Omkar Dattatray
Unfortunately the situation in Kashmir today resembles the hay days of terrorism of 1990 when terrorism was at its peak and in fact the situation today is more grim than 1990.It is a cause of concern to the government ,political parties and the people at large. Sincere steps need to be taken to tackle the grim and precarious situation in Kashmir so that it can be brought to normal, but it is a very herculean task and the government machinery and the security forces should tighten their belt and combat the deteriorating state of affairs with a new and multi pronged strategy so that the situation will limp back to normalcy. The terrorism should be dealt with strong hand and fought to the finish. The targeted killings of the Pandit package employees, other pandits ,Hindu employees from Jammu posted in Kashmir and the non local labourers is taking place continuously and socking the land of Sufism with the innocent human blood and giving a bad name to Kashmir.
The Kashmiriyet and the communal harmony for which Kashmir was famous in the past is now s part of history and the Kashmiriyet today stands damaged perhaps beyond repair.
It is a matter of great introspection and soul searching and ways and means should be found out to reinforce the pristine beauty of Kashmiriyet and communal harmony and Hindu-Muslim unity. It is a matter of grief and sadness that the terrorists resort to the killings of the soft targets and are indulging in targeted killings to show their presence. Day in and day out the terrorists carry out dastardly crimes of killings of the soft and injuring even small children without any remorse. No day passes without the targeted killings of the Kashmiri pandits, package employees, Hindu employees posted across Kashmir and the non local employees and the labourers and the situation is worse than that obtained in 1990 and sincere efforts need to be taken to arrest the dangerous trend of killings and mayhem in Kashmir and to restore much needed normalcy but for this concerted and coordinated efforts should be taken to normalise the situations. There is the environment of fear and fear psychosis prevails in the valley and in the people feel insecurity and uncertainty of living. Innocent people of the minority community and the police personnel and all those who stand for India and are nationalist are being liquidated and killed by the terrorists. The Hindu minorities, Kashmiri Pandits, package employees, police personnel, nationalists, non locals Hindus as well as Muslims are being targeted under a well nit plan to engineer ethnic cleansing in Kashmir so that the residual Pandits and other Hindu minorities are forced to migrate to safer places for their survival .In Kashmir the situation resembles the militancy of 1990 as the people are fear stricken and feel threat to their lives as the soft targets are killed under a definite plan to force migration of all the residual minorities still living in Kashmir .The modus operandi has been changed by the terrorist organisations and they are now resorting to targeted killing of the people belonging to Hindu minorities, Kashmiri Pandits and other non locals working in Kashmir.
The killing of the Bank Manager Vijay Kumar inside his bank in Arreh village in Kulgam district is an abominable crime and this is very condemnable and is a slap on the face of Kashmiriyet and communal harmony for which Kashmir was famous in the past. But now the atmosphere of fear and insecurity grips the Kashmir Valley and the people feel frightened and are panic ridden especially the Pandits, Hindus, non locals, people, policemen and all. Thus the minorities, nationalist people and the policemen are caught in an envelope of fear and are forced to live under perpetual fear and uncertainty.
The situation in Kashmir is very grim and precarious as the environment of fear and insecurity prevails and the soft targets are killed to force them to leave Kashmir like the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990. Therefore the ground conditions are akin to the situations as it obtained way back in 1990. Like the exodus of 1990 of the Kashmiri Pandits, the minorities have started their migration to Jammu and other safer places outside Jammu and Kashmir .There are reports that the government has sealed Kashmiri Pandit locations- colonies and are not allowing them to migrate to safer places. The Kashmiri Pandits and other Hindu minorities are being made hostages by none other than the LG administration. It is the worst kind of the human right violation committed by the government. When the minorities are leaving Kashmir for the safety of their lives, they should be allowed to move from Kashmir and the government should not become a tool for the harassment of the minorities.
The Jammu employees posted across Kashmir valley are subjected to brutal attacks and a women school teacher Rajani Bala belonging to Samba in Jammu division has been killed near his school and this incident created scare and fear in the minds of these minorities and all the employees belonging to Jammu have fled the valley for the safety to their lives.
They are agitating and demanding their transfer and posting to their home districts. Likewise the Pandit package employees are agitating and demanding their relocation outside the Kashmir to Jammu division and other nearby states in order to save them from the bullets of the terrorists. The LG government of the UT and centre BJP government is not paying any heed to the genuine demand of relocation to Jammu and other states of the package employees. Hence the package employees have left the Valley for the safety and security to their life and limb and they have come to Jammu and other places for their safety. The ground conditions in the Kashmir valley are very dangerous and fragile as the innocent people belonging to minorities, Jammu employees working across Kashmir, non local Hindus and non Hindus, nationalist Muslims and above all the policemen are killed by the terrorists mercilessly and without any remorse by the terrorists.
It is very unfortunate that the common people feel scared and fear stricken and the government fails to come to their rescue and instil confidence among them. Majority of the package employees and all employees belonging to Jammu division have left the valley for Jammu as their colleagues were killed by the terrorists.
The UT government and the centre NDA government has failed to provide full security to the vulnerable sections of the society and the government is parroting the normalcy narrative while the fact is that there is no sign of any normalcy in Kashmir as the innocent people including women and children are being killed to create fear and scare in the society. The centre government has failed to restore normalcy in Kashmir as the soft targets are being killed without any respite and the Hindu minorities are becoming cannon fodders before the guns of the terrorists. The terrorists are striking at their sweet will and killing unarmed civilians and then mingling with the people and the terrorists remain untraced and unidentified .There is no fear of the law enforcing agencies as the militants kill the soft targets continuously and they remain untraced.
Every time we hear that the unknown terrorists have killed innocent men and women and brought pall of gloom in the valley .The government should change the strategy of fighting terrorism and should combat terrorism with the coordinated manner and all the security agencies should work in coordination and cooperation and give a tough fight to terrorism.
The zero tolerance towards terrorism should be strictly followed to crush terrorism and no leniency should be shown to the terrorists and the soft approach towards terrorists should be shunned and proactive approach should be practised to quell terrorism.
There is no scope for the soft approach towards terrorism and what is needed is the hard approach and hard decisions to fight the terrorism.
One fails to understand that when the government conducted the Balakote operation and what prevents the government to launch Balakote like operation in Kashmir to give a befitting response to terrorism.
The security forces should be given freedom to crush terrorism with iron hand.
Otherwise the terrorists will continue the dance of death and destruction in Kashmir.
In short the situation in Kashmir has reverted back to 1990 situation and steps should be taken to restore the much needed normalcy in Kashmir.
The posting of the package and Jammu residing employees in the headquarters will serve no purpose and it cannot make the life and working of these employees safe and secure and therefore only requirement is that these employees should be relocated to Jammu division and other nearby states so that they can live and work in a secure way .All that can be said is that the situation in Kashmir has reverted back to the peak days of terrorism of 1990 and concerted steps should be taken to restore much needed normalcy in Kashmir.
(The author is a columnist and social activist).
