Wednesday’s killing of three Pakistan backed Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] terrorists [including self-styled LeT commander Lateef Rather] in the Waterhail area of Budgam district in Central Kashmir is indeed a major success for the security forces and J&K police. What makes this operation all the more special is that despite being undertaken in a populated area, security forces neutralised these terrorists without suffering any casualties or causing collateral damage

Extinction of Rather is undoubtedly a remarkable achievement-not only because of his active involvement and direct complicity several heinous acts of terrorism, but also because he was able to successfully evade arrest/extermination for nearly a decade. At a time when the average ‘active life expectancy of a terrorist’ in J&K is barely one year, Rather’s ‘longevity’ was  obviously a matter of great concern for the security forces.

So, while Rather’s name was high on the J&K police wanted list of terrorists, it shot up several notches after he was conclusively identified as the one personally responsible for murdering innocent civilians at the behest of his Pakistani masters. Amongst his hapless victims was a Kashmiri Pandit named Rahul Bhat and a female Kashmiri Muslim artiste Amreen Bhat. Both the deceased were in their mid-thirties.

To the uninitiated these may appear to be random killings. However, those closely following Pakistan army’s ongoing proxy war in Kashmir would unanimously agree that selection of these seemingly un-associated ‘targets’ has the typical hallmark of Pakistan army’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI] sinister strategy of trying to create mayhem and destroy Kashmir’s pluralistic and tolerant culture by its two-pronged of inciting communal disharmony and promoting fundamentalist ideology in Kashmir Valley. 

On May 12, Rahul Bhat, employed in the revenue department at Chadoora in Budgam district was at his desk, engrossed in official work when Lateef Rather, accompanied by an associate entered the office premises and walking up directly to Bhat, shot him dead at point blank range. The tragedy is that a young life was extinguished merely to terrorise Kashmir’s indigenous Pandit community and convey the message to them that they weren’t welcome back!

The irony is that even though his family was compelled to leave their ancestral home in in Budgam district’s Beerwah village due to the forced exodus of Kashmiri pandits orchestrated by fundamentalist Islamic terrorists in 1990 and take refuge in Jammu, when selected for a job in the same district, Bhat chose to return. He perhaps may have felt that since Budgam district happened to be home ground where his family had co-existed harmoniously with their Muslim brethren for centuries, he would be safe in Chadoora.

But this was not to be!  

Amreen Bhat’s case is equally tragic and intriguing. Chadoora [Budgam district] resident Ms Bhat was a spinster, who besides being a local TV artiste, was quite active on social media and ever since 2007, had been regularly posting her music videos online. The content of her videos were sober and they never violated religious edicts or any cultural/social norms. Since, Amreen took due care to ensure that contentious issues never featured in her videos or social media posts, no one had ever expected that she would end up being murdered by a fellow Kashmiri who had sold his conscience to his mentors across the Line of Control [LoC].

Ms Bhat lived with her father and other family members in Budgam’s Hushroo village in the outskirts of Srinagar. On May 26, LeT commander Rather accompanied by his indispensable sidekick came looking for Amreen. He asked her 11-year-old nephew [who was just leaving the house on an errand] to call for Amreen.  When she came out, Rather briefly engaged her in conservation before whipping out a pistol and shooting her at point blank range. Despite her grievous injuries, Amreen managed to stagger back into her house, but the heartrending sight of a profusely bleeding lady gasping for dear life didn’t move the blood thirsty Rather. Following her inside, he shot her again and after ensuring that she was dead, fled the scene like a coward.

Even if one was to apply the most skewed fundamentalist standards, there still can’t be any justification whatsoever for Amreen’s cold-blooded murder by one who claims to be a ‘mujahideen’ [Islamic warrior]. So, why was she killed? As Amreen was no threat to the pro- Pakistan camp in Kashmir, her murder was most probably an attempt at giving an impetus to growing Islamic fundamentalism in Kashmir being championed by the likes of of Dukhtaran-e-Millat [Daughters of the Nation] chief Asiya Andrabi.

The reassuring part is that those perpetrating targeted killings in Kashmir Valley are efficiently being hunted down by security forces and the local police. Take the case of Rather who had survived for so long but was finally corned and eliminated within three months after he had brutally murdered Bhat and Amreen. While security forces and intelligence agencies deserve due credit for neutralising this bloodthirsty fiend, there are all the reasons to believe that it was public anger against targeted killings of innocents that contributed immensely to this achievement.

The grapevine in Kashmir Valley is abuzz with rumours of how information regarding Rather’s whereabouts was being regularly passed on to security forces by irate locals. Furthermore, the fact that J&K police confidently announced that LeT commander Rather was trapped inside a house the moment the Waterhail encounter commenced, clearly indicates that the security forces had precise prior information about his presence.

There was a time when due to lack of actionable intelligence regarding locations of terrorists, security forces in J&K were compelled to conduct elaborate cordon and search operations. However, things have since changed and despite the threat of being killed by terrorists, the violence weary locals are now willingly cooperating with security forces. This is because senseless violence has effectively demolished the more than three-decade old façade of the so-called “armed struggle” in Kashmir.

People in J&K have started realising that terrorists who claim to engaged in an “armed struggle” for ‘azadi’ [freedom] are actually “fighting Pakistan’s war in Kashmir”– a fact that none other than United Jihad Council chief and Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist group supremo Syed Salahuddin has himself admitted. Rejection of violence by Kashmiris is a positive development that will certainly go a long way in ridding the Valley of the scourge of terrorism, which in the words of Mirwaiz Umar Farook has “not achieved anything other than creating more graveyards”!

From an ordinary public event disruptor to waging Pakistan sponsored armed insurrection in J&K [in the course of which he was actively involved in killing security forces personnel and innocent civilians alike], Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front [JKLF] chief Yasin Malik has not only come a long way. What’s really intriguing is that despite being personally involved in serious crimes, which included masterminding the forced exodus of Kashmir’s pandit community and kidnapping the then Home Minister’s daughter to secure release of his imprisoned comrades, Malik still managed to create for himself an aura of respectability and emerged as an apostle of peace.

Malik’s fame and apparent ‘invincibility’ is the result of his self-serving opportunism coupled with an extraordinary ability to see which way the wind blows. He created the ‘Tala party’ in 1980, and after renaming it the ‘Islamic Students League [ISL], became its general secretary. As ISL contended that it didn’t recognise the Constitution of India, it didn’t directly participate in the 1987 Legislative assembly elections. However, the wily Malik wasn’t the one to forego this golden opportunity to expand his area of political influence just for the sake of principles, and so he ensured that ISL not only joined Muslim United Front [MUF], but also took responsibility for its election campaigning.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Line of Control [LoC] that divides J&K, Pakistani President Gen Zia ul Haq was immensely impressed by the success of the proxy war waged by US backed mujahideen against the Soviet army in Afghanistan. Accordingly, he ordered Pakistan army’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI] to replicate this irregular warfare model in J&K and start a proxy war there. ISI went about executing this sinister mission with missionary zeal and in 1986, it roped in JKLF founding member Amanullah Khan, a resident of Pakistan occupied Kashmir [PoK] who had just returned from the UK to execute this devious plan.

Using its extensive network of well-paid local ‘over ground’ workers to lure Kashmiri youth of impressionable age into crossing the LoC for undergoing arms training in special camps set up in PoK for this purpose, the ISI was able to attract hundreds of young Kashmiris, impelled by romantic visions of a “war o liberation”. After the controversial 1987 J&K elections, several Kashmiri youths made their way to PoK and in 1988, Yasin Malik too crossed the LoC and underwent arms training being organised by ISI and imparted by Pakistan army instructors.

On returning to Kashmir Valley after having received arms training there, Yasin Malik alongwith three others [Hamid Sheikh, Ashfaq Wani and Javed Ahmad Mir] took charge of waging Pakistan’s proxy war in J&K. They called themselves the HAJY group [this name being derived from the first alphabet of their respective names] and assured locals that “azadi [independence] was just around the corner.” The gullible public blindly believed them and with fundamentalists whipping up communal frenzy, even overlooked or condoned JKLF’s orgy of senseless violence that resulted in the forced exodus of Kashmiri pandits.

However, the ISI was unhappy with JKLF’s stated aim of an ’independent’ Kashmir, and  cut off arms supply and stopped funding to this group. Not only this, to suit its own vested interests, ISI created a new pro-Pakistan armed group called Hizbul Mujahideen [HM]. On the directions of ISI, HM initiated a bloody turf war for control of armed insurrection in J&K and brutally decimated JKLF. In his widely acclaimed and authoritative book ‘Shadow Wars: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir’, Arif Jamal mentions that during an interview a high-ranking Rawalpindi based Hizb commander named Jamal admitted that during this period, HM had eliminated about 7,000 “political rivals” [a euphemism for JKLF cadres].On cross-checking this information with Masood Sarfraz, who was once very close to Salahuddin but had since parted ways, Jamal was told that that the actual number of “political rivals” killed by HM were “many times higher”. 

After his release on bail in May 1994, Malik declared an “indefinite” JKLF ceasefire and announced that he was renouncing violence and would instead carry out a non-violent struggle for ‘independence’.  This unilateral move was not appreciated by the JKLF [PoK chapter] and Amanullah Khan removed Malik as president of JKLF, causing this group to split in two factions.

However, despite the reality that violence in J&K was actually a proxy war being orchestrated by ISI and had nothing to do with ‘azadi’, staring them in the face, the over-optimistic media peddled Malik’s renunciation of violence as ‘the beginning of the end’ of the so-called ‘armed struggle’. He was thus perceived by many as the proverbial prodigal’s son and his decision to follow the Gandhian approach made him a hero of sorts. New Delhi too seems to have been taken-in by his proclamations and treated him with kid’s gloves and the criminal cases against him for inciting and participating in insurrection, premediated murder, kidnapping and forceful confinement appeared to have been consigned to the backburner. So, Malik became a hero of sorts!

While the grapevine was abuzz with news that Malik had been ‘cultivated’ by intelligence agencies while in prison and had made some ‘secret deal’ with the government, or that he genuinely had a change of heart during his internment, but all these speculations were far removed from the truth. The reality is that after he was released on bail in 1994, Malik realised that due to HM’s efficient predation, JKLF was just a pale shadow of its former self and being denied arms and funds by ISI it had no capability whatsoever to carry on the so-called ‘armed struggle’ for ‘azadi’. Faced with such overwhelming odds, any lesser mortal would have accepted defeat, but like a wily fox, Malik was made up of much sterner stuff!

By assuming a ‘peacenik avatar’, Malik cunningly turned an existential threat into a splendid opportunity and thus retained his political relevance and ‘immunity’ against persecution for very serious crimes that could well have invited capital punishment! And for over three decades this clever strategy has worked well. No wonder that during this period, the man who as a member of HAJY group had introduced the Kalashnikov into J&K, waged Pakistan’s proxy war by inciting an insurrection that left several thousand dead and many more wounded, was still able to enjoy an undeclared [but very visible] special status and rub shoulders with political bigwigs [including an Indian prime minister] and rights activists known for pursuing motivated agendas.

However, with National Investigation Agency [NIA] now successfully unearthing clinching evidence of his involvement in massive illegal terrorism related financial deals and Ms Rubaiya Sayeed positively identifying him as one of her abductors, Malik’s criminal past has finally caught-up with him. While he may deny any role in killings during the 90s, but the truth isn’t hidden from anyone. So much so that even a WikiLeaks cable of June 8, 2005, mentions that “While a leader of the armed struggle, he [Yasin Malik] has killed in the name of Kashmir, but has become an advocate of non-violence since coming in from the cold.” [Emphasis added].

Similarly, while he may refute money laundering charges, but once again, another Wikileaks cable mentions that in April 2006, a US political councillor had been told by Hurriyat constituent Peoples Conference chief Bilal Lone that “Yasin [Malik] should give up a month of his Pakistani salary to compensate the families of boys killed in Bilal’s [Lone] home area by the army, instead of urging the parents not to take Indian compensation and jobs.” [Emphasis added].

So, in 2006, when Yasin Malik told the then US ambassador to India David Mulford that “Kashmiri politics is no longer about ideology, it’s all a money game,” [Emphasis added], he wasn’t quite off the mark as this admission was straight from the horse’s mouth!

There may be many divergent views on the J&K government’s recent sacking of four employees by invoking Article 311 (2) (c) of the Indian Constitution that allows termination of service without holding an inquiry “in the interest of the security of the State”. However, while some legal eagles, members of civil society and rights activists may not be happy with this decision, the same has been very well received by the masses.

The four whose services have been terminated include Syed Abdul Mueed, the son of Pakistan based United Jihad Council [UJC] chief Syed Salahuddin and 2019 batch JKAS cadre officer Assabah Arzoom Khan, [wife of dreaded JKLF terrorist and self-confessed mass murderer Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitte Karate] posted in Kashmir Rural Development Department’s Publicity Wing. The other two are Dr Muheet Ahmad Bhat, and Majid Hussain Qadri who were working at Kashmir University’s Departments of Computer Science and Management Studies respectively.

On condition of anonymity, government officials have given the following reasons for J&K Governor Manoj Sinha’s assent to terminate their services under provisions of Article 311:

·        Mueed’s 2012 appointment as an IT consultant in Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute [JKEDI] has been marred in controversy, right from the initial selection on contractual basis by a panel that had three terrorist sympathisers, to his appointment being made permanent without mandatory CID verification. Besides evidence of him indoctrinating students in JKEDI, intelligence agencies have also discovered that he provided terrorists with information and logistical support to facilitate attacks against security forces in and around the JKEDI complex. [Interestingly, three such terrorist attacks have taken place between 2013 and 2019!]

·        Ms Khan secured a job in Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology in 2003 through irregular means and was sacked in 2007 for prolonged absence due to her frequent foreign trips to funnel funds for terrorist activities in J&K. A 2019 batch JKAS officer, she till her termination, was working in Kashmir Rural Development Department’s Publicity Wing and is “a diehard secessionist having deep ties with terrorist outfits and ISI.”

·        The services of KU professors Dr Bhat and Qadri have been terminated as they were openly “propagating secessionist-terrorist agenda in the university by radicalising students for advancing the programme and agenda of Pakistan and its proxies.”

The pro Pakistan lobby in J&K headed by Hurriyat may try to portray these terminations as a sob-sob vendetta story of innocents being penalised for their beliefs or actions of their fathers/husbands. It’ll also contend that absence of any public outcry against irregular appointment of family members of terrorist leaders and separatists is proof that nothing of this sort has been happening. However, everyone knows that it’s primarily due to fear of retribution that Kashmiris choose not to air their seething anger on seeing the kith and kin those responsible for supporting Pakistan’s proxy war and turning Kashmir Valley into a veritable battle zone, securing plum posts in various government departments.

Nevertheless, whenever allegations of rules being disregarded in order to facilitate selection of family members of terrorists and separatists makes news, terrorist groups and separatist organisations invariably claim that these jobs were secured purely on merit. In his book ‘Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years’ released in 2015, former RAW chief AS Dulat has revealed that it was on Hizbul Mujahideen [HM] chief Syed Salahuddin’s discreet request that a seat in medical college was allotted to this terrorist leader’s son.

While both HM and Hurriyat have firmly rejected this claim and furthered the ‘merit’ explanation, two extremely pertinent questions arise. One, why would a highly respected former sleuth known for his integrity make a brazenly false accusation which could well erode his own credibility? Two, if Dulat’s assertion is true, then it’s obvious that such an irregular seat ‘allotment’ in a Jammu medical college couldn’t have been made without the ‘blessings’ of the then J&K Chief Minister, Farook Abdullah. So, if Dulat’s claim is false, then why didn’t Abdullah outrightly rubbish this accusation that portrays him as who pandered to the whims and fancy of terrorists?

It’s possible that family members of terrorists and separatists could have secured government jobs on merit. However, what makes things appear quite odd and raises genuine doubts is the astounding streak of brilliance that seems to “run uniformly in certain families of terrorists and separatists. An example- according to media reports, HM supremo Salahuddin has six sons, and while one is a doctor [with a controversial medical school admission that’s been discussed above] and is working in a government hospital, all the other five too have worked in various government jobs.

Whereas the service of his son Syed Abdul Mueed working as an IT manager in JKEDI has been terminated now, Salahuddin’s two other sons named Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yousuf had earlier lost their jobs under Article 311. The media has quoted an unnamed source as revealing that this drastic action was necessary because all the three siblings were “inducted in the government system in the 2000s in brazen violation of norms and after circumventing the vetting process.” The remaining two sons of the HM supremo are reportedly still employed in J&K administration. Few fathers can boast of such a stupendous achievement!

Similarly, in 2016, Hurriyat heavyweight Late SAS Geelani’s grandson Anees-ul-Islam was appointed as a ‘research officer’ at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC). This happened when Mehbooba Mufti was J&K Chief Minister and considering her penchant for keeping terrorists and separatists in good humour, Islam’s direct selection to a gazetted grade equivalent position in the government was understandably highly suspicious. Many believe that coming in wake of the 2016 summer agitation, this was Mufti’s quid pro quo seeking Geelani’s indulgence for quick return of normalcy in the Valley.  However, the fact that he was leading a group that used to covertly fly drones and after recording scenes of clashes between law enforcement agencies and unruly mobs, shared such footage with Pakistan based ISI operatives for propaganda purposes.

So, when the then US Ambassador to India David Mulford in his 2006 cable to Washington wrote that “Kashmir politics is as filthy as Dal Lake”, and that “corruption cuts across party lines and most Kashmiris take it as an article of faith that politically-connected Kashmiris take money from both India and Pakistan”, he wasn’t exaggerating. Similarly, JKLF chief Yasin Malik too was absolutely truthful in telling a US official that “Kashmiri politics is no longer about ideology, it’s all a money game”.  This is precisely why the determined attempt of J&K’s present dispensation to stem this rot through hard decisions that puts the pro-Pakistan lobby in its place is praiseworthy and merits due appreciation!