Srinagar: Amid heightening tension at LOC-which divide Kashmir into two parts between India and Pakistan, the latest development at the border where India claimed to have launched surgical strikes in Pak have evoked a lukewarm response in Kashmir, which is witnessing a three months long uprising.
People were seen rushing home earlier than usual in Srinagar as the news of the ‘surgical strikes by Indian Special Forces’ spread.
"Whether a knife falls on a melon or a melon falls on the knife, it is always the melon that gets cut," said Zahoor Ahmad, 52, a businessman in north Kashmir's Ganderbal district.
"In wars between India and Pakistan, the Kashmiris have always been the worst sufferers and if, God forbid, a war breaks out now, we would be at the receiving end again," he stressed.
"Is the worst still to come? Is it already lurking in the dark? Will they (India and Pakistan) really be so mad so as to start a war which will destroy both?" cynically asked Abdul Gani, 58, while recalling the horrors of the 1965 war when he was a child. "My mother would hide us in a dark room after serving an early dinner and speak in whispers," Gani recalled.
There were others who wished to believe that there would be no war, given Pakistan's denial of surgical strikes by India.
"I think it is just cross-border firing in which two Pakistani soldiers have been killed and nine others injured, which is being overplayed to satisfy bruised egos," said Professor Muzaffar Ahmad, a college principal.
"I don't think any country, much less a country like Pakistan, would eat a humble pie by not even admitting that an incident like surgical strikes within their territory had taken place," he added.
"People have started shifting with their families to safer places away from the LoC in Uri areas after today's (Thursday) development," said an official.
While many say that war is no solution to the long pending dispute of Kashmir, however several others, mostly youth, say it is better to fight a big war once, rather than indulging in cat and mouse wars daily.
“Why should we die every day? We have been dying since 1990. In 2016, 90 people have been killed. Let’s all get ready and fight it only once. Either we win or lose,” said Muzamil Mohiddin, a law student.
Rifat Jan, another law student, said, “I have seen wars since my birth. I am a 90’s born girl, when armed war was at its peak in Kashmir. I am prepared for every war. It is better to die once rather than dying every day,” she said.
Ulfat Ara, a student of MA in political Science said, “If India and Pakistan again goes for a war. It will inflict losses on both the countries. Both countries are equally powerful. We appeal the leaders of both the countries to act like statesmen and solve issue on the table and not in the battle field,” she said.
It will be interesting to see how India and Pakistan overcome the hostilities and resolve all the burning issue. Both the countries have fought several wars in the past. This time again, Kashmir will become the root cause if the nuclear armed neighbours go for a war.
According to a majority of respondents, the surgical strikes claimed by India were ‘concotous’. “India is trying to pressurize Pakistan into submission to cater to its own audience,” says Natasha Mir, a teacher. “These border skirmishes are more like a Tom and Jerry show. Neither India, nor Pakistan will allow the situation go out of control to lead to a full-fledged war.”
With inputs from IANS
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