Serious turning point: on the killings of civilians in Srinagar

The killing of seven civilians in six days in Srinagar marks a serious turning point in the situation in the Kashmir Valley. This vicious, mindless violence against ordinary people, owned by a group that calls itself the Resistance Front – believed to be a shadow organization of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba – is yet another reminder that International fundamentalism drives Islamism. Victims include local Muslims who were labeled traitors, but targeting Hindu Pandit and Sikh minority communities is unmistakable. Srinagar’s prominent Kashmiri Pandit chemist, Makhan Lal Bindu, whose violent decision to remain in the 1990s was seen as a positive omen by the displaced community, was shot. The killers used adjectives such as ‘RSS puppet’, ‘police informer’ and ‘traitor’ for the victims. Majid Ahmed Gojri and Mohammad Shafi Dar were killed on 2 October. On 7 October, a Sikh principal and a Kashmir Pandit, who had returned to the Valley after taking up jobs under the Prime Minister’s special job package for migrant Pandits, were shot dead. Islamic terrorists have been demanding ethnic cleansing of the valley for a long time. After the violence in 1990, Pandits had to leave in large numbers. After 1994, attacks on minorities became episodic, but not without periodic outrage such as the Vandhama massacre, when 23 Pandits were shot dead in January 1998 and the Chittisinghpura massacre in Anantnag in March 2000 that killed 35 Sikhs. Had gone.

The wave of violence is taking place in the backdrop of increased tourist influx in the Valley and pressure from the Center to boost development plans. The administration is also encouraging the Pandits to return. The Centre’s nine-week-long outreach in Jammu and Kashmir, where Union ministers are visiting remote districts, including those along the LoC, is underway. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit India later this month. Strict instructions were issued on 15 August to hoist the national flag in all government buildings including schools. There is also a high degree of intolerance by the administration, which does not even spare the political activities of the mainstream parties. An aggressive campaign is also being launched to punish suspected government servants who have separatist sympathies. In this environment, civilians are soft targets of terrorists. According to police figures, 28 civilians were killed in Jammu and Kashmir, which crossed the 22 casualties of security personnel so far this year. Of the 28 murders, four were local Hindus, one Sikh, two non-local Hindu laborers and 21 local Muslims; There were 23 political workers, most of whom belonged to the BJP. No society can tolerate such violence. But the administration should also engage with political parties and civil society organizations while chasing terrorists.