Shashi Shekhar

The actions of Kashmir’s politicians seem to have emboldened those who want to spread terror

There are some benefits and disadvantages of working in a newsroom. The advantage is that you get news earlier than others. The disadvantage: The sensibilities of journalists are also affected earlier than many others. As soon as a news alert about an attack on 35 children in South Kashmir’s Shopian by stone-pelters appeared on my smartphone, I was besieged with grief and anger. Who can bear to see the fearful faces of children, their eyes reflecting the panic and dread of broken windows and glass shards strewn on the seats of their school bus, the first thing in the morning?

The perpetrators who shot down 132 children at a school in Peshawar on December 16, 2017 were terrorists. Despite this nobody expected them to resort to this disgusting act. The people pelting stones in Kashmir were not merchants of terror. They were young people from the same region. They were expected to take care of their neighbourhoods and the people who stay there. Why did they not hesitate before unleashing terror on innocent children from their neighbourhood?

The statements made by the children and the bus driver are heart-rending. The stonepelters first surrounded the bus and asked the driver to turn back. With folded hands, the driver requested them to let the children reach the school. They were from the same neighbourhood, please let them pass he reasoned. Enraged, the young men began pelting the bus with stones from all four directions. The children were pointed at and targeted, they later said.

The Valley’s atmosphere has been vitiated so much that those advocating peace and social harmony through the poems of Lal Ded (a 14th century Kashmiri mystic poetess also known as Lalleshwari) and the lyrics of Sufi saints will have to stop those destroying the region’s social harmony or face annihilation. The people of Kashmir face greater danger from these snakes in their backyard than security personnel from the Centre.

This is the situation after chief minister Mehbooba Mufti recently granted general amnesty to those booked for pelting stones in 2008. The killers of Peshawar were proclaimed terrorists who knew they would be taken out by the authorities sooner or later. But the ones in Shopian, who have scarred the children and their family members for life, know that the government will grant them the umbrella of amnesty sooner or later. That is why they are aggressive and display no remorse.

While providing amnesty to stone-pelters, it should have been borne in mind that they are products of agencies encouraged by Pakistan. It is easier to indoctrinate those accused of pelting stones into terror. The reason? Trying to evade the police, these impressionable youngsters easily fall prey to ‘handlers.’ In the name of providing them safety, they brainwash them and within a short time they are seen brandishing weapons on social media. At one time both Burhan Wani and the recently killed Samir Tiger used to be stone-pelters.

The time has come when the government in Jammu and Kashmir should impress upon its young people that the winds of change are sweeping the entire world. When political activisim in the entire world is increasingly adopting peaceful methods, what is the use of luring Kashmiris with the pipedreams of of what such a violelnt struggle can produce?

A combination of separatism, terrorism and political misdeeds has already made the day-to-day life of people in the Valley difficult. After the Shopian incident, the people of Kashmir will have to think hard: Those who can pelt stones at their children and pull young people out of their homes to shoot them cannot be their protectors or their saviours.

If this sentiment gains momentum, the terrorists will keep losing sympathy and fall by the wayside. Fortunately, there are indications that this is beginning to happen.

The manner in which many youngsters in the Valley have shunned violence and returned to mainstream has kindled some hope. It was local informers who helped the Army target Burhan Wani and Samir Tiger. If the government in Srinagar makes an honest attempt to disclose the immoral actions of the terrorists to the common people, this sentiment can become even stronger.

What is happening is to the contrary. If Mufti talks about a dialogue with Pakistan, Omar Abdullah begins to see a yearning for freedom in the actions of those pelting stones. All this emboldens those who want to spread terror. This tendency has to be curbed.

Police said that Rafi, a resident of Ganderbal in central Kashmir, had called his parents on Friday morning, telling them that he was with the militants. “The family told us, and we asked his parents to ask him to surrender. By then, he had switched off his phone. (During the encounter), we made multiple efforts for his surrender, but in vain. It appears others did not allow him to come out,” said inspector general of police, SP Pani.

“The loss of 5 innocent civilians in Shopian serves as a grim reminder that violence is no solution to the issues that plague us. We all must unite & pull J&K out of this endless nightmare by engaging in sustained & meaningful dialogue,” Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted after the incident.

A video has surfaced on social media in which SSP Mishra is seen urging the militants to surrender. “Stop the firing and come out. For God’s sake, nothing will come out of this. Come out. I am SSP Shopian speaking,” the officer is heard saying on the public address system. Then there is a sudden burst of fire as Mishra ends his monologue. The police confirmed the veracity of the video.

During and after the Shopian encounter, scores of young Kashmiris clashed with the forces. According to local reports, the forces retaliated by firing bullets in some places.

Director general of police, SP Vaid told HT that one civilian died during protests near the encounter site in Badigam, while four were killed as security forces were leaving the area. “There were road blocks and stone pelting while the de-induction of the forces,” he said.

Of the five, three of the dead were from Pulwama district and one each from Kulgam and Anantnag districts.

Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq termed the killings of civilians as “carnage” and called for a peaceful protest on Monday.

“Words fail to express the pain of the tragedy unfolding in #Shopian as the count of the brutally killed by Indian forces keeps rising! Tomorrow as the “Durbar” of our killers opens in Srinagar, leadership and people from all walks, traders, lawyers, students, employees and others will move towards civil secretariat and will sit in a peaceful dharna till the daily carnage is not stopped .The protest strike will continue,” Farooq tweeted.

Opposition leader Omar Abdullah said: “When educated, gainfully employed young men choose the path of militancy – it should serve as a wake-up call for those who have turned a deaf ear towards repeated pleas for initiation of dialogue with all stakeholders to find a solution to this quagmire.”

Courtesy: Hindustan Times 7 May 2018