Killing of the two teenagers – Suhail Ahmad Ganai and Huzaif Ashraf – allegedly by the militants in South Kashmir has rightly caused anguish in Kashmir. The two were abducted and then killed: one of them shot dead and its alleged video circulated on social media and another’s throat was slit. Several political leaders in the state have come out with tweets against the killings. Former J&K chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti have condemned the killings. Militants, according to a social media video attributed to Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo, have justified the killings, as according to him, the two were “informers” and allegedly responsible for the killing of the two militants.
But while such killings were still fresh in public memory, unknown gunmen shot dead Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader Hafizullah Mir. His wife was also injured in the attack. Another round of condemnations has followed.
Such justifications and the condemnations of the killings in Kashmir will go on. Only thing that will not happen is that nothing will be done to stop the killings. Nothing will be done to address the situation that underpins the lingering violence. The killing of the two teenagers have highlighted how Kashmiris are dying every day and frequently under different labels. And how there seems no way out of this or end to it. Situation looks set to go on regardless in the foreseeable future. Some killings as that of Mir don’t have even a formal label. Nobody ever knows who perpetrated the act. All the agencies and the groups who could be seen as possible suspects deny any link.
Truth is that the killings of all kinds have now become a new normal in Kashmir. The government looks at the situation in law and order terms. This rationalizes the killings of the civilians by the government forces during protests or when they are said to disrupt encounter sites. On the other hand, there is no name for the killings by unidentified gunmen. And together both kind of killings reveal the extent of deterioration in the situation.
So far from playing politically correct blame games, which detract from the inherent tragedy of the situation, there is an urgent need to display seriousness about the state of affairs. But that this is not being done speaks to the routinization of the killings in Kashmir.
This is a sad state of affairs and explains why more things change in Kashmir, more they remain the same. In fact, the governments by resorting to an exclusively security driven approach have only worsened the situation. Let alone dialogue or a political engagement, even the leadership has been largely absent. If a turnaround is to be expected, the government needs to move beyond the use of force as the remedy. This has only perpetuated the cycle of death and destruction.
If at all this vicious cycle has to be stopped, something fundamental has to change about the way our ruling establishment has been handling things. But as of now there is little hope that the things are going to change. All we can do is hope against hope.
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