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| A new narrative for Kashmir | | | Khursheed Wani
The timing of the ‘fresh infiltra-
tions' indicates that the Assem-
bly poll was the target of Lashkar-e-Toiba militants. Usually, infiltration chances are lower during the winter due to snowfall and sub-zero temperature along the LoC
The week-long interval between the second and third phase of Assembly election in Jammu & Kashmir witnessed a sudden spurt in violence. On December 2, before the voting began in frontier Kupwara district, a group of highly trained militants sneaked into the Kashmir valley through Tutmar Gali in Nowgam sector. They were intercepted and engaged in a three-day long gun battle. A Junior Commissioned Officer was killed and a Major was wounded badly before the Army could gun down six militants to end the strife at the Line of Control.
While the Nowgam operation was going on, militants on December 3 attacked a paramilitary patrolling party at Pulwama that killed a junior officer. And, December 5 turned out to be the bloodiest day, when four separate incidents of violence killed 21 people — seven soldiers and their Lieutenant Colonel, three policemen, eight militants and two civilians. The audacious attack on two Army formations at Mohra in Uri was meticulously planned to inflict heavy casualties. The immediate fallout of the attacks was imminent. The first two violence-free phases recorded an average turnout of 71 per cent. The third phase turnout came down to a moderate 58 per cent, with Sopore and Tral recording the lowest of 30 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. A grenade had exploded in Tral that killed two civilians while posters warning people against voting had surfaced in Sopore.
The Army blamed Pakistan for Mohra and Nowgam attacks and said that the infiltrators, actually highly-trained commandos, had specifically entered into Kashmir to disrupt the ongoing election. The millitants knew intricate operation skills and had enough weapons and eating stuff for a protracted stand-off. Their belongings included shears to cut-off anti-infiltration fence, hand-held communication sets besides shotguns and grenade launchers. The Army said that the weapons and food stuff bore clear Pakistani markings.
The timing of the ‘fresh infiltrations’ indicates that the election were the target of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba militants. Usually, infiltration chances are lower during the winter months due to snowfall and sub-zero temperature along the LoC. In the past, even if there was less snowfall and the passes were traversable, the militants preferred to leave the valley in autumn to avoid harsh winter. Now, even this trend is not much prevalent due to more effective anti-infiltration mechanisms. Dwindling numbers of militants descend from jungles during the winter and shift to their hideouts in the populated areas.
The Nowgam infiltration was neutralised in the LoC area, though with much difficulty. The Army is now probing as to how the Mohra attackers surpassed many villages, crossed the Jhelum stream and remained unspotted until their guns began roaring. But, the satisfying part for the authorities is that the militants were neutralised within the border area. What prompted the militants to make an attempt to derail the poll process is the pro-active approach adopted by the Modi Government in dealing with Pakistan over Kashmir issue.
Pakistan expected smooth business with India after Mr Narendra Modi’s invitation to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the swearing-in ceremony in May. However, the bonhomie did not last long as Foreign Secretary level talks were cancelled over the Pakistan High Commissioner’s meeting with Kashmiri secessionist leaders at New Delhi. The diplomatic stand-off continued even at New York and Kathmandu where the two leaders had an opportunity to meet and pick up threads afresh.
Isolating Pakistan over the Kashmir issue, Mr Modi on the other hand has been involving himself into Kashmir affairs more than any Prime Minister had ever done. He is frequently traveling to Kashmir to perpetuate his own vision for Kashmir that is based on ‘inclusive development and progress’.
In fact, in his maiden public address in Srinagar on December 8, Mr Modi justified not talking about Pakistan and border issues in Kashmir, just like he avoided such talks in Muslim-majority Kutch district in Gujarat, where he was advised by the locals to focus on development. Kutch, he said, became the fastest developing district in the country.
Mr Modi’s interventions in Kashmir may be flawed in some respects, but his tenacious approach has overhauled to re-think on Kashmir from every perspective. Even the mainstream political parties were compelled to revise their poll strategies and political priorities to check Mr Modi’s ingress into Jammu & Kashmir. The BJP’s claim of making make inroads in Kashmir may be exaggerated — the unresponsive crowd at his poll rally within besieged Srinagar city being an indicator — but the party’s unprecedented campaign has changed the way of thinking over Kashmir in many ways.
This explains why it was important for the militants to derail the poll process. Elections in Kashmir have long been projected by the Government of India as Kashmiri people’s willingness to accept the Indian system of democracy. In whatever way successive elections were managed in Jammu & Kashmir since 1996, they were projected before the international community as Kashmiris’ verdict for India.
This is the basic reason for the Kashmiri separatist leadership’s general disapproval of elections held under the Indian management.
Though most of the separatist leaders have remained a part of the same electoral process in the past, directly or indirectly, the process became a taboo after militancy erupted in 1990.
The poll-boycott call has become almost like a religious obligation for the separatist leaders. Every time the poll bugle blows in Kashmir, most separatist leaders and their active followers initiate poll-boycott campaigns.
(Courtesy:@ daily pioneer.com) |
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