Two weeks after the braid-cutting reached Kashmir from Jammu, there are no signs of the mysterious phenomenon dying down anytime soon. The rising number of incidents have wrought havoc. Everyday several cases of braid chopping or the apprehensions of the alleged braid cutters are reported in the local media. So far scores of women have suffered the fate of having their hair cut and scores of persons have been thrashed after being mistaken for a braid chopper. And one 70 year old Abdul Salam Wani from village Dantar in South Kashmir was lynched. He had come out of his house late into the night to answer the natures call when a mob already agitated about having sighted an alleged braid cutter in the locality mistook him for one. He was hit by a big brick in his head and died on the way to the hospital.
In many villages, people have taken to night patrols armed with lathis, knives and agricultural implements to scare away the alleged perpetrators of the outrage. There is scare everywhere. Walking on the roads, womenfolk watch their backs.
Meanwhile, state government remains clueless. Not a single alleged snipper has been caught or identified. And those caught by the people have turned out to be innocent. Police is now terming the phenomenon a mass hysteria which is self-perpetuating through circulation of pictures and videos on social media. And its strategy to control the menace is to file cases against rumour mongers and resort to internet shutdowns to limit the circulation of videos of the alleged braid-cutting incidents and the protests.
But this has hardly stopped the fresh cases from surfacing, which is only adding to the mystery of the phenomenon. Lack of progress in the investigation has been a source of frustration with the people. The theory of mass hysteria has further inflamed the public mood. What Government is saying is that hundreds of women have simultaneously lost their mind in Valley. And all of them are cutting their hair to give vent to their The explanation is validly seen as an insult to the intelligence of the people.
The consensus in Valley is that it is the state which is behind the phenomenon. And the inability of the police to offer a credible explanation for the multiplying incidents is only reinforcing the perception. Separatist groups have responded to the outrage in the only way they know: call for a hartal.
As a result, the entire Valley has been driven crazy. May be this alone is the purpose behind the outrage, to divert the attention of the people by creating an artificial new issue. But the way the state government including even the opposition is meaningfully silent on the issue, people have reason to draw their own conclusions. And these conclusions they are drawing. Truth is while the hysterical response by the people can be explained in the light of a deep sense of fear prevailing in the state, there is little explanation for the governments inability to explain the phenomenon. Terming it a mass hysteria will hardly cut any ice when the braids of a number of women have actually been cut in mysterious circumstances.
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