Kashmir stands at cross-roads. And we dont know where the situation is heading. One feature of Kashmir that gives the situation its uniquely troubling dimension is that it never ceases to shock you. In fact, Kashmir has a knack of constantly unsettling you. Every time, one tends to become accustomed to its perennially uncertain situation, something much more violent comes along that forces you to revise your opinion. In fact, if the past is any guide, more one tries to overlook the Valley turmoil more it forces one to take note of it. And perhaps this state of affairs hasnt been more true than it has been during the term of the Narendra Modi led government at the centre. Violence has reached alarming levels as centre has resorted to disproportionate force to address the situation and withdrawn from a political outreach towards the state, underlining yet again that the futility of this approach.
However, while the centre will do what it will do, the onus of introspection over the direction that Kashmir is taking lies with us. Of course, there is a larger concern over the steady deterioration in the situation and where it could take Kashmir if it was allowed to go on regardless. According to a security estimate, more than 90 militants have been killed since January in encounters with security forces, most of them local youth in their teens or early twenties. Around 20 civilians have died during public protests near the encounter sites to help militants escape. The funeral processions of the militants are drawing an ever larger number of the people. At each such killing, several rounds of funeral prayers are held to accommodate an unbroken stream of mourners. Rescue bids by the people for the trapped militants are becoming audacious by the day. What is more, the slain militants are easily replenished by the new recruits many of them teenagers who are killed within months of their picking up arms. Such is their level of motivation that none of them respond to offer of surrender once tracked down by the security forces.
True, the new recruitment in a large measure is driven by the attitude of the armed forces and police. These young boys who are being tortured and brutalised by the police and the armed forces are the ones who become recruits to the militancy. They do it without even enough arms and without training. The three militants from Srinagar who were killed in Budgam on Wednesday were found to have only one Kalashankov and a pistol. One of them Aqib Gul Dar had picked up arms just 18 days ago.
What needs to be challenged and exposed is the attitude of the armed forces and the police and their response to the situation. Their actions are an important factor in the birth of new militancy. Having said that, it is also incumbent on all of us to start worrying about our new generation and see what can be done to save their future without running counter to the public sentiment.
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