Kashmir killings: Jolt to rehabilitation policy

While it is the responsibility of the majority community to help in containing the fresh wave of migration, the Centre must review its Kashmir policy

Last Tuesday, militants killed Makhan Lal Bindroo, a popular chemist of the Valley. A little later, social media burst forth with the news of the killing of a non-resident Hindu street vendor and a Muslim man from north Kashmir's Bandipora. Forty hours later, a Sikh woman and her Hindu colleague were shot inside a school in Srinagar's Eidgah area on Thursday afternoon. In the evening, security forces killed a man in Anantnag district after he allegedly did not stop his car at a security checkpoint.

Kashmir's tryst with killings is not new. During the Valley's long-drawn conflict, thousands lost their lives. However, there was almost a complete pause on the targeted killings of the Hindu minority community after most community members fled the Valley in 1990 when thousands of men took up arms against the Indian State. Many in the Valley, including the separatist leaders, blamed Jagmohan, the then governor of Jammu and Kashmir, for the displacement of the minority community, arguing that no one harmed those who had stayed put.

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Bindroo was one among such non-migrant Kashmiri Hindus who chose to stay back and continued to run his pharmacy in the heart of the city. He lived through the much-troubled decade of the '90s. His killing followed by three other such attacks has laid bare the government's claims about normalcy. It raises questions on New Delhi's radical decision taken on August 5, 2019, which scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

The absence of a popular government has pushed the people to the wall, and the government's strong-arm methods have failed to contain militancy or militant sentiment. The August 5 move alienated the people further, provoked militants, and gave rise to a new militant organization, The Resistance Front( TRF), which has owned the responsibility for the recent attacks. The group emerged after the abrogation of article 370 and is only second after JKLF (which shunned militant activities long ago) to choose a non-Islamic name for itself. The outfit also issues its statements in the English language, probably to appeal to a broader audience beyond the Urdu knowing people. The statements issued by the group said that the recent attacks on the minorities were not carried out because of their religious identity but for furthering the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) agenda in the region—a hint at the August 5 move.

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According to official data, during the first six months of 2021, 76 local boys signed up for different militant organizations. Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh said at a press conference in June that many foreign militants were present in the Valley. The recent targeted killings suggest that the action is now shifting from south to central and northern Kashmir.

New Delhi's failure to make any serious political outreach in the aftermath of the August 5 move has contributed to the general sense of despair. The high-profile meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the political leaders from the region, which raised hopes among people, did not yield any result. The people are also fed up with the bureaucracy-run governance as they do not have easy access to the babus, mostly non-locals.

There are also apprehensions that the recent attacks on minorities could undo the gains of the rehabilitation policy during the tenure of prime minister Manhoman Singh. The policy was rolled out in 2008 for displaced minorities with the sole idea of bringing them back by offering government jobs to their youth. More than 3000 people have been recruited under the policy, and they moved back to the Valley. However, the recent killings have forced many of them to leave the Valley, though temporarily. The government's efforts to move the community living in the Valley to "secured accommodations" will make a little difference and may put it on the line. The idea of setting up separate enclaves for the community has been rejected by the separatists and mainline political parties in the Valley. The segregation of minorities from the majority community will only contribute to the chasm between the two.

While it is the responsibility of the majority community to help in containing the fresh wave of migration, the government must revisit its Kashmir policy.