While massive protests, violence and killings have become routine in Kashmir for the last one year, the southern parts of the Valley are fast turning into a virtual breeding ground for militancy and anti-India sentiment. From providing logistic support to the militants to carry out attacks on security forces to heavy turnouts at the funerals of ultras to stone-pelting during encounters, it has virtually become a routine affair in the region. The public support for militants in the Valley is rising and being articulated openly.
The now defunct Muslim United Front of late 1980s, many of whose leaders, including Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salah-ud-Din (designated as a terrorist by USA), had picked up guns following the 1987 rigged elections, was born in south Kashmir. So was the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). With over 23 lakh population, south Kashmir also has a substantial support base of politico-religious Jamaat-e-Islamia, whose overt and covert support to the PDP is no secret in Kashmir. Considered a highly politically sensitive area of the Valley, the four districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian, were not so long ago the bastion of PDP.
Then what went wrong in a short span of time, which disillusioned people of south Kashmir from the PDP and the state, is a difficult question to answer. The pent-up anger of people over the PDP’s alliance with the right-wing BJP could be one of the reasons, as the protests and support to militancy are largely focused in the areas where the PDP dominates.
People of south Kashmir started supporting militancy wholeheartedly immediately after the PDP entered into what many in Kashmir term as “unholy alliance” with the BJP in early 2015. Hundreds of youths have since either joined the militant rank and file or have become their sympathisers in south Kashmir.
There has been absence of mainstream political activity to an extent that Election Commission had to cancel the bypolls to the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat in April for an indefinite period. In the words of a police officer, “everyone has beco-
me a militant in south Kashmir, whether he is a lawyer, businessman, teacher, doctor or engineer. The only difference is some have weapons, and the rest don’t. But mentally, people have become militants and if weapons were available, the numbers could swell to thousands in no time.”
The unprecedented and apparently spontaneous demonstration of support by the people with the entire villages pouring out of homes and rushing to the encounter sites to help the militants escape by attacking security forces with stones was the new phenomenon in the 28-year-long Kashmir conflict which emerged from south in the beginning of 2015.
In the November-December 2014 election campaign, the PDP had demonised the BJP. But within a few months, they justified their alliance by making tall pronouncements that they have failed to fulfil in two and half years.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was the last hope for Kashmiris caught in a vortex of violence. For 15 years, right from the inception of the PDP, Mehbooba, the soft-separatist would whip up passions, but as soon the PDP brokered a power deal with the BJP, her stance changed.
But saying that PDP’s alliance with the BJP is the sole cause for the prevailing situation in south Kashmir would not be right. Issues like hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in 2013, the beef ban, incidents lynching of Muslims in several states, rhetoric of BJP leaders against J&K’s special status, apprehension that New Delhi intends to change the Valley’s demographic profile by establishing Pandit and Sainik colonies, and increased presence of security forces in villages are some of the other reasons behind the present anger — not only in south, but across the Valley.
The killing of the 22-year-old Burhan Wani, poster boy of Kashmir’s renewed indigenous militancy, on July 8 last year, which triggered five months of unrest in the Valley, also inspired the local youths in the south to join the ranks of militants to fulfil his “unaccomplished mission.”
Home-grown militancy
Burhan, the tech-savvy commander, had inspired many a youth towards militancy as romanticism. After his killing, former chief minister Omar Abdullah was bang on target when he tweeted that the slain commander will recruit more youths from his grave than when he was alive.
Time has proven the junior Abdullah right. The home-grown militancy has become a big challenge for the security forces to deal with in south Kashmir. The youth today has a romantic attitude towards social media-driven militancy. Several analysts and politicians have been trying to compare the present situation with 1990 when armed insurgency broke out in the Valley with a bang. However, the two episodes are entirely different.
Back in 1990, the victory of Mujahideen in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s belligerence, weak governments at the Centre and the state led to the Valley spinning out of control. But the present turmoil is vastly different. Today’s strife comes from a gory past, an uninspiring present and an uncertain future. Unemployment and lack of economic development may be the con-
cern of youths, but global trends towards political freedom has changed the thinking among the societies all over the world.
The only response of the state to the rage and anger of people so far has been the use of force which has aggravated the situation. Kashmiris by and large are frustrated with the entire class of politicians. Instead of browbeating them, governments at the Centre and the state must try to instil confidence among the common people by addressing governance and development issues so that services are delivered efficiently. The slow pace of development in Kashmir is a reason for disenchantment with the Centre.
The Union government must also shed its ostrich-like approach and start a dialogue with the genuine representatives of people to find a meaningful and everlasting solution to the political problems in Kashmir.