‘Target killings’ in Valley need a political solution

The targeted serial killings in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir have resulted in the Hindu minority, especially the Kashmiri Pandits, demanding that they be relocated to safe places. It is estimated that there are over 8,000 people from the Jammu region employed in Kashmir who do not want to return to their workplaces given the threat to their lives. The families of more than 300 Kashmiri Pandit employees recruited under the PM’s job package have fled the Valley while hundreds of other families are looking for options to leave fearing for safety.

For a nation that swears by a secular Constitution, it is an impossible demand to concede when a group of people demand certain things based on their religion but when terrorists, who know no religion — of the eight targeted killings since May 1, three are Hindus and five Muslims — strike terror, it will have little option but to act. And act swiftly. It is inhuman to keep the panic-stricken minority community in J&K on the tenterhooks until the government is able to get the law and order situation back to normal. The employees must be granted transfer or allowed to work from a place of safety. The others must be permitted to relocate.

The relocation or the exodus of the minority community will rekindle memories of the 1990s when terrorists succeeded in driving a deep wedge in the social psyche of Kashmir and drove Hindus away from their homeland. It is a tragedy that history repeats itself, or is being allowed to repeat itself. But this is an extraordinary situation in which lives are stake and the government must walk the extra mile.

The Army and the security establishment have been battling militancy and terrorism in Kashmir for over three decades but have not been able to fully neutralise the Pakistan-backed terror-makers. The security forces have to operate within the parameters of law, allegations of occasional breaches notwithstanding. Thousands of security men and women have laid down their lives in trying to defeat the evil objectives of terrorists; and the mission cannot but succeed. There can be no compromise in dealing with the terrorist elements.

The BJP and the Sangh Parivar have been shedding tears for the Kashmiri Hindus for decades; the fate of the people who have been made refugees in their own land has been their favourite poll theme for long. The party and its ideological mentors must at least now realise that Jammu and Kashmir is not just a law and order problem; it is a political one with its genesis rooted across generations.

There cannot be an administrative quick fix for such an issue. The latest terrorist campaign has been condemned by all communities of Kashmir as they are able to see through its design, aims and ways. The government must enlist the support of those people to defeat it.

The BJP has been able to push its agenda on Jammu and Kashmir—that is to hollow out Article 370 of the Constitution— but its ultimate stated goal of its full integration with the rest of the country as they define it remains unfulfilled. It calls for political sagacity if the process were to move forward. The BJP and the government must wake up to that simple fact.

There cannot be an administrative quick fix for such an issue. The latest terrorist campaign has been condemned by all communities of Kashmir as they are able to see through its design, aims and ways.