Let Pandits, others move to safety

Kashmir is in the grip of a wave of targeted killings, showing the government’s claims of the Union Territory’s return to normalcy as false and raising fears of its lapse into the turmoil of the early nineties. At least nine civilians have been killed by militants in the last three weeks. While there have been more such killings in recent weeks, they started soon after the scrapping of Article 370 and the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir. A Kashmiri Pandit employee, a Hindu schoolteacher from Jammu, a bank manager from Rajasthan and a labourer from Bihar were among those who were targeted, obviously to make a point. The killings have caused panic among the targeted communities and triggered an exodus from Kashmir.

Also read: BJP appeals to Kashmir Pandit, Dogra workers to stay back, assures safety

The government cannot escape responsibility for the turn of events and the course Kashmir has taken since August 2019. While snapping the constitutional link that existed till then to the erstwhile state, the government did not establish a political link with it. It failed to take the people on board on the change of its status and convince them that it was done in their interest. The series of repressive measures that followed further alienated the people. All this created a fertile ground for militancy to gain strength again. New policies relating to land ownership, domicile and employment that were implemented were considered as impositions on Kashmiris and an attempt to force demographic change in Kashmir. Politics as it existed was destroyed and people were left without any legitimate forum to relate to the government. The delimitation of constituencies was also seen as a move to change the political balance that existed to the disadvantage of Kashmiris in the Valley.

The A B Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh governments had generally dealt with Kashmir with political sensitivity and understanding. That had brought down militancy and the situation had vastly improved. But the policies of the Modi government undid the gains made since the early nineties and it is no surprise that the situation has now gone back to what it was then. The government and the ruling BJP tried to make political capital out of the exodus of Pandits in the nineties and even used an exaggerated and motivated account of it in the film The Kashmir Files to inflame passions. Its policies have now created the same situation, but the government refuses to accept it and is stopping people who are trying to flee to safety. But cooping them up behind barbed wire is not the security the government had promised. When it is unable to provide them a sense of security, it should allow, even facilitate, them to move out of the danger zone. It should not allow the fear that doing so will be seen as its defeat to dictate policy. At the same time, militants and terrorists must be dealt with strongly. Above all, it should be noted that only political outreach and rebuilding of trust will put an end to it.