Basking in the glow of the return of democracy and a popular government in place, Kashmir Valley’s peace was shattered by a terror incident in which seven civilians were targeted and killed. Terror in the Valley is not as old as the Himalayas, but in the last 36 years it has disrupted normality while pandering to romantic notions of a greater Kashmir Valley under Pakistan jurisdiction or an independent state.
The latest incident in which migrant workers were in the crosshairs was as xenophobic as it was based on religious bias, a fact that cannot be ignored however much of a spin is given about the underlying causes of the terror movement.
What such incidents may wreck is not the return of democracy, which is there to stay, but the gains made in the last few years in which FDI started trickling in, dollar and rupee tourism began to surge, and migrant labour came in to help with the infrastructure construction and building activities.
The pros and cons of the removal in 2019 of the historic special status (from 1949) facilitating accession of Maharaja Hari Singh of J&K to India in 1947, can be debated for long. What cannot be denied is a more egalitarian phase in which a measure of peace came with some improvement in the atmosphere and, more significantly, saw the economy just about beginning to tick over with tourism the major mover.
The government of Omar Abdullah will know that the responsibilities only grew with the return of popular rule after six years. Their biggest challenge will remain terrorism of the Pakistan-inspired kind as well as the homegrown variety. Their concern would be to not allow the merchants of terror any leeway in giving even a hint of sympathy for their lost cause.
It is not the simplest task in the world to tell the brainwashed and highly indoctrinated terrorist of the futility of their actions. A few things may change with their targeting of outsiders as fear may be planted in the minds of those seeking work in the Valley. But their dreams as well as that of their sponsors of drastically changing the course of Kashmir’s 77-year history are not going to change with infliction of collateral damage in the lives of innocent workers.
The symbols of state as in the forces of the Indian Army and the paramilitary have been the main targets in the last four months of about nine incidents, but civilians have also been attacked, as in a major hit on a bus carrying pilgrims in Jammu. Individuals from outside J&K have also been occasional targets.
The armed forces have been coping with one of the toughest tasks of containing the guerilla tactics of sniper fire and explosives and to let them carry on with their professional duties and responsibilities with the full backing of the state is the only avenue open to offering security to J&K against the designs of sponsored terrorism.
None of the politics or friction of UT-Centre ties should be allowed to come in the way of a free hand given to the police who play an important role in intelligence gathering from the ground and the armed and paramilitary forces stationed in J&K in defence of Indian territory and its people.
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