kashmiriyat has not gone anywhere

Kashmiriyat hasn’t gone anywhere

Kashmiriyat hasn’t gone anywhere. This is the ninth civilian killing by militants in the Valley this month. Earlier, seven civilians were killed, including a non-local Hindu vendor, a local Hindu teacher, a Sikh school principal, and a Kashmiri Pandit chemist. In Kashmir of late – the targeted terrorist killing of minorities in the Valley is meant to undermine the Government’s efforts to resettle the Kashmiri Pandits and invite investments from outside. Kashmiriyat hasn’t gone anywhere.

These Kashmiri pandits have become migrants in their own country, thus creating a sense of fear amongst the minority community in Kashmir and discouraging the number of investments in J&K, among other things. Kashmiriyat hasn’t gone anywhere.

Makhan Lal Bindroo, a chemist and a household name in Srinagar, was gunned down on October 5. Just hours later, a Pani Puri seller Virendra Paswan was shot dead just 8kms from Bindroo’s shop. Two days later, militants entered a Secondary Boys School in Srinagar’s Sangam Edgar area and shot two teachers – Supinder Kaur, a Sikh, and Deepak Chand, including three Muslim civilians who earned their living through menial works. Kashmiriyat hasn’t gone anywhere.

Kashmiriyat hasn't gone anywhere
Kashmiriyat hasn’t gone anywhere

In retaliation, a total of 13 terrorists including those involved in the civilian killings have been killed in 9 encounters in the span of two weeks as the Armed Forces have intensified their operations to crack down on terrorists. Kashmiriyat hasn’t gone anywhere.

Several analyses have been carried out pointing out these targeted killings being an opportunity to threaten the minorities in J&K or an intelligence failure. At the same time, some even suggested that it is hysteria driving the J&K terror groups. However, the author provides another angle through which could be the prime reason for the recent attacks and that the problem could be more internal than external.

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What happened in the 1990s?

Kashmiriyat hasn't gone anywhere
Kashmiriyat hasn’t gone anywhere

According to the government sources, a total of 1,00,000 Hindu Pandits left their homes, many with just their clothes on their back, as several pockets of the Hindu population in various areas of Rainawari, Karan Nagar, and others had become ghost towns. There was immense pressure and threat at the time that forced the mass exodus.

Children had no schools, weeks of the curfew had converted homes into prisons often without food, water, electricity but most of all, it was the increase in fanaticism and hostility towards minorities. Some left secured jobs, established businesses running for decades in the family, and left properties to an uncertain future with marginal help from the erstwhile government.

Hopelessly outnumbered in the valley of a population of 30 lakh Muslims, many panicked and fled. More than 90,000 of them sought refuge in Jammu while others shifted to other parts of India. Women sold their gold jewelry, some sold their properties under coercion and duress, families weren’t allowed to take their belongings, and the families were forced to leave their homes with three pairs of clothes. Just like this, within a flash of light, their everyday world became good old days nostalgia with political parties doing nothing but “providing lip service” by condemning the mass exodus.

This is not 1990’s

Yes, an objective analysis of recent trends showcases that out of the 28 civilian killings, 20 of them were Muslims. In the 56 days between August 16 and October 11, J&K recorded 47 fatalities – including 11 civilians, nine Security Forces (SF) personnel, and 27 terrorists. The 56 days preceding saw 61 deaths – six civilians, seven SF personnel, and 48 terrorists, but this doesn’t negate that the attacks on civilians, especially those from outside the state to earn their living, are being targeted.

Kashmiriyat hasn't gone anywhere
Kashmiriyat hasn’t gone anywhere

But it still does not negate the fact that crimes on the minority in Kashmir have been on the rise ever since last month. These targeted killings of the minority community in Kashmir are a well-devised plot of enthusing fear among people and establishing that these terrorist organizations are still in business.

Kashmiriyat hasn't gone anywhere
Kashmiriyat hasn’t gone anywhere

The strategy behind these kinds of killings is to target the minority community, make headlines and stay relevant. One of the characteristics of these killings has been the two-person group, a fail-safe in case one missed, and such scattered small groups can continue to take blameless lives while making a statement to their adversaries which in this case is the Indian establishment.

What’s motivating these attacks on minority communities in Kashmir?

Ever since the Jammu and Kashmir Administration has opened an online cell that would allow the Kashmiri Pandits to reclaim their property which they had left at the onset of militancy during the year 1998 to 2004; the Jammu and Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection, and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997, it has left the local population in jitters given the fact that the current administration has fastened up the process.

Under the provisions mentioned, this Act provides for reclaiming those lands sold under duress during that time during the exodus. The provisions of law, which had been dormant until now, allow Kashmiri Pandits to reclaim their property if they felt that they were forced to sell their properties. The current owners of those properties won’t be pleased about these provisions since no civil court shall have jurisdiction, no order of evictions for the possession of the property in dispute, and the limitation period for an appeal, if any, lies at 15 days already making the act problematic. This also underlines the inherent divide between the Kashmiri’s and the government regarding the land matter as the UT of J&K went through structural changes last year.

Through their orders on 26th October 2020, the Government of India introduced amendments in 14 different laws, and 12 others were being repealed, which regulated and removed the phrases such as “permanent resident”, thus making space for Industry development in the region. Later this year, various provisions were made to set up Industrial Development Corporations in the area, but security and stability remain a significant concern among the industries.

With fears of demographic change rising in the only Muslim majority region in the country, there are growing apprehensions that land in J&K was being “put up for sale”, setting the stage for “outsiders” to pour into the UT, fundamentally changing the character of the region; is also one of the dissatisfactions which are brewing in the UT among the residents still harboring separatists mentality.

Does India have a way forward?

“Never let a crisis go to waste”. Crisis drives change; there is nothing quite like an impending calamity to create a sense of urgency. But to compel change, the argument that the crisis exists first needs to be logical and correct.

Counter-terrorism is one way of going ahead, but the question is until when? Creating a solid engaging administration on the ground would be the key to moving forward in a high-intensity conflict zone like Kashmir. India had been successful in beating the odds in Punjab during the 11 years of insurgency. What’s different in UT of J&K? One cannot always expect the Army to function as the ‘Karta-Dharta’ (A person who manages the affairs) of peace in the region. In the past, the Indian Army had run medical camps, managed the region’s affairs, run schools, built roads, helped clean Dal Lake, provided security which has essentially made the administration in J&K insecure. From now on, the J&K administration will need to do what is needed in addition to what is required.

Kashmiriyat hasn't gone anywhere
Kashmiriyat hasn’t gone anywhere

Thus, the way forward will be the confidence-building measures but by the administration, targeted local awareness programs for the youngsters to know what happened during the exodus, documenting the agonies of the Kashmiri Pandits, and the awareness programs should start at the block level with local leaders. Kashmir doesn’t need to be managed; Kashmir needs a nudge in a direction that unites and brings the true sense of ‘Kashmiriyat’, but this direction should have the element of ‘truth’. A truth, which the majority community in Jammu and Kashmir has either forgotten or conveniently erased.

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