Jammu and Kashmir must take a leaf out of Punjab book

The recent targeted killings of unarmed policemen and individuals from the minority community by terrorists in the Kashmir Valley have sent ripples across India. The assassination of select targets is a well-known facet of warfare since ancient times. Chanakya, in his political treaties, the Arthashastra, has enunciated the use of assassination as a weapon of warfare. Terrorists, who thrive on publicity tools, spiked the killings in early 2021 to regain lost ground. In the current year, the Valley has witnessed 16 such killings which include that of SgCt Saifullah Qadri, a policeman who was on leave; Rajni Bala, a schoolteacher; and Vijay Kumar, a bank manager from Rajasthan.

This is not a new phenomenon. In 2012, Muhammad Shafi Teli, a sarpanch in Baramulla district, was assassinated by terrorists, which was followed by a panic resignation of 48 panchayat members in the Valley. These are attempts to derail the peace process, keep a tight control on the people’s psyche, ensure maintenance of terrorists’ support base through the fear of gun, and subvert good governance.

For many years, terrorism in J&K ran concurrently with the insurgency in Punjab. Both were supported from across the border. The people of Punjab freed themselves from the dragon of insurgency/terrorism by various strategic and tactical initiatives launched at various levels.

K P S Gill, the former DGP of Punjab, is often credited with terminating the insurgency in Punjab. Yet, no one can deny that it was the people of Punjab themselves who led from the front to root out terrorism/insurgency.

The government and the defence forces have executed many strategical and tactical manoeuvres to exterminate terrorism from J&K.

The successful culmination of the state elections in 1996 was the first manoeuvre of this kind. It was coupled with multiple ventures launched by the defence forces to win the hearts and minds of people, later termed ‘Operation Sadbhavana’. Somewhere down the line, the government machinery lost the opportunity to get rid of terrorism from the Valley.

Post the Kargil War in 1999, there was a spurt in terrorist activities in South Kashmir, Doda, Kishtwar and even in the Jammu region. In the first decade of the 21st century, terrorists in the Valley had a roller-coaster ride. In 2003, even after a ceasefire agreement was signed between India and Pakistan, infiltration from across the border continued unabated. Little was done to check the activities of Sayeed Ali Shah Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Asiya Andrabi, the founding leader of Dukhtaran-e-Millat (women militant wing), Yasin Malik and their likes, who were supporting terrorism and spreading unrest.

With the arrival of the Modi government at the Centre, the government toughened its stand on J&K. In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the army camp in Uri in 2016, India carried out a surgical strike across the Line of Control. In 2019, the Indian Air Forces struck a major terrorist training camp at Balakot in response to the suicide attack on the CRPF convoy. Balakot was the first-of-its-kind operation that brought into focus the use of air forces in the face of terrorism unleashed from across the border.

On the political front, the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the state of J&K fall in the realm of a strategic move with far-reaching implications.

The arrest of JKLF chief Yasin Malik and the award of life imprisonment to him is a turning point which might bring to book the other perpetrators of the Hurriyat who have been indulging in hawala operations and supporting terrorism in the Valley at the behest of the ISI from Pakistan.

To carry it forward, the police in the Valley should protect its own unarmed personnel and the minority community while going at terrorists hammer and tongs. The Punjab model provides some valuable lessons which should be modified to suit the environments in the Valley.

The Sufi culture of the Valley and the overarching benefits of peace and tranquillity appear to have been forgotten by the supporters of terrorism. The ‘Naya Kashmir’, as being propounded by the government, can only happen if the mindset of people is changed.

This change can come through the education of youth to offset years of hardliners hammering jihad into their minds that has vitiated the environment The selection of Umran Malik, a young cricketer from the erstwhile state of J&K, for the Indian team and other such instances must be showcased.

This change should start with the University of Srinagar and other such institutions which have been harbouring hardliners and preventing the Valley’s youth from connecting with mainstream India.