Sinister agenda behind soft targets and isolated killings in Jammu and Kashmir

The plan is two-pronged - to scare the minority community and widen the communal wedge but also to target nationalist Muslims and destroy Kashmir's tolerant Sufi culture

The recent killings in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists might seem isolated to some. To others, these killings might look like terrorists have a new strategy to pick soft targets primarily belonging to the minority community of the Union Territory. While the killings might seem isolated in terms of numbers, their agenda is sinister, and there is much to it than what meets the eye.

A new viler dimension gets added to even this phenomenon of 'soft targets and isolated killings' every passing day. It all began with the brutal killings of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community members, who are either performing their entrepreneurial duties or in government jobs under the Centre's much-touted but flawed rehabilitation package for the community in Kashmir.

In picking soft targets, the Pakistan sponsored killers, with tacit local help in some cases, have adopted a two-pronged strategy. The plan is rooted firstly in further sharpening the Hindu-Muslim divide and secondly in targeting those among the majority Muslim community of Kashmir either imbued by nationalistic spirit or have credentials or are performing their duties as part of the government or security apparatus.

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The killing of Kashmiri Muslim artist Amreen Bhat is yet another extension of this dimension to weaken Kashmir's cultural core. Ostensibly, the handlers of these killers are aware that isolated killings of Hindu or Sikh community members will get more traction in India's national context than resorting to random acts of terrorism through blasts and encounters.

At the same time, terrorists are simultaneously trying to scare Kashmiri Muslims to force them into a shell lest they openly oppose acts of terrorism which have already caused irreparable loss to the Kashmiri society and bruised 'Kashmiriyat' - the epitome of brotherhood and Sufi culture.

The cold-blooded murder of an innocent 36-year-old school teacher Rajani Bala when she was shot dead while entering her school at Gopalpura village in south Kashmir's Kulgam district, and of a bank employee, Vijay Kumar, on Thursday are the latest in this series of killings, picking soft targets primarily Hindus, but Muslims also. This is a case with altogether a new dimension and an alarming one.

A native of the Jammu region's Samba district, Bala was a regular employee of the UT administration and not under the 'displaced persons' quota under Central schemes. Belonging to a Dogra Dalit family, she and her husband - both teachers - had served in different areas in the volatile Kashmir valley for the last seven years to earn their livelihood. The couple's efforts to at least get her transferred to a safer place shockingly found no favour with the authorities.

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This incident happened in the immediate backdrop of terrorists daringly entering a revenue department office and killing Rahul Bhatt, a Kashmiri Pandit clerk, from point-blank range. This new strategic blood trail started in September-October 2021 with the killing of seven persons, including a Kashmiri Pandit, a Sikh woman principal serving in a school in the old part of Srinagar city and two non-local Hindus in the Valley to earn a livelihood. In all, 15 Hindus and many Muslims, including security forces personnel, have lost their lives since August 2019, when Article 370 of the Constitution was partially repealed.

Bala's killing, before this, another person belonging to the Jammu region but settled in Kashmir since long was gunned down, is a pointer to the terrorist handlers' new strategy to expand their canvas beyond Kashmiri Pandits and target the Jammu region. Ostensibly, the idea is to create societal strife with an even bigger dimension when this deplorable phenomenon already has serious internal connotations.

It is a wake-up call for the official machinery - the Centre and the Lt Governor's administration, and of course, the ruling party - to shed their notions and ideological beliefs and deal with the situation on a real-time basis. With multi-dimensional problems both of internal and external nature, Jammu and Kashmir cannot be a part of any politico-electoral experimentation to ensure victory or defeat. First and foremost, the government cannot hide behind the cover of the excuse that it cannot provide security to every individual. While the argument might have merit, why then expose the minority community employees to the terrorists' guns in the name of rehabilitation or posting them in hostile areas?

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The security forces have been handling the security situation with great success. But the political and governmental systems have been a letdown, and the current situation is no exception.
Let the security forces do their job but let the political and governmental systems also duly complement their efforts. It will be dangerous if the entire onus is put on the security forces and the other side remains busy calculating their electoral benefits.

On a priority basis, the government should recalibrate its rehabilitation and posting policy concerning displaced Kashmiri Pandits and other employees, particularly those hailing from the Jammu region, such as the late Mrs Bala. This policy has been flawed in one respect from the very beginning. Any rehabilitation process in Kashmir like situation cannot be planned and executed in the air. This needed lot of groundwork, with the most important ingredient being creating goodwill in the society through sustained effort at various levels. Unfortunately, the present and the successive governments have ignored this aspect or done very little.

As has been done for the displaced Kashmiri Pandit employees working under the prime minister's employment scheme, creating exclusive zones was never a viable solution. Its non-viability increased manifold with the government's realistic stand on its inability to provide security cover to each individual.

An enabling atmosphere in this regard would require an enabling political process and environment, which had received a setback with J&K's status demoted to a Union Territory and subsequently creating confusion on the political firmament of the UT to create a single-party hegemony. This is something which should be left to the people.

The priority of the Centre and the UT administration should be to safeguard the lives of the vulnerable sections, particularly the employees, of the population living under the shadow of terrorists' guns in the Valley. More effective means of communication should be opened with these terrified employees rather than locking them in the exclusive residential zones allotted to them. And what about persons such as Mrs Bala who have been fending for themselves outside such exclusive zones?

The government must incentivise these vulnerable sections of the society by placing a transparent and robust mechanism to decide about their postings and transfers and an expedited compensatory mechanism in case of mishaps. Why should the family of a terrorist victim working in trying conditions be begging for justice and compensation?

(Anil Anand is a senior journalist)