IN the run-up to Jammu and Kashmir’s reorganisation on October 31, militants are getting desperate and targeting the sitting ducks — non-local truckers and traders dealing in apples. On October 14, Sharief Khan, a truck driver from Rajasthan, was shot dead in Shopian district. A couple of days later, a trader from Abohar (Punjab), Charanjeet Singh, was gunned down. Truck driver Mohammad Illiyas and helper Zahid Khan, both from Rajasthan, and a brick-kiln worker from Chhattisgarh, too, lost their lives. Stakeholders in the apple trade — the backbone of Kashmir’s economy — had already been facing problems due to the curbs on movement and communication, imposed after the Modi government announced the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5. The industry seemed to be getting back on its feet this month as the restrictions were gradually eased, but the gun-toting elements are bent on spreading terror. The irony that most of these victims of Islamist secessionist violence in the Muslim-majority territory are themselves Muslims is not lost on anyone.

About 17-20 lakh metric tonnes of fruit is transported from Kashmir to the rest of the country, fetching a revenue of around Rs 8,000 crore. This time, less than half has been despatched so far, giving sleepless nights to growers as well as traders. The militants’ main agenda is to scare away ‘outsiders’ and provoke the troops, but the losses they are causing to the industry is antagonising local residents.

J&K has not witnessed any major terror attack in the past few months; credit for that goes to the security forces, but the latest bloodshed should not be reduced to a mere footnote. Such killings ought to evoke the same outrage as do mob lynchings in other parts of the country. It’s praiseworthy that the authorities have set up ‘safe’ zones for fruit dealers in Shopian to procure the produce from farmers and send it outside the Valley. These confidence-building measures need to be backed by tighter security and relentless counter-insurgency operations. As the common Kashmiri apprehensively looks forward to a new dawn, the attempts to jeopardise his livelihood should be tackled with a firm hand. Grenades and apples simply can’t be packed together.

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Courtesy: The Tribune: 29th October,  2019