Security For All Not Feasible
Kuldeep Nayar
(The writer is a veteran Indian journalist, author and noted columnist.)
Two more policemen died in the valley. This is not the first time that there is casualty in Kashmir. But the disconcerting aspect is that killings are taking place at regular intervals. New Delhi has not been able to quell violence. Probably, the cause is eluding the Narendra Modi government at the centre. That has to be tackled if violence has to be stopped.
That at least two militants could sneak into the hospital complex to free the jailed LeT terrorist from Pakistan is alarming, indeed. This means there is no safe place in the valley. But the worst is the terrorists have no consideration for even the sick. At the same time, it also exposes our security set up when the 22-two year old Mohammad Naveed Jhutt, who was arrested in Kulgam in Kashmir in 2014, managed to escape with the assailants during broad daylight from outside the government-run hospital, where he had been taken for medical check-up.
The terrorists seemed to have had a foolproof setup working in the valley to know when and where Jhutt would be taken as they have been lying in wait in the hospital’s parking lot before opening fire when he was brought along with other prisoners. Jhutt is believed to have been involved in multiple attacks, including on some civilians and army personnel.
In fact, every political party has someone to inform it about the arrival of any outsider in Srinagar. The terrorists and others line-up resistance according to the danger posed. The intelligence system of militants is too porous. The Mehbooba Mufti’s government admits to its failure. All the stone-pelters have been released apparently as a goodwill gesture. But the real reason behind the release is the popular support they have. The situation is such that the old militants like Yasin Malik or Shabbir Shah have become irrelevant today. The youth is leading and making no secret of the fact that they want a separate Islamic country of their own. They are neither pro-Pakistan, nor pro-India. They are pro-themselves and have made it clear to Islamabad that their movement is to prepare for their own entity.
New Delhi realizes it but has no alternative to offer to them. Its answer seems to be security forces which are suffering more and more casualty. Strangely former chief minister Farooq Abdullah introduced religion by declaring that the youth is the new identity of Islam. They are Muslims he says. But thank god, he doesn’t question Srinagar’s accession to New Delhi.
Pakistan understands that the entire partition formula would come to be questioned if it underlines the entity factor. Therefore, it emphasizes that the two countries should across the table and find solution which is acceptable to both. That, in fact, means Islamabad does not want to face the fact. The reality is that the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is sought to be a separate Islamic country.
New Delhi has made it clear that it would not have talks until it is assured that Pakistan would not give shelter to terrorists, nor would it be a party to militancy. But this is only a pipedream. True, Islamabad’s proxy war in the shape of mercenaries, the ISI saboteurs and even the armed forces—Pakistan describes all this as ‘its moral and diplomatic support’ to the militants—has not allowed the state to settle down to normalcy for years. In the last one decade, the interference from across the border has been colossal. Still, frankly speaking, India has had no policy on Kashmir and it has committed mistake after mistake.
Pakistan was only looking for an opportunity when the angry young Kashmiris would cross the border to get training and arms. That it smuggled in some of its own armed men to guide them was natural because it had waited for nearly four decades to build an uprising in the valley. In the militancy and the state’s response that followed, a large number of Kashmiris and members of security forces lost their lives.
The Kashmiri leaders, particularly the younger lot, have to face the realities. An opportunity is coming their way in the shape of the Lok Sabha election next year. If they are in the same House, they can demand from the nation what has been denied to them even after the 1952 Delhi Agreement, that is, their special status. They can insist on all precautions for a fair election. But they cannot afford to miss the opportunity.
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