The lush forests of the Bhimber district of Jammu and Kashmir in the Samahni Valley of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir are in the throes of massive fire.On Monday, Pakistani Army backed Islamist terrorists had lit up a bonfire in the forest that turned into an inferno. It set fire to the lush green forests of the Tunin Block Seri Hill.The fire spread over a wide area of forests as soon after.Forest department officials, revenue department and civil society youth rushed to the spot as soon as they were informed.It was a difficult process to control the fire against extreme heat and strong wind.The fire burnt the mountain range adjacent to Samahni Headquarters Seri Hill and Dub Valley into coal. Due to the massive fire, the flora and fauna are bound to burn to ashes.The fire entered the forest from the private area from the Seri hill site. Journalists from Kashmir Press Club registered Samani also played their part in controlling the fire on the spot and assessed the damage .The fire started in the morning and remained uncontrolled till noon.The flames and smoke of the fire kept increasing. The fire increased the temperatures and the atmosphere was severely polluted. Serious circles have demanded concrete steps from the puppet government of Kashmir to protect forests from fire during the fire season.On Saturday night, some anti-environmental elements also set fire to the forests of Baghsar Kaoliyan.Due to the overnight fire, a large area of Baghsar Block was burnt to coal. While all forest blocks in the Samani Valley have been badly devastated by the fire during the fire season so far.The forest department needs to pay attention to it.

There is a lack of local research in Pakistani occupied Kashmir.The Forest Department has appealed to the public to cooperate with the department to protect the forests from fire.Officials at the department blamed the fire, which was not appropriate, for the fire without investigation. There is also a lack of fair investigation. While in Australia, the punishment for setting fire to forest is twenty one years in prison while in Pakistan the same crime is only three years in prison.Forests are the guarantee of life. Everyone has to play a role in saving it.The forest department has to give up its double standards and the people must be severely monitored and discouraged from reasonable punishments.

The threat

By targeting defenceless men and women belonging to the indigenous minority Hindu community as well as non-locals working in Kashmir, Pakistan sponsored terrorists have succeeded in creating a fear psychosis here. Unfortunately, rather than expressing solidarity and reassuring the terrorised people, local political parties seem to be more interested in extracting political mileage from this humungous tragedy by accusing the government of gross security failure and instigation. While the authorities cannot escape responsibility for being unable to prevent such killings, there’s a need to examine this issue holistically.

The pro-Pakistan lobby and other vested interests have cunningly played the ‘public inconvenience’ card to get a large number of security check posts removed. As terrorists carrying out targeted killings are using pistols which can be easily concealed on their person, a body search is essential to check movement of such assassins. Furthermore, with the recent killing of a Muslim lady TV artiste, Hindu Kashmiri teachers, a non-local bank employee and migrant workers, it’s abundantly clear that virtually every Kashmiri is under threat of being murdered by terrorists. So, ensuring effective security for such a wide range of potential targets spread across the entire length and breadth of Kashmir is practically impossible.  

The paradox

Terrorists as well as their Pakistani mentors never tire of trying to legitimise brazen terrorism in Kashmir by eulogising it as a ‘freedom struggle’. In addition, Islamabad keeps demanding UNSC intervention in Kashmir and despite being repeatedly snubbed by the international community for seeking external mediation, it continues to peddle fabricated accounts of excesses and violation of rights here. So, several questions come to mind. Firstly, doesn’t the rampant killings of defenceless civilians by terrorists in Kashmir tarnish the image of the so called ‘freedom struggle’? Secondly [and more importantly], how exactly will ‘targeted killings’ of minority community members and non-locals in Kashmir help terrorists in achieving their purported aim of the so called ‘armed struggle’?

It’s not that this is the first time that Kashmir is witnessing targeted killings. Right from the day terrorism erupted here, senseless violence has been a constant factor and senior Hurriyat leader Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat has himself admitted this by saying that “This movement [terrorism in J&K] began with the assassinations of thinkers and the individuals who held an opinion”. However, unlike in the past when both the Pro-Pakistan All Parties Hurriyat Conference [APHC] and Islamabad would blame Indian security forces and intelligence agencies for such killings, today, terrorist groups are proudly accepting responsibility for such slayings, albeit under pseudonyms.

Why targeted killings?

On the face of it, this new trend of terrorist groups readily taking responsibility for cold blooded murders is tantamount to discrediting the so called ‘armed struggle’, but there’s a definite method in this barefaced act of madness. With its ridiculous claim that Article 370 abrogation violated UNSC resolutions on Kashmir finding no support from UN as well as the international community, Pakistan army’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI] attempted to use APHC for instigating public unrest to show the world that the people of Kashmir were opposed to this decision.

However, this plan failed-a fact that Hurriyat patriarch SAS Geelani himself admitted in his resignation letter addressed to the APHC leadership post Article 370 abrogation by mentioning that “Despite unprecedented restrictions and detention, I tried to reach out to you people, but you were not available.” ISI also made a determined attempt to create mayhem by escalating terrorist activities in Kashmir. When proactive vigilance along the Line of Control [LoC] made infiltration of terrorists and transhipment of weapons and other warlike stores difficult, ISI started using tunnels and drones for this purpose. However, due to excellent synergy between the army, central and local police forces, plus active support from locals fed up with terrorism, a record number of terrorists were neutralised and this put ISI on the backfoot. 

Having failed to orchestrate public unrest and anarchy in Kashmir through either APHC or terrorists, ISI was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. So, with no other option available, ISI was forced to task terrorist groups to create unrest in the Kashmir Valley through the self-debilitating strategy of targeted killings. However, there was a problem- since no responsible nation, group or individual would condone violence against innocent people and hence, ISI cunningly created fictitious terrorist groups and these non-existent entities are taking ‘responsibility’ for the premeditated murder of defenceless people.

Recommended response

There’s a definite requirement to ramp up security measures to thwart the menace of targeted killings. Towards this, proactive measures like frisking, as well as enhanced surveillance needs to be re-introduced. Since the government is responsible for ensuring safety of its citizens, necessary measures to prevent such killings by terrorists are necessary. Accordingly, even though it may inconvenience commuters, additional security checks and proactive measures need to be instituted in the larger interests.

Furthermore, Rawalpindi’s shameful duplicity on Kashmir needs to be tackled comprehensively, and more importantly, exposed internationally. Some suggestions:

·        The fact that targeted killings being attributed to imaginary entities are actually the handiwork of Pakistan based terrorised groups needs to be exposed. This can be easily done by producing apprehended assassins and their supporters before the media so that their confessions can be made public.

·        The façade of communal amity being projected by the pro-Pakistan lobby through vocal condemnation of targeted killings should be unmasked. One way of doing so is by asking them to act on their much-touted concern for the safety and wellbeing of their brother Kashmiris from minority communities by demanding that they be accommodated in secure premises. If APHC doesn’t accept this [which will surely be the case], its doublespeak  would be exposed.  

·        Terrorist groups like Hizbul Mujahideen [HM], Jaish-e-Mohammad [JeM] and Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] who are denying involvement in such killings should be asked to prove their non-involvement in targeted killings by revealing the identity of the perpetrators. Since these groups boast of enjoying absolute public support, their cadres shouldn’t face any problems in apprehending and exposing the killers.

·        There is a need to up the Diplomatic ante against targeted and Indians should unitedly draw international attention towards targeted killings in Kashmir.

·        The need of the hour is to cease treating incidents of targeted killings as mere statistics and instead highlight the human tragedy which every such senseless murder precipitates.

Bottom line

Since J&K is Indian territory, how New Delhi handles the situation there is strictly its internal matter. As such, there’s no need to be unduly worried by adverse comments from countries and organisations who don’t practice what they preach and have a proclivity to indulge in selective criticism. On the contrary, India needs to be more assertive and make it clear to everyone that since J&K is experiencing a full-blown Pakistan sponsored proxy war in the form of cross border terrorism, taking appropriate measures to defend its hapless civilians from terrorist violence is the sacred and non-negotiable responsibility of the government, which it will carryout- come hail or high water! 

On broaching the issue of religious radicalisation in Kashmir, the stock reply is that this is sheer propaganda as there’s no such thing here. This reply is invariably followed by a lengthy monologue on the inimitable and age-old ‘Sufi [Muslim ascetic] -Reshi’ [Hindu sage] culture this region boasts of, which being pluralistic and extremely tolerant in character, blocks ingress of radical religious ideology into the Kashmiri society. However, while Kashmir’s inter-faith bonhomie and secular coexistence was undoubtedly the envy of any cultured society in the past, unfortunately, the same cannot be said today.

What makes this whole issue all the more tragic is that even as Kashmiris brazenly fanned religious intolerance during the nineties, members of Kashmir’s civil society and intelligentsia [either unwittingly or intentionally], failed to raise their voices against such fanatical religious indoctrination which allowed the self-debilitating scourge of radicalisation to spread unchecked. Those who disagree just need to reflect on what Kashmir has been through since terrorism erupted here more than three decades ago and the truth will automatically unfold. So, let’s recapitulate.

When the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front [JKLF] started the so-called ‘armed struggle’ in Kashmir, wasn’t ‘azadi’ [liberation or freedom] its singular objective? However, since the Pakistan army had failed to wrest control of J&K twice [in 1947 and 1965], even a novice would know that expecting a ragtag group of youth, hastily trained and armed by the Pakistan army would be able to defeat the Indian army was an absolutely misplaced idea. So, it’s obvious that Pakistan army’s spy agency Inter- Services Intelligence [ISI], had cunningly played the ‘azadi’ card just to beguile gullible Kashmiri youth into picking up guns and then use them as proxies to wage a ‘shadow war’ against India!

Let’s for the sake of taking this discussion forward, give JKLF the benefit of doubt, and for a moment accept its claim that the so-called ‘armed struggle’ envisioned an ‘independent’ Kashmir’ for all its indigenous communities, which would be free from any control or influence of both India and Pakistan. However, if this is true, then what explains senior Hurriyat leader Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat’s factual revelation that “This movement [terrorism in J&K] started with the assassinations of thinkers and the people who held an opinion”? If ‘azadi’ was really the popular demand of the masses in Kashmir, then where was there a need for JKLF to kill “thinkers and the people” who were championing this very same cause?

The answer is simple- it was JKLF’s radicalised mindset that made elimination of revered influencers with secular antecedent imperative. Such killings also terrorised others into silence and thus JKLF was able to execute its ruthless pogrom against the minority Kashmiri Pandit [KP] community and compelled them to leave the Valley. With no one willing to expose this shameful act of communal violence, the pro-Pakistan lobby went about denying the forced exodus of KPs and even conjured a bizarre ‘conspiracy’ theory of this exodus having been orchestrated by the authorities.

Once the genie of religious radicalisation in Kashmir came out of the bottle, there was no way of pushing it back and soon the much-hyped ideals of ‘azadi’ and ‘self-determination’ were overtaken by fundamentalist religious ideology. Self-styled ‘mujahideens’ forcibly enforced their own version of Islamic tenets- women not wearing burqas [a long, loose garment covering the whole body from head to feet, worn by Muslim women in public] risked being shot in their legs or having acid being thrown on their faces, while beauty parlours were asked to shut shop.  Movies were considered ‘un-Islamic’ and grenade attacks in cinema halls forced their closure, and people selling liquor and cigarettes were targeted and their shops vandalised.

It was renegade HM terrorist Zakir Musa who by taking charge of Al Qaida’s newly created cell called ‘Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind’ in 2017, brought Kashmir on the global terrorism map.  Musa was a pathetic bundle of contradictions-while on the one hand he said, “We request Kashmiri Pandits to return to their homes. We take the responsibility of their protection,” on the other hand he declared that “I will not fight for Azadi for a secular state,” emphasising that “I will fight for azadi for Islam, for the establishment of an Islamic state.” He also lashed out at the separatists by saying, “I am warning all those hypocrite Hurriyat leaders. They must not interfere in our Islamic struggle. If they do, we will cut their heads and hang them in Lal Chowk.” [Emphasis added].

Surprisingly, despite belittling the so-called ‘armed struggle’, as well as threatening the separatist leadership and mocking Kashmir’s traditional ‘Sufi-Reshi’ culture, thousands turned up to pay homage after Musa was killed in an encounter with security forces. Senior Hurriyat leaders and even HM chief Syed Salahuddin against whom Musa had unsparingly spewed vitriol, heaped praises on him and prayed for his acceptance in paradise! If this isn’t a clear sign of widespread radicalisation, how else does anyone explain such extraordinary public obeisance to a person who openly junked ‘azadi’ and vowed to work towards converting Kashmir- not into an ‘azad’[independent] entity but an “Islamic state”?  

Similarly, if it’s not manifestation of radicalisation, then how else does one interpret the utter disregard exhibited by Kashmiri youth on Hurriyat’s most venerated leader SAS Geelani’s repeated appeals not to display Islamic State [IS] flags during protests? What does desecration of Srinagar’s historic Jamia Masjid by a masked youth who scaled its pulpit and unfurled an IS flag followed by sloganeering by his associates signify? Mirwaiz Umar Farook may try to convince people that this act has been perpetrated at the “behest of certain agencies and handlers”, but isn’t the IS imprint here too deep to ignore or conceal?

So, besides being highly implausible, this allegation also has a striking similarity with allegations the Hurriyat has been making in the past. For example, this separatist conglomerate claimed that Mirwaiz Maulvi Muhammad Farooq, separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone and JKLF ideologue Prof Abdul Ahad Wani were killed by security forces or intelligence agencies. However, in 2011, senior Hurriyat leader Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat exposed this decades-old-lie by admitting that “Lone sahib, Mirwaiz Farooq and Prof Wani were not killed by the army or the police. They were targeted by our own people.” Surprisingly, no shutdown or even a candlelight vigil was organised by anyone to express solidarity with these selfless leaders who were murdered by their own community members!

Can the terrorists’ current killing spree targeting KP community members including women be motivated by anything else other than perverse religious indoctrination that has radicalised minds to such an extent that people genuinely start perceiving that murdering innocent and defenceless men and women just because they are ‘non believers’ would earn their killers a coveted place in paradise! While the deafening silence of Kashmiris on such killings may not be directly related to radicalisation, it does indicate that probably such heinous killings don’t offend public sensitivities any more, which itself is dangerous as it creates an environment which is conducive for radicalisation.

Tailpiece: Those who still insist that the so-called ‘armed struggle’ in Kashmir has no link to radical religious beliefs probably haven’t heard HM chief Syed Salahuddin’s own admission on this issue. In a 2016 interview given to ‘The Telegraph’ he clarified that “The Kashmiri movement was Islamised from day one.” [ Emphasis added]. His reasoning- “Why do you think an educated young man, who has a bright future otherwise, is willing to die? Is he mad? ‘Azadi’ is not his objective. What will he do with ‘azadi’ if he dies during the struggle,”

The HM chiefthen goes on to admit that “We tell him [the terrorist] that he would get into the “real life” after this death and he would get peace. Khuda usey raazi hoga [Allah will be happy with him].” Lastly, by saying that “He [the terrorist] is into militancy because he knows that if he dies for a noble cause, he would become a martyr, as per Islam,” [emphasis added], Salahauddin himself accepts that the ongoing armed struggle in Kashmir is not being driven by the desire for ‘azadi’ or self-determination’ but is solely fuelled by radical religious ideology!

So, while developmental activities, employment generating and people centric initiatives would certainly improve quality of life in Kashmir, unless concerted action to effectively counter religious radicalisation in Kashmir Valley is ensured, peace will continue to elude this region. 

An important meeting of the locals was held in Bagh area of ​​Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in which the issue of school building and upgradation was discussed. The people demanded from the Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Chief Secretary Kashmir and MLA Begum Amitaz Naseem that they should consider their two tasks which they had promised during the election campaign. They said, “You promised that I will give high status to this school and its building work will be completed soon”. The promise is yet to be fulfilled. Despite the unfulfilled promises, the staff of the school gave the best results. The other big demand is to give high status to this school. The  institution is ancient and  the foundation of this school was laid in 1928 when Pakistan was not even created . Since then the school has not been upgraded. They said that sit in the garden and make the children study. Hence, “it is important that the office bearers fulfilled their promises” is what they demanded in the meeting.