Govt seems to have run out of ideas on Kashmir

There appears to be something seriously amiss in the government’s imagination, as well as capability, in dealing with the security situation and with politics in Jammu and Kashmir. The practically twin terrorist strikes occurring in Jammu and Srinagar between Saturday and Monday seemed to underline the helplessness of those in authority in taking a measure of the situation.

While the terrorist strike in the family quarters section of the Sunjwan Army camp ended on Sunday night after a 36-hour firefight, the attack on the CRPF camp at Karan Nagar in the heart of Srinagar — which began early on Monday morning — was thwarted with the loss of one jawan’s life, but the terrorists planted themselves in a nearby building under construction and the skirmish was on throughout the day.

The security grid in J&K has been leaking since January 1, 2016 when the attack on the Pathankot airbase occurred, and there seems to be no accountability. A succession of high-profile attacks on Army and CRPF establishments caused the government to launch what it called a cross-LoC “surgical strike” in September 2016 to silence the terrorist groups at their launchpad sites.

The Narendra Modi government and the BJP have tried to take propaganda mileage from this to showcase their capability. But the facts on the ground have sneered at them. In military terminology, a “surgical strike” is meant to incapacitate the adversary over a long period, but the Pakistan Army-backed terrorists have become even more active.

An official committee to plug loopholes in the defence of the security services’ camps, set up after the attack on the 15 Corps headquarters at Nagrota on the outskirts of Jammu, has reportedly gathered dust.

When questioned about the precipitous fall in the security situation in J&K, leading lights of the ruling party at the Centre routinely speak of the number of terrorists killed in the past year, and insist that the Valley is secure as never before, and speak of Pakistan’s “isolation” in the world due to the exertions of the Prime Minister. But the facts on the ground show such assertions to be false, and diversionary.

Speaking in the state Assembly on Monday, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, whose party is an ally of the BJP in the state, yet again spoke of opening a dialogue with Pakistan, adding the apprehension that she would be labelled “anti-national” by some television channels for expressing such a view. The standard line trotted out by the Centre is that “terror and talks cannot go together”. The government believes this makes it look brave even when soldiers and civilians die routinely in terrorist strikes and ceasefire violations by Pakistan and the country watches helplessly. Historically, when there is no political engagement in Kashmir, the security situation tends to deteriorate.