The Kulgam encounter on Sunday does give some disturbing indications especially after the demonetisation. The such a big monetary policy coming in to action at midnight of 8th November had the strongest plea to check the growing black money and the Hawala money used for terrorism. Though encounter and demonetisation have no direct link but there is a section which believes yes demonetasation has been instrumental in checking the fund flow for the terrorist organisations. The Kulgam incident belies this theory as the terrorist activities were at a low because of the extreme weather and heavy snowfall in Kashmir region. In fact the incident is an indicator of coming events in summers and these terrorist organisations look to be in hibernation mode to regroup and re-strengthen themselves and the silence of separatists too tell that summer is going to be hotter this year. Civilian deaths are part of the collateral damage one comes across in such situations. The emergence of fake currency of high denominations do give credence to the fact that though in a slower and lesser mode the operation of pushing fake money into Indian economy has not completely stopped. And Pakistan cannot be absolved of its partnership in this money-push venture. The Sunday’ s encounter and reports of Pakistan pushing fake Rs 2,000 notes in India via Bangladesh were proof enough that the “ill-conceived” demonetisation was not helping curb terror, as claimed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Stronger and sterner measures were needed to ensure fool-proof border security if the country and its people were to be guarded against frequent external assaults. Demonetisation, which continues to create “serious problems” for the common man more than three months of its announcement, was not the solution to a serious problem like terrorism. Apart from continuing incursions from across the border, there was sufficient ground to believe that black money remained a serious concern despite a whopping 86 per cent old currency getting frozen overnight following the demonetisation. How depriving common man of his own hard-earned money was going to help the government crack down on terrorism and black money?
