Role Of Civil Population In Combating Terrorism in J&K – OpEd

By Nilesh Kunwar

In terrorist ridden areas, the predicament of the locals is akin to that of a jug, which is unfortunate both when a stone falls on it or when it falls on a stone and who knows this better than the hapless of J&K who have faced this Pakistan sponsored scourge for nearly three-and-a-half decades.

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Besides the physical destruction and devastation it caused, and the adverse psychological effect it had on Kashmiris of all ages and calling, terrorism also made senseless violence and intolerance the new normal in a society well known for its peaceful character and extraordinary forbearance.

Right from the time terrorism erupted in J&K, it was abundantly clear that despite being packaged by the Pakistan army’s spy agency Inter Services Intelligence [ISI] as an ‘armed struggle’ that would bring about ‘azadi’ [independence], the actual aim of this organised violence was not to better the lot of Kashmiris but to use them as cannon fodder for bleeding the Indian army through a thousand cuts.

ISI needs to be complimented for doing its homework extremely well. It invested heavily in creating proxies with monetary inducements across the entire spectrum of Kashmiri society. Groups espousing separatist ideology were brought under the umbrella of All Parties Hurriyat Conference [APHC] and beguiled into rejecting the ‘azadi’ call in favour of Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan. But this wasn’t achieved through the carrot alone.

Those opposed to Pakistan taking over control of the so-called Kashmir movement like All Jammu and Kashmir Awami Action Committee chairman Mirwaiz Moluvi Mohammad Farooq, J&K Liberation Front ideologue Prof Abdul Ahad Wani, and People’s Conference founder Abdul Gani Lone and many other such highly respected leaders were murdered by Kashmiri terrorists on orders of ISI.

Separatist leader Abdul Gani Bhat appropriately described such wanton targeted killings by saying, “Wherever we found an intellectual, we ended up killing him”!

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Jamaat-i-Islami Kashmir, a religio-political party that follows radical Islamic beliefs [advocated by Maulana Maududi] as well as hundreds of unscrupulous clerics became useful assets of ISI for luring gullible youth into joining terrorism. Portraying terrorism as ‘jihad’ [holy war] the gullible youth was made to believe that to participate in it was a mandatory religious obligation that would earn them a place in paradise where they could enjoy lucrative pleasures of the afterlife.

To optimise and coordinate terrorist activities in J&K, ISI brought various armed groups together under the United Jihad Council with Hizbul Mujahideen [HM] terrorist group founder Syed Salahuddin as its chief. He too has admitted motivating Kashmir youth into joining terrorism by telling them that “he would get into the ‘real life’ after this death and he would get peace. Khuda ussay raazi hoga” [Allah would be pleased with him]!

While ISI did a fantastic job, it overlooked Abraham Lincoln’s incisive observation that ‘You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” Enamoured by ideological rhetoric and impelled by misconceived religious calling, the people of Kashmir blindly did what Pakistan’s proxies asked them to do- they took to streets in protest at the drop of the hat, observed prolonged shutdowns, indulged in stone pelting and destruction of public property as well as joined terrorist groups.

However, with the passage of time, the unbridled duplicity of separatists, terrorist commanders and other proxies of Pakistan came to fore.

While asking people to endure the extreme hardship caused by frequent shutdowns and street protests that not only caused loss of livelihood but also adversely impacted education of children, the separatists kept their own kith and kin out of harm’s way. Similarly, while the terrorist leaders lured Kashmiri youth by assuring them of divine rewards, they ensured their own children don’t join terrorist ranks.

The result is that today street protests, shutdowns and stone-pelting have become things of the past and the credit for this goes to the people of Kashmir who have called Pakistan’s bluff. The peaceful conduct of the keenly contested J&K Legislative Assembly elections and impressive voter turnout has demonstrated public confidence in the electoral process. Failure of the ruling National Democratic Alliance [NDA] to make any electoral gain in Kashmir Valley has convincingly debunked Islamabad’s fake narrative of “sham elections” and indiscriminate “rigging” in J&K.

It’s due to vigilance and pro-activeness of security forces complimented by the active cooperation of the public that terrorist activity in J&K’s hinterland is currently at a new low. Having seen through Pakistan’s Kashmir perfidy and discerned how the self serving interests of its proxies is fuelling terrorism in J&K and making life miserable for the common Kashmir, locals no longer blindly obey diktats of those for whom the so-called Kashmir movement is money making business.

This is indeed a positive sign. And if separatists and terrorist groups haven’t given a call for boycotting the recently held assembly elections, it’s not because of a change of heart but only since they know that their motivated directives would go unheeded. The terrorists have for long intimidated locals into submission by rampant killing of those who fail to fall in line, but they now know that Kashmiris have had enough and realised the power and strength of unity.

Specific mention that “Indeed Allah will not change the conditions of a population until they change what is in themselves”in Holy Quran [13:11] shows the way to the people of Kashmir how to rid J&K of the scourge of terrorism and reclaim their ‘paradise on earth’!

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Nilesh Kunwar

Nilesh Kunwar is a retired Indian Army Officer who has served in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. He is a ‘Kashmir-Watcher,’ and now after retirement is pursuing his favorite hobby of writing for newspapers, journals and think tanks.