J&K: Time for politics

On Police Commemoration Day last week, the head of the Intelligence Bureau drew attention to the fact that 383 policemen laid down their lives in the line of duty across India between September 2016 and August 2017. Of these, well over 100 fatalities may belong to J&K if the BSF and CRPF — widely deployed in Kashmir — are brought into reckoning in the context of their fight against terrorism in Kashmir.

Pointing to the same data, Kashmir DGP S.P. Vaid has just spoken of the need to initiate political steps in the Kashmir Valley to wean the young away from militancy and radicalisation, that is widely taking place online, as unemployed youth are easy fodder for stimuli toward extremism being fanned from the Pakistani side.

Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat also spoke on Saturday of the need to check young people getting radicalised, in a process that’s being fanned through social media. Some time back he had also hinted at the need to start political steps in Kashmir to thwart the ambitions of separatists. Recently, a corps commander in Kashmir also spoke on similar lines.

Our top security professionals are doing a splendid job, but they appreciate they can only prepare the ground for a political opening to be made. In this year alone, some 160 hardened terrorists were liquidated in J&K. The data suggests though nearly as many police personnel laid down their lives as the numbers of terrorists killed. This points to the difficult ground that has to be traversed. It is now time for politics to come into play.