence
of the political failure, rather than that of the weakness in the security
initiatives. The bickerings in the coalition have also added to the drift.
A coalition, which survives on politics of blackmail rather than on democratic
consensus, cannot go on for long. If realignment of political forces is
the solution to arrest the drift, it should be allowed to happen.