The 24-hour-long siege of a mosque in Kashmir underscores the continuing threat that militants pose to the security of ordinary Kashmiris. Militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen reportedly held five Kashmiri citizens hostage in a mosque at Palnoo village in Kulgam district. After attempts at negotiating an end to the hostage crisis failed, security personnel teargassed the mosque forcing the militants to come out. While two of the three militants were killed in the fighting that followed, all the hostages are safe.

Violence in Kashmir has decreased considerably in recent years amid the India-Pakistan peace process. There has also been a decline in the infiltration from across the border. However, the hostage crisis indicates that militants remain active in the Valley and a force to reckon with.

But there are conflicting versions about the incident in the first place. While the police claim that the Hizbul militants took some of the villagers hostage and barricaded themselves in the mosque during a search operation in the village, residents of Palnoo have said that security officials sent the villagers to the mosque to ask the militants to surrender.

This calls for a probe. Involving locals as mediators in crisis situations is one thing, exposing their lives to risk is another. If security officials are using locals as human shields or as baits to trap militants or even as mediators in situations of considerable risk, this has to stop.

If the version put out by the police is true, it reveals the distrust and distance that persists between locals and the security forces. Of course, it is possible that the locals are scared of the militants; hence the fabrication of a story that shows the police in a poor light. However, it is a matter of serious concern that despite ‘normalcy’ in the Valley the locals’ perception of the security forces has not altered much.

The battle against the militants can be won not just by mounting military operations against them, not even by holding regular elections but by waging a sustained battle for the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri people. And this battle cannot be won through promises of largesse to the Valley. It has to be waged by working on improving the daily lives of the people. The people have to see the security forces as being there for their security, not just to protect the borders.