For j&k peace targeted killings can only be countered through full resumption of political process hold assembly polls soon
Even as a special NIA court in Delhi handed concurrent life terms to JKLF chief Yasin Malik for funding terror in J&K, Kashmiri TV artist Amreena Bhat was shot dead outside her home in Budgam district. Amreena’s death comes a day after an off-duty constable Saifullah Qadri was shot dead in front of his home in Srinagar. These are the latest in a spate of targeted killings in Kashmir that began around October last year. That the militants have targeted ordinary Kashmiri Muslims, Kashmiri Pandits, non-Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims, and individual security personnel shows a concerted attempt to sow fear, disrupt everyday life and challenge the attempts at attaining normalcy since the nullification of Article 370 in August 2019.Targeted killings by their nature are extremely difficult to prevent. Security personnel have no way of knowing who the militants will target next. This is in contrast to big-ticket terror operations that can be tracked through effective intelligence gathering. In fact, over the last two years the joint security mechanism in J&K has been quite successful in neutralising cross-border terrorists. But targeted killings use hit-and-run tactics and can be carried out by local agents who may not be on the radar of security forces.
This is precisely why it is also possible that the militants are trying to bait the security forces into an overreaction and create conditions akin to the height of the Punjab militancy or the Naxal movement in Bengal. A similar situation in Kashmir today will represent a severe setback, something terrorists and their cross-border handlers will be delighted with.
To their credit, security forces have shown considerable restraint. The main challenge now is to curb extremist ideological networks that have proliferated, aiding terror organisations in recruiting locals. About 49 cases of local recruitment have been reported this year – this is the cadre terror-handlers use to keep low-level targeted killings going. This strategy also suits Pakistan, which is facing its own political problems and is under increased international scrutiny. The only way to counter this is to strengthen J&K civil society so as to shrink the space available to extremist elements. But that can only happen if the democratic process is fully restored in the region. Now that delimitation has been notified, J&K assembly polls need to be held at the earliest. The number of stakeholders for peace in J&K can increase only if the legislative-executive structure is rebuilt.
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