valley blitz
as well as Pakistan .
Observes say Prime Minister Narendra Modi has entirely changed the texture of New Delhi ’ s Kashmir policy though the PDP — the saffron party ’ s coalition partner in the J & K — has repeatedly been calling for a different approach . They note that the NDA regime ’ s “ hard ” approach towards Kashmir has obliterated the space for non-militant voices , thus giving a new life to militancy . “ It has taken Kashmir back to the 1990s ,” says an academic , not wanting to be named .
Some experts argue that the Modi government ’ s approach has , unwittingly , snatched from the state one of its most effective weapons : fear . More than its weapons and war-planes , it was fear of the state that had prevented militancy from turning into a mass insurrection , according to them . Today , the government ’ s “ militaristic ” appr oach — resounding with usages like ‘ all-out ope ration ’ and ‘ anti-separatists drive ’— has led the people to reciprocate barechested to the challenges of loaded guns . “ The situation is so grave that you don ’ t know who is a militant and who is not ,” says a police official . The government ’ s constant refrain of ‘ no ’ to every thing from internal to external talks has also eliminated from the minds of most people the hope that the country ’ s secular polity can one day accommodate Kashmiri aspirations through the tenacious process of dialogue . “ The Centre has alienated Kashmiris by using Hindutva as a directive principle of the state policy , threatening people by sending Sangh-affiliates to the Supreme Court to revoke Articles 370 and 35 ( A ),” says the academic , referring respectively to the constitutional provisions that give the autonomy to J & K and empowers its legislature to define the state ’ s “ permanent residents ”. “ The Centre has also alienated those Kashmiris struggling to juggle their Muslim identity with undeclared Indian-ness . This has further reduced the prospect of de-escalation in the immediate future ,” he adds , citing seasoned NC politician Akbar Lone , who has been speaker of the State Assembly , as an exa mple . On Feb ruary 10 , Lone shouted pro-Pakistan slogans in the assembly when the BJP accused Rohingyas and other Muslims living around the Sunjuwan camp of fac ilitating the attack .
Suicide attackers seldom fail in their mission
A February 10 fidayeen attack on Jammu ’ s Sunjuwan camp claimed 10 lives , six of them armymen . Here is a list of similar instances in J & K :
November 3 , 1999 Eight armymen killed , as fidayeen attack Badamibagh headquarters of army ’ s 15 Corps in Srinagar
September 17 , 2001 Nine policemen of J & K Police ’ s elite counter-insurgency force Special Operations Group killed when fidayeen attack their camp at Handwara in Kupwara district of north Kashmir
May 14 , 2002 31 people killed and 48 injured , as three militants storm an army cantonment at Kalucheck in Jammu
July 22 , 2003 Eight army personnel , including a Brigadier , killed and 12 ( including four generals , a brigadier and two colonels ) injured when fidayeen storm an army camp at Akhnoor in Jammu
July 19 , 2008 10 soldiers killed and 20 injured when militants target an army convoy at Narbal along the Srinagar- Baramulla national highway in Budgam district after detonating an IED
June 24 , 2013 Ten soldiers killed and 12 injured when two militants attack an army convoy at Hyderpora bypass in Srinagar . The militants manage to escape .
September 25 , 2013 Nine people , including a lieutenant colonel and four policemen , killed in twin fidayeen attacks by militants in Jammu ’ s Samba and Kathua . All the three militants killed later .
December 5 , 2014 Eight soldiers and three policemen killed when militants storm the army ’ s camp at Uri near the Line of Control . The attack was claimed by the Jaish-e-Mohammad . Six Jaish militants also killed .
June 26 , 2016 Eight CRPF men killed and 22 injured when fidayeen attack a CRPF convoy at Pampore on the Srinagar- Jammu national highway . Two fidayeen also killed in the attack .
September 18 , 2016 Heavily armed militants carry out an attack at Uri Brigade , close to Line of Control in north Kashmir , killing 18 armymen and wounding 22
January 1 , 2018 Five CRPF personnel , including an officer , killed in a pre-dawn fidayeen attack by JeM militants on their camp at Lethpora in south Kashmir ’ s Pulwama district . Two Jaish militants also killed .
The Opposition NC bemoans that the Centre ’ s approach towards Kashmir has begun to discredit reconciliation as an evil ; instead it ’ s drawing jingoism as the baseline of patriotism . “ The BJP has its elf ridiculed the government ’ s announcement of the new Kashmir inter - locutor ( Dineshwar Sharma ). Even some key ministers and those close to the PM aren ’ t amused ,” NC state spokesman Junaid Azim Mattu tells Outlook . “ Between the optics of reconciliation and macho nationalism , the Kashmir issue has been made more complex .”
The policy on engagement with Pakistan , too , has been “ inconsistent and unre alistic ”, according to Mattu . “ Amid the PM ’ s features of spontaneous visits to Pakistan , the government ’ s approach of surgical strikes and the BJP using its anti-Pakistan rhetoric during various elections , one wonders if the central government realises the grave costs of this prolonged stalemate and hostility . Their costs have to be borne by the people along the LoC and the international border .” The upcoming polls to various state assemblies will show whether the Centre will use Kashmir and Pakistan as electoral gambits instead of pursuing Mehbooba ’ s idea of a serious enga gement or dialogue based on the motto of “ war is no option ”.
After all , Pakistan-sponsored fidayeen att acks have particularly gained momentum since 2014 . Towards the end of that year , on December 5 ( on the eve of the anniversary of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition ) six Jaish militants entered an army camp in north Kashmir ’ s Uri , killing eight soldiers and three policemen . Then , in September 2016 , a Jaish attack at the Uri Brigade headquarters killed 18 army men and wounded 22 .
Before the Lethpora attack on the first day of this year , Jaish ’ s Fardeen Khanday ( who got killed along with another militant ) had made a video urging Kashmiri youth and Muslims across the country to join the “ fight against India ”. The eightminute clip has 16-year-old Fardeen saying that militancy has no connection with unemployment “ as is being fabricated by New Delhi ; it is rather a reply to Kashmir ’ s illegal control by India ’’. Towards its end , the teenager , who had joined militancy in mid-September last year , hails Afzal Guru and LeT founder Maulana Masood Azhar . The violence keeps taking uncanny cycles . O
18 Outlook 26 February 2018