Kashmir is again on the boil – after an uneasy calm lasting several months. For one, the summer season is also the time for incursions into the Valley of militants trained by Pakistani military establishment. Some encounters have taken place and there were heavy casualties on the side of the security forces too in recent days.
In tandem with this, the security forces effected a major breakthrough in the eight-year-old hunt for a dreaded militant on Wednesday. The Hizbul Mujahideen operational chief, 34-year-old Riyaz Naikoo was exterminated. This has also prompted tightening of security further and suspension of internet facility in the valley, which had been restored after much campaigns even at the global level by rights activists – months after the last August abrogation of the special status for Jammu and Kashmir.
A point to stress is that, Kashmir is a work in progress. The calm that was evident in the past several months was mainly on the surface. The scenario is unlikely to improve in the near future as Pakistan will continue with its games – with no collateral damage to it in any way – and the Modi government is bent on proving a point or two in the valley. Those who are caught in between are the hapless population there. The encounter-killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in 2016 was thought to be a turning point. But, others stepped in to fill the vacuum he left as was only to be expected; and now Naikoo, who had a million-strong bounty on his head, is gone.
In a way, with the coronavirus pandemic being on the prowl in Kashmir too, and restrictions on public appearances imposed in the Valley as well over the past few weeks, the “uneasy calm” there might continue even in the face of the new “provocation” from the security forces — or the Modi government at the Centre.
The terrorist or militant offensives do not go on and on, as is well exemplified in the case of the LTTE, the IRA, the Chechen offensive etc. But, the difference with Kashmir is that a powerful state agency from across the border is generously fueling the fire. It has no expiry date, unless the Indian government evolves strategies to end such support. The ongoing offensives in Kashmir from both sides will only keep making a mess of the lives of Kashmiri Muslims for more times to come. A change from state status to UT by itself might not mean much.