New Delhi: Recent target killings of the members of minority communities carried out by Pakistan sponsored terrorists are aimed at recreating a situation like 1990s in Kashmir. The terror bosses sitting across the Line of Control (LoC) have directed their stooges to carry out the ethnic cleansing by attacking minorities in the Valley.
All this is happening just a few days before the annual Amarnath pilgrimage is scheduled to commence. The ploy is evident, i.e., to chase minorities out of Kashmir and send a message to Amarnath pilgrims that they could be attacked. However, the government has put its foot down by making it amply clear that the administration won’t be a party to any “ethnic-cleansing” scripted from across the border.
The government has driven home a point that migrant government employees, including Kashmiri Pandits, won’t be shifted to Jammu, and the Amarnath Yatra-2022 will be held as per schedule.
The message is clear that terrorists and their handlers won’t be allowed to succeed in their nefarious designs.
The government has taken a tough call. It has decided that 1990 won’t be repeated. When the armed insurgency broke out in the Himalayan region three decades ago the ultras sponsored by Pakistan carried out selective killings of the members of the Kashmiri Pandit community which led to their forced exodus from the Valley. They left everything behind to save their honour and lives. In 2022, nearly 6000 Kashmiri Pandits, who were appointed under Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Package and are posted in different departments across the Valley, are facing a similar situation like 1990. But there is a big difference this time the government is standing with them. The J&K administration has assured them protection and postings at safer places.
Normalcy perturbs terror sponsors
The terror groups working at the behest of Pakistan are perturbed by the return of normalcy in Kashmir. They are using hybrid terrorists to spill the blood of innocents. Soft targets are being picked up to instill fear among the people and create chaos.
The target killings indicate that terrorists are no longer in a position to carry out any major attacks as they are aware that challenging the security forces means inviting death.
The terrorists are not only killing Hindus, they are murdering off duty Muslim J&K policemen, unprotected Panchs and Sarpanchs and others. It’s an attempt to silence the nationalist voices, who are showing no inclination towards separatism and violence.
After August 5, 2019 — when the Centre announced its decision to abrogate J&K’s so-called special status and bifurcate it into two Union Territories — shutdowns, street protests and stone pelting have become a history. People of Kashmir are carrying out their daily chores without any disruptions. Tourists arriving in hordes during the past two years have revived the ailing tourism industry.
Pak loses proxy war in J&K
Terror sponsors had never expected that a common man in Kashmir will turn his back towards them and would say goodbye to violence, hate mongering and separatism.
The emerging situation in Kashmir has made terrorist handlers realise that they have lost the proxy war which they have been fighting in J&K for the past three decades. Now, they are luring young boys into terrorism by promising them money and are providing them with the weapons to kill their own people.
In October 2021, terrorists tried to chase the minorities out of Kashmir. The terrorists shot and killed seven people in Kashmir, four of them from the Hindu and Sikh minority communities.
Soon after the minorities were attacked in Kashmir, the security forces launched a counter offensive and eliminated 16 terrorists involved in target killings. On the other hand the National Investigation Agency raided over 40 locations across J&K in October 2021 and arrested 25 persons in the terror-conspiracy cases. The J&K Police also arrested many youth for their alleged involvement in the cases. At least 48 prisoners slapped with the Public Safety Act were shifted to high security prison in Agra. Normalcy was restored within a few days. Non-locals and Kashmiri Pandit employees who had left the Valley returned and went back to their work.
Amarnath Yatra as per schedule
After a gap of six months the terrorists have once again reappeared on the scene but the security agencies are on the job. The ones who are spreading terror won’t survive for long. The counter offensive is on cards as the government is determined to end the terrorism in J&K.
The recent killings have not bogged down the J&K administration as it knows that the security forces would put an end to these target killings like they did in October 2021.
Till date more than 2 lakh people have registered for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, scheduled to commence on June 30 and end in mid August. The government has made it amply clear that the Amarnath Yatra, which is a symbol of Kashmir’s composite culture, will go on despite some threat perception that will be handled.
Voices against terrorists become shriller
The prevailing situation in Kashmir is an eye opener for the terrorist supporters and their sympathizers. The ultras and Pakistan are no well wishers of Kashmiri people as they are out to once again turn Kashmir into a graveyard. They don’t want a common man to prosper, nor can they see him growing. They just want him to dance to their tunes and remain poor forever.
Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) termed the recent bloodshed in the Valley as unacceptable in any society and against humanity. It said that the senseless killings of the members of minority communities go against the basic spirit and concept of Kashmiriyat. The KCCI regretted that the image of Kashmiris is getting dented once again.
The KCCI minced no words to send a message that killings of innocents will have a direct impact on the local economy at a time when it was showing signs of recovery after a long lull.
The voices against terrorists and Pakistan are becoming shriller in Kashmir. At many places local Muslims joined Kashmiri Pandits to protest against the killings of Hindus.
In 1990 the members of the majority community had remained silent due to the fear of guns. But in 2022, the situation has changed. The members of the majority community are standing with the minorities and are assuring them all possible help.
The government too has decided to take the bull by its horns by deciding to thwart the moves of terrorists to trigger yet another mass exodus like 1990. The message is clear that the dispensation led by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is determined to end terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and it won’t allow the adversary to succeed in any of its evil designs.
–IANS