One of the dark secrets of Kashmir’s society is the regular sexual assaults on hapless Kashmiri girls by ‘Romantic Terrorists’. The Kashmiris seek their revenge by informing about terrorist hideouts to security forces. The peace-loving Kashmiri does not want international terror groups in the Valley.
The encounter killing of terrorist Soliha Akhoon along with his six other accomplices in South Kashmir’s Pulwama provides yet another evidence to the world that Kashmir’s terrorism is a subset of global Islamic terror module. The grand design of the likes of Soliha who have waged a war against India is not to fight injustice, rather they want to see the picturesque Kashmir Valley as part of the Islamic Caliphate.
A senior Army officer said that a large cache of arms have been recovered from these six slain terrorists. Remember, these six are no misguided youths. Soliha Akhoon alias Rehan Khan was the deputy chief of Zakir Musa-led terrorist group Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind. The other five terrorists who were killed in Pulwama were also active members of Musa’s Ansar that works under direct command from the global terror outfit Al-Qaeda.
That the “Kashmir struggle” has nothing to do with Kashmir and is a subset of global Islamic terrorism was always talked about and discussed, albeit in hushed tones, for lack of evidence. As the world gets to know about direct links between global terror outfits such as Al-Qaeda and Kashmir-based splinter groups this façade of “Kashmir struggle” is falling gradually.
In fact, Zakir Musa has himself openly advocated for Ghazwa-e-Hind and exhorted Indian Muslims to rise up in revolt against the Indian state. Musa had clearly stated that terrorism in Kashmir was actually a part of the ongoing global war to establish Islamic Caliphate and has nothing to do with Kashmir’s Azadi. Musa even threatened to behead Hurriyat leaders if they continued to demand Azadi for Kashmir and seek a political solution to the Kashmir issue.
Soon after this statement, Musa was ousted by Hizbul Mujahideen as chief of its Indian chapter. Musa, on his part, remained defiant. He stood by his comments and announced the set-up of a new Islamic outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind reiterating that “Mujahids” like him are fighting only for greater Islamic Caliphate and Kashmir struggle is a cog in this grandiose plan. Hizbul’s firing Musa as its India Chief is a mere eyewash. It was done with the intention to fool the local Kashmiri into supporting their rank and file. Hizbul Mujahideen, Al-Qaeda, IS (Islamic State) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) remain committed to establishing an Islamic Caliphate.
The concept of Islamic Caliphate dates back to sixth century wherein the newly formed Islamic kingdom in Middle East (West Asia) was ruled by a Caliph according to Sharia laws who enjoyed absolute power. This Caliphate persisted in various forms across the Middle East (West Asia) and frittered away by the 19th Century. Radical Muslims have always dreamt of re-establishing the Caliphate and bringing new lands under Caliphate rule and consider this as Jihad. The set of laws under Caliphate include severe restrictions on a woman’s freedom and dissent to the Caliph is almost always punishable by death.
Terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda, IS (Islamic State), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen, among several others recruit youth with an impressionable mind into their ranks for the Islamic holy war to fight for the Caliphate. However, politically they put up the mask of fighting for oppression and injustice and hence try to turn the international opinion in their favour.
Ditto in Kashmir.
Over the years, various factions of Hurriyat Conference have used mosques and madrasas for recruiting young Kashmiri boys into joining their fight for Islam. They are were subsequently indoctrinated into fighting the infidel Indian State. Thereafter these boys are segregated according to their commitment and inclination to be a terrorist and subsequently join ranks with LeT or Hizbul Mujahideen or the Al-Qaeda. The less virulent are asked to lead the mobs of stone pelters.
In public, Hurriyat leaders and other splinter groups of separatists talk about Kashmir’s Azadi thereby drumming up international support in favour of the right of Kashmiris to have self-determination. This double speak had continued for years. As the world knows more about these group’s active association with Islamic terror organisations the mist is slowly but steadily clearing off.
Apart from our security forces doing a commendable job in eliminating Kashmir’s terrorism there’s another dimension to this crackdown. And that’s the silent support of local Kashmiris who provide credible intelligence and pin-pointed locations of terrorist hide-outs to J&K Police, CRPF or to the Indian Army.
The local Kashmiris know that these gun-wielding boys are sexual predators who fulfil their carnal desires by forcing themselves upon hapless Kashmiri women at the point of their guns. Kashmiris loathe these ‘romantic terrorists’ and take their revenge by silently informing the security forces about the precise hide-outs of their assaulter. The security forces conduct the cordon and search operation (CASO) and then eliminate these ‘romantic terrorists’. It’s due to this reason that there has been a spike in elimination of terrorists in the Kashmir Valley over the last couple of years. In this year alone around 250 terrorists have been eliminated.
Even in this encounter it was a tip-off from a local Kashmiri that helped Army and the J&K Police to launch a search operation in Awantipora. The terrorists fired upon the police and in retaliatory cross-fire all six were killed.