Security of political workers in Kashmir, particularly those belonging to the BJP, is a matter of grave concern that must be addressed but NC and PDP are using the issue to create a new separatist wave

The promising era of ‘Naya Kashmir’ that started after the dumping of Article 370 coupled with the incredible gains the armed forces have made in the valley by exterminating dreaded terrorists in the last few years has put J&K on the path of a positive change. 

But sadly, the blood of political workers devoted to the Indian cause in Kashmir continues to spill unabated and a constant threat to life looms large over all such nationalists. On top of the target-list are mainly those who are affiliated with the BJP. Sheikh Wasim Bari being the most recent example. 

Bari, along with his father Bashir Ahmed and brother Umar Bashir who also happened to be the party’s office-bearers, was shot dead by Lakshar-e-Taiba terrorists in the Bandipora town of North Kashmir on the night of July 9, 2020. Bari, a young Kashmiri politician just 28 years of age, was a popular BJP face in the valley. His killing has raised several questions on the security situation of regional leaders in Kashmir, especially those from the BJP. 

Seven out of the ten security guards deployed for Bari and his family’s safety were suspended on grounds of negligence as they failed to protect him and two of his family members. The attack had taken place within a stone’s throw distance from the main police station and a security forces camp, which justifies the security lapse blame. 

Bari’s story was one of courage, determination, and unadulterated patriotism. He had joined the BJP after the 2014 Assembly elections in J&K in which he fought as an independent candidate but could not be victorious. His dedication and hard work made him a prominent party figure in Bandipora. He was a proud Indian who would openly condemn Pakistani terrorism in Kashmir. As a member of a nationalist party, he had naturally become an eyesore for Jihadi groups operating in the valley. 

The assassination of Sheikh Waseem Bari and his family members has led to a tremendous escalation in fear for BJP members in Kashmir. More than 80 people associated with the party in Jammu and Kashmir, including leaders and party workers, have demanded security cover or upgradation of the same. 

Remember this is not the first time that a BJP leader has been killed by Jihadists in Kashmir the recent past. Gul Mohammad Mir, senior local level BJP leader and district vice-president of the party, was murdered in Anantnag in May 2019. Another BJP district vice-president, Shabir Ahmad Bhat, was killed in Pulwama in August 2018 whereas back in November 2017 a young BJP worker from Shopian named Gowhar Bhat was slaughtered in the name of Jihad. 

The reverberations of increased vulnerability have been recorded even in the BJP’s opposite political camp. The National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have joined the fray in expressing their fear about political representatives being constantly in the hit list of terror operatives.

The anxiety that has gripped the political fraternity in Kashmir is understandable and so is their demand for enhanced security. Furthermore, it is evident that in the present scenario terror outfits are seen to be targeting both Hindu and Muslims political workers alike - Waseem Bari being the most recent example, while not very long ago Kashmiri Pandit Sarpanch Ajay Pandita was murdered in cold blood by Pakistan backed terror outfit in Kashmir, The Resistance Front (TRF).

Hence, the current circumstances warrant the revisiting of the security-paradigm for local politicians in Kashmir set up by the central government and the J&K administration. Democratic representatives must be provided with an atmosphere of safety and tranquility for them to able to function smoothly in a region that is undergoing political transition. 

It is noteworthy that the security cover of about 500 people in J&K, most of whom were political workers, was removed in March 2019 following a decision taken by the then state administration. This step seems to have done more damage than good. Thus, the need arises for the augmentation of security rather than contraction. More so for the BJP cadre as they are not only seen as ambassadors of democracy but also as the flag-bearers of a nationalist party which stands against anything that challenges or threatens the fact that Kashmir is an integral part of India. 

NC and PDP trying to create a new separatist wave

It is astonishing how the spindoctors sitting in Kashmir are conveniently trying to present the issue of security of political workers as a consequence of the revocation of Article 370. The NC and the PDP have brazenly used the martyrdom of bravehearts like Bari and Pandita to cater to their vested interests. Representatives of the two parties have gone on record claiming that the Modi government’s scrapping of the discriminatory law has led to an environment of insecurity for local leadership in the valley. 

So basically the followers of the Muftis and the Abdullahs, the two political families whose separatists tendencies are well known, are advocating for the lowering of the national flag and giving into Pakistan’s nefarious ambitions. 

These two political parties have always fought elections under the ambit of the Indian Constitution while refusing to join the Indian mainstream. They have no empathy or respect for the martyrs. They never come forward to unequivocally condemn Islamic terror nor do they hold Pakistan directly responsible for continually fomenting trouble in Kashmir. On the contrary, these duplicitous forces have used the gruesome killing of Wasim Bari and his kin as a fresh opportunity to dispute the idea of a united India. It has reinvigorated them to portray Article 370 as some sort of a shield that had been protecting Kashmir for decades until the Modi government decided to repeal it in 2019 resulting in all hell breaking loose. 

The NC and the PDP leadership have always shied away from admitting the involvement of local Kashmiri hand in terror plots. They have been covertly working for decades as the B-team of the Hurriyat. The seditionist and terror-abetting Hurriyat, which has lost its mojo in Kashmir to a great extent after August 2019 and finally having its patron Syed Ali Shah Geelani leave it to fend for itself, has always found its sentiments echoed by the NC and the PDP. And now the two parties are trying to paint a picture of supposed “safety” of political workers that existed in the pre-Article 370 era. This is nothing new but certainly disconcerting given that Kashmir needs to move on from this NC-PDP-Hurriyat cottage industry. 

At a juncture when J&K is looking to usher into a new era of political stability and development, stakeholders like the National Conference are playing a dangerous dual game to consolidate a new narrative in the valley. On the one hand, Farooq Abdullah - after his release from detention - diverts from launching a direct criticism on Modi government’s historic step of doing away with the Article 370 to demanding the restoration of statehood for J&K while his son Omar Abdullah declares abstinence from participating in the electoral process until the Article 370 is restored and the Union Territory of J&K reverts to its erstwhile status of a full-fledged state. 

And on the other hand, the cadre of the same party are raking up emotions by characterising the killings of local leaders as a consequence of the riddance of the unjust law. This is top-level sinister politics aimed at holistically destabilising J&K’s political future. To create friction and unrest, workers of the NC and the PDP have even alleged that the Centre is deliberately not providing security cover to local politicians in Kashmir and instead giving it only to the BJP members.

Therefore, it is safe to argue that a vicious parallel agenda is being run at the behest of the top leadership of the two major political outfits to carry forward the legacy of separatism and detachment using the security situation of local political workers as a prop.

As the region gears up for the resumption of the electoral process, the last thing it wants is an ‘old wine in new bottle’ kind of a situation that entails the NC and the PDP fighting elections while simultaneously using their cadre on the ground to instil and encourage a rebellious emotion within the local population. Should this be allowed to happen, it will serve as a major blow to the Modi government’s efforts of creating a ‘Naya Jammu Kashmir’. 

image source: thehitavada.com

Delhi’s COVID-19 journey so far: A telltale saga of Shah’s brilliance and Kejriwal’s massive blunders

COVID-19 is here to stay and although the recovery rate is constantly improving in India, the daily spikes are only getting bigger taking the total to well over 11 lakh.

The silver lining, however, is Delhi that after being among the top five contributors to coronavirus cases in India seems to be doing slightly better. At least for now. 

According to fresh data, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi presently stands at around 1.25 lakh with around 3600 deaths. But significantly the number of active cases in the national capital has dropped below 19,000. More than a lakh of those affected by the virus have recuperated, thereby catapulting the overall recovery rate to around 84 per cent. 

So if the current situation were to be summarised, it would be safe to say that Delhi has managed to pull off a minor victory but is nowhere close to being out of the woods yet. 

Ideally, the Aam Aadmi Party government, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the helm of affairs, would like to wear the victory crown. But the bitter truth is that the Delhi administration has been found wanting in its handling of the pandemic - so much so that in desperation the Deputy CM of Delhi Manish Sisodia had prophesied a doomsday scenario that by the end of July the city would have more than five and a half lakh coronavirus cases. It is the twilight of July already and for Delhi to reach that number vis-a-vis the current tally, it will need to outperform the rest of the world. Looks highly improbable. 

Clearly, the Kejriwal government had developed a defeatist attitude in the COVID battle, leaving Delhi on tenterhooks until the MHA stepped in and took charge of the proceedings. The performance of the AAP government was so abysmal that even the anti-Modi leftist media could not stop itself from being critical of the Delhi CM and his brigade. 

How Amit Shah’s intervention turned the tables on COVID-19 in Delhi 

Amit Shah’s intervention in Delhi came at a time when the city was grappling with the onslaught of COVID-19. An outrageous decision by the Kejriwal government to reserve Delhi hospital beds only for Delhi residents, which was later revoked by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take control via the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

With cases peaking around the mid of June, when Amit Shah chaired a meeting of all stakeholders of Delhi, Kejriwal welcomed the intervention. Such was their cluelessness about tacking the pandemic situation in Delhi that AAP which normally gets critical of the Centre at the drop of a hat happily agreed to let the Home Minister take over the charge of the capital. 

One of the most crucial steps taken after Shah’s intervention was the ramping up of COVID-19 testing in Delhi. Whereas halfway through June from the start of April around 3 lakh people were tested, the number of tests done daily was increased to 20,000 and as many as 2.5 lakh people were tested in the latter half of June. 

Significantly, the cost of testing in private labs was brought down from Rs 4,500 to Rs 2,400. Paul Committee which was created under the chairmanship of Dr. V.K. Paul, a member of the Niti Ayog, capped the treatment cost of corona patients in private hospitals between Rs 8000 and Rs 18,000. 

A huge shortcoming in Kejriwal’s blueprint was the lack of aggressive contact-tracing. It led to a steep climb in COVID positive detections between May and June. But under Amit Shah, serological surveillance was set up to keep a track of the spread of the virus. It served as a shot in the arm in the crucial exercise of contact-tracing. 

After June 14, more than 20,000 beds for COVID-19 patients were added to the infrastructure that comprised of less than 10,000 beds. 500 railway coaches were turned into 8000 beds. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) stepped in as the nodal agency to take over the COVID-19 care centre at the Radha Soami Satsang Beas in the Chattarpur area of New Delhi. ITBP team converted the Ashram into a 10,000-bed facility. Moreover, the medical staff of the armed forces in DRDO managed over 1000 beds. Additionally, 500 oxygen cylinders and ventilators and 10,000 oximeters were arranged by the MHA. 

Delhi government’s COVID blunders - a flashback! 

In the first week of May when the coronavirus cases in Delhi were just under 5000, a super optimistic Arvind Kejriwal had made tall claims about the city being ready to open up and the government having the requisite resource to deal with the pandemic. But the bubble burst soon as Delhi’s COVID tally went beyond 50,000 by the second week of June. What went wrong?… Pretty much everything. 

What looked like a promising start in the corona battle for the AAP government despite the Tablighi Markaz event and the Anand Vihar blemish, it soon turned into a sad saga of public health and governance lapses. 

Delhi’s COVID positivity saw a marked rise in June. As the daily testing was increased, the positivity rate shot up and the number of per day positive cases rose to a whopping 3000. By the end of June, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi was close to 90,000, the highest among the country’s megacities.

The fact of the matter is that Delhi exceeded Mumbai’s COVID-19 count only because the Delhi administration failed to use the 2-month lockdown period to consolidate its action-plan and ramp-up facilities. There was no intent at all. The AAP government could not ensure a substantial arrangement of beds, deliver enough PPE and COVID testing kits, and left a lot to be desired about the migrant crisis. 

Arguably the biggest blunder Kejriwal committed was that of not making contact-tracing a priority. The strategy of creating small containment zones without doing door to door search failed miserably. This was further aggravated by the lack of follow-up on those placed under home-quarantine. Delhi government’s complacency level was so high that the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had to make physical verification of home isolation cases mandatory to ensure that quarantine norms were being complied with. 

Unlike cities such as Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Delhi has a sizeable workforce of more than 3000 ASHA Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) trained and equipped to perform field-level functions. Hence, it is baffling as to why the importance of contact-tracing and physical verification was royally overlooked, something that Shah took extremely seriously. 

As a result of all the botch-ups mentioned above, the pandemic situation in Delhi deteriorated, leaving Arvind Kejriwal and his team exposed. It entangled the AAP government in its web of hyperbole. Turned out that the CM’s claim of the availability of 30,000 beds, being monetarily ready to buy PPE kits in bulk numbers and having enough resource to take care of lakhs of poor migrants was only a stunt to grab eye-balls when in reality Delhi was far from being ready to tackle a health emergency.

The freebie-politics of AAP had dented Delhi’s financial reserves so deep that the same government that once boasted about providing everything free of cost had to resort to the opening of liquor shops to keep its economy afloat. What transpired afterwards was chaos outside liquor outlets in various parts of the city. SOPs were flouted and social distancing went for a toss. There was a sudden surge in the number of COVID positive cases during this period. 

No less than the highest court of the country gave the Delhi government a wrap on the knuckles for being insensitive in handling the dead with dignity. The Supreme Court issued a notice and went hard on the LNJP hospital, demanding an explanation as to why testing had gone down and what the hospital was doing to set aright the deplorable condition of its wards. The government also received flak for introducing a revised guideline of only testing those contacts of corona patients who were symptomatic. However, this was against the ICMR protocol of testing asymptomatic contacts of COVID-19 patients. The LG of Delhi had to step in again to ensure that ICMR guidelines were not violated. 

Amid the chaos, there were reports in May of fudging the COVID-19 data as a huge discrepancy was found between the lesser number of COVID deaths claimed by the Delhi Audit Committee (DAC) set up by the Delhi Government as against the much higher number of deaths mentioned by the three municipal corporations of Delhi. Although a petition filed by the All India Lawyers’ Union, demanding the scrapping of the DAC for furnishing inaccurate data and publishing the death dolly daily, was refused by the Delhi HC - it was enough to indicate that things were spiralling out of control in Delhi. 

Cut to the present time and it appears that Delhi can afford to breathe a sigh of relief and the credit goes to Amit Shah and the Home Ministry officials for indulging at the right time and pulling Delhi out of the clutches of a catastrophe. Otherwise, the people of Delhi were left very little to except from the Kejriwal government. 

The war against COVID-19 is nowhere close to over but the resurgent case study of Delhi gives a renewed hope. 

The shocking death of the Zadoo cousins under suspicious circumstances is otherwise a reflection of administrative shortcomings in J&K. Resumption of political process the only solution.

The recent tragic death of the two Kashmiri Pandit adults Vimal Zadoo (42) and Vipin Zadoo (35) in Jammu earlier sent shockwaves through the Pandit community. 

While the killing of Sarpanch Ajay Pandita in Kashmir by Islamic terrorists is still fresh in public memory, the appalling demise of the Zadoo cousins, albeit under entirely different yet horrific circumstances, has added to the grief and agony of a community that carries a history-laden with religious persecution and governmental apathy. 

Goes beyond the wildest of imaginations that two men, out to help their cousin perform the last rites of his elderly father who had passed away due to COVID-19, would never come back home alive. This is a tragedy of the highest degree. But is it tragedy alone?… Not quite!

As per media reports, the Zadoo cousins allegedly died due to heatstroke and dehydration after the authorities that had organised the cremation under special circumstances failed to show any humanitarian or duty-bound concern to save them. Even the SOPs were blatantly disregarded. It was alleged that two men were left unattended as they gasped for breath wearing the energy-sapping PPE suits in the exorbitant summer heat and were not even offered water by the police and other officials. Ultimately, they collapsed and later died. 

In what seems prima facie to be a case of official negligence, although a magisterial probe has been ordered, would it otherwise be ideal to say that the deaths happened only because a group of officials appointed by the administration for the cremation of a COVID victim was indisciplined, insensitive and apathetic? Or is there more to it than meets the eye. Of course, the bereaved families have cried foul and accused the concerned officials of consciously choosing to let the two men die. However, that part will only come to light after a proper and impartial investigation is conducted. 

But the other major worry that surfaces from this outrageous incident is the efficacy, or the lack of it, of the administration in the newly born UT to handle matters of public concern not just from the standpoint of the crisis that has erupted from the coronavirus pandemic but more so generally. 

Specifically in this particular case, it was alleged that the Zadoo cousins and their other cousin- the son of the deceased COVID victim - were made to run helter-skelter with the dead body with the unforgiving PPE kits on in peak hot conditions. After traversing several cremation grounds, the ambulance finally took them to Sidhra along the embankment of the Tawi river. While on its way through the stony terrain, one of the ambulance tyres got stuck and the three men were asked to get off the vehicle and lend a hand. The scorching heat got the better of the three men and two of them lost their lives as they kept pleading for water whereas the deceased’s son was lucky to survive. 

Firstly, it begs the question that why was the dead body taken for cremation to Sidhra which is on the outskirts of the Jammu city? And why were the SOPs so blatantly violated? 

Secondly, above and beyond the allegation of deliberate negligence and foul play, if any, which will become clear once the result of the investigation comes into the public domain - does the mysterious death of the two Kashmiri Pandits reflect the administrative crisis that the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir is gradually sliding into?

It is baffling that at a juncture when the entire country is grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, the J&K administration has not set up dedicated crematoriums for COVID-19 deaths. Had that been the case, the Zadoo family perhaps would not have had to go through the ordeal that ended up claiming two innocent lives. Moreover, the deaths took place in the presence of an ADC, a high ranking official, who had been deputed by the authorities for the cremation of the COVID-19 victim. 

Astonishingly, much like appointing a jury to pass judgement when they are the accused themselves, the same ADC was designated by the Jammu District Commissioner to conduct a magisterial inquiry into the deaths. However, due to public pressure, he was later replaced by another ADC. 

The Broader Picture 

Even outside of the debate of whether or not the J&K administration, with the Lieutenant Governor at the helm of affairs, has been able to put its best foot forward in terms of handling of the coronavirus pandemic - there is growing disenchantment within the local population with the way the current administration has addressed some concerns, especially in the Jammu region. 

The historic abrogation of the draconian Article 370 on August 5, 2019, was done to integrate J&K into India beyond a scope of doubt and unwarranted interference. And the move has worked immensely in putting the terrorist state of Pakistan in its place and suppressing the criminal separatist voices in the valley, thereby ensuring the safeguarding of India’s sovereignty and national interest. 

But unfortunately, at the same time, the UT appears to have slowly walked into a state of administrative stagnation. At the moment the show is being run by the bureaucrats and, to put it bluntly, they leave enough to be desired. The lack of a politically elected government representing the best interests of the people, particularly in the Jammu division, has now set the alarm bells ringing. The death of the Zadoo cousins (in otherwise suspect circumstances) is a flashpoint in this regard that reveals the lacklustre and insensitive approach of the J&K bureaucratic machinery. 

The writing on the wall is clear. To have a territory, especially a particular one like Jammu and Kashmir, governed by a bureaucracy-heavy administration for a prolonged period in the absence of a politically elected government will invariably have shortcomings. Even from a purely psychological perspective, the efficacy with which a regional politician or an elected MLA can approach and understand local issues or handle a public crisis is generally greater than how a bureaucrat would. It may not always be true but then the fear of hurting the vote bank sometimes pushes politicians just that little bit more to deal with emergencies with a stronger touch of seriousness and sensitivity.  

But having mentioned all that, the need for the restoration of the political process in J&K is not lost on the central government. The BJP National General Secretary, Ram Madhav, recently stated in no uncertain terms that the time had come for elected representatives to take over the reigns of the new UT as the region is going through a significant phase wherein people are waiting optimistically for the dawn of a new era of development and good governance without the baggage of Article 370. 

Therefore, the need for the Election Commission to fast track the delimitation process has become more imperative than ever to prepare the UT for Assembly elections as soon as possible. 

As a matter of fact, it is the only way to ensure that atrocious incidents like the one involving the Zadoo cousins are avoided and the greater good of Jammu and Kashmir is achieved.

Ajay Pandita Bharti’s killing marks another chapter in the history of bloodbath of Hindus in the valley…Will Kashmiri Pandits ever be assured of a safe and dignified return to their homeland?

When a wound reopens it causes pain. But when the wound is on the soul, its reopening does not just cause pain but also plays a reel of haunting images to add to the misery. It is this frightening showreel of the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits that replayed after Ajay Pandita Bharti’s killing earlier this month which shook the Pandit community. A son, a husband, a father, a political worker, a devoted Kashmiri Pandit and a proud Indian - Ajay Pandita was a hero in every right.  

The death of Ajay Pandita Bharti, a braveheart Kashmiri Pandit Sarpanch of the Lukbawan Panchayat halqa in Anantnag district’s Larkipora area, has come as a bolt from the blue for all Kashmiri Pandits spread across India and around the world. Yet another Kashmiri Hindu killed in cold blood by radical Islamists because he dared to go back to the valley and become a grassroots level Hindu political worker in what they like to believe is a “Muslim Kashmir”. This is the grim reality that first made its strong presence felt in 1989 with the advent of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir and continues more or less unabated to date. So many years after the carrying out of the systematic slaughter of Kashmiri Pandits in the lates 80s and the 90s, the zeal to establish Islamic supremacy in Kashmir is so staunch that even today Hindus are considered to be ‘wajib-ul-qati’ (meant to be killed). So rife are the anti-India and Hinduphobic sentiments that the presence of a Kashmiri Pandit in Kashmir, politically active or otherwise, is made to encounter fatal repercussions by Pakistani Jihadists who are often helped with local support extended by radicalised Kashmiris. It is this sadistic Wahhabi mindset that killed Ajay Pandita.

In the post-independent India, successive Indian governments did very little to curb the rapid spread of radical Islamic ideology and separatism in Kashmir. In fact, they gave into the pressure applied by the separatist forces and nurtured a self-defeating policy of appeasement. A diabolical doctrine that aimed at the creation of a Kashmir based on Islamic tyranny was left uncontested by New Delhi. Or, at the very least, not taken seriously at all until the most dastardly operation of ethnic cleansing was unleashed on the Kashmiri Pandits because the pro-Indian Pandits were seen as the biggest hurdle in the carving out of an Islamic Kashmir. Local publications were used as messengers to carry open threats against Kashmiri Pandits and others with loyalties towards India. They were warned of dire consequences if they failed to vacate the valley. The most vicious slogans were raised to scare Pandits and drive them out:

 “Kashmir mein agar rehna hai, Allah-ho-Akbar kahna hoga” … “Islam hamara maqsad hai, Quran hamara dastur hai, jehad hamara Rasta hai” … “Pakistan se kya Rishta? La Ilah-e- Illalah” …“Kashir banawon Pakistan, Bataw varaie, Batneiw saan” (Kashmir will be turned into Pakistan. We will keep the Pandit women but not the men)… and so on. 

Kashmiri Pandits were subjected to the most gruesome infliction of terror through mass killings, kidnappings, gang-rapes, bombing, and desecration of Hindu properties that included residential houses and temples. It culminated in the forced exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits in the early 90s. Around 2 lac Kashmiri Pandits, as per various reports, had to leave Kashmir between 1989 to 1992. The message from Islamic terrorists was loud and clear. They envisaged a monolithic Kashmir based on Sharia that had no place for Hindus, Sikhs, and other minorities. It is estimated that between 1989 and 2011 more than 400 Kashmiri Pandits were killed by terrorists in the region. 

Fast forward to 30 years later, the assassination of the Sarpanch Ajay Pandita in 2020 is a walk down the horrific memory lane. It has once again shaken the belief-system of the Pandit community. In the post Article 370 era, when the demand for ensuring a safe and dignified return of Pandits to their homeland has picked up, Ajay Pandita’s killing has come as an unfortunate reminder that barely anything has changed on the ground. Not only has this incident dented the morale of the persecuted Kashmiri Pandits but it has also exposed the truth that Kashmir continues to be a hunting turf for Jihadists who slaughter Hindus in order to wipe out the few that are left there. 

Not long before carrying out the cowardly act, The Resistance Front (TRF) - a Pakistan backed terror front in Kashmir, which claimed the responsibility for the killing of Ajay Pandita had issued an open threat to non-Kashmiris in the valley. The TRF had warned of deadly consequences if Indians tried to nurture plans of settling down in Kashmir under the new domicile law of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. After Pandita’s murder, the terror outfit released a statement that read, "No political stooge/collaborator who stands alongside the occupational regime will be spared. Ajay Pandita Sarpanch was one of these political leaders who tarnished the image of Jammu and Kashmir. These are the main reasons for occupational regimes to stay on our land the Jammu and Kashmir. No one will be spared who is hand in glove with the occupational regime and strengthen their illegal occupation.” 

The audacious intimidation and confession of Pandita’s bestial killing are reminiscent of the petrifying twilight of the 20th century when the seeds of Islamic radicalism germinated in the Kashmir Valley and the blood of the peace-loving Kashmiri Pandits was spilled to realise the dream of a demographically altered all-Muslim Kashmir. 

The hypocrisy of the Congress party and the politicians in Kashmir 

When the Panchayat polls were held in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018 after a hiatus of two years, it marked the beginning of a new era that challenged the stronghold of dynasty politics in Kashmir spearheaded by the Abdullahs and the Muftis. Ajay Pandita was the rising Kashmiri Pandit star of this new era who as a local political representative of the Congress party set out on a journey to bring about a change - a change that would instil faith and confidence in his Pandit brethren to resettle in the valley. But instead of lashing out at Pakistan and calling it an act of terror, a senior Congress party leader donned the hat of a terror-apologist and shamelessly alleged that the killing of Ajay Pandita was politically motivated as Congress workers across India were being killed to create a ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’. The death of a man on a mission of peace and rehabilitation was politicised by the same Congress that he was associated with 

But then that is what the Congress, along with other mainstream political parties with separatist tendencies, has always done in Kashmir since 1947. It was the atrocious Kashmir policy of the successive Congress governments at the centre coupled with the duplicitous attitude of the political parties in Kashmir that allowed Islamic fundamentalism to breed in the valley. Eventually, it created a foundation for the persecution of Kashmiri Pandits and other religious minorities claiming innumerable lives and leading to a heart-wrenching refugee crisis for Hindus in their own country. And now it has taken another Hindu life in the form of Ajay Pandita.

Onus on the Modi government and the J&K administration 

The reports of panic-stricken sarpanches fleeing from Kashmir to Jammu following Ajay Pandita’s killing is extremely disturbing. What is more discouraging is the series of complaints raised about Sarpanches not being provided protection. It cannot be stressed enough that the responsibility of safeguarding the lives of these Sarpanches and their families solely and entirely lies with the central government and the Jammu & Kashmir administration. Prime Minister Modi’s vision of strengthening democracy in J&K at the rudimentary level comes with its own set of challenges. Those who show faith in the Indian Constitution and participate in Panchayat polls in the valley live under a constant threat of life. Hindus and other non-Muslim minorities more so. Their safety and security are of paramount importance. Ajay Pandita was not the only Hindu political worker in Kashmir. There are others too. Moreover, an estimated 700-800 Pandit families, who chose to stay in Kashmir despite terror infestation during the 90s, continue to live there. Scores of displaced Kashmiri Pandits are working in the valley as government employees by virtue of the Prime Minister’s Employment Package. All Kashmiri Pandits are seen as Indian agents by the Jihadists which puts them in an extremely vulnerable category and makes them easy targets. 

The onus is on the Modi government to ensure that we do not lose more Ajay Panditas. Giving arms-training for self-defence to Hindu minorities in Kashmir is a fine idea but it is not the panacea for the overall problem. The solution lies in removing the deeper malaise of anti-Indianism and anti-Hinduism in Kashmir that can only be done through a systematic crackdown on Pakistani Jihadist forces supported by radicalised Kashmiri groups and terror outfits. This is the only way to expect normalcy to blossom in the valley which could eventually pave the way for the safe return of the Kashmiri Pandits.  

To conclude, there is an enormously significant lesson to be learnt from the martyrdom of Ajay Pandita. What he started was an incredibly high-risk patriotic movement to serve his community and the country for which India will forever be thankful to him and his family. But if his death is allowed to fade into history as just another sacrifice of a brave and patriotic Kashmiri Pandit, then India will always remain one step behind the nefarious terror designs of Pakistan and their radicalised extensions in Kashmir. In such a scenario, the axe of Islamic terror will keep falling on every Kashmiri Pandit who dares to go back to the valley or, worse still, show political representation there. Consequently, the Pandit community’s dream to return to their homeland will become more and more distant.

India owes a debt of gratitude to its braveheart Armed Forces for the gallantry and forbearance they display in Kashmir everyday

While the whole world has been grappling with COVID-19, it is business as usual for Pakistan that has been busy exporting terror into India from across the border. The recent Handwara encounter in which five of our bravehearts from the Indian Army and J&K police attained martyrdom will remain etched in India’s consciousness for a very long time to come.  

Among those who laid down their lives for the safety and pride of the motherland were Colonel Ashutosh Sharma, Major Anuj Sood, Naik Rajesh, Lance Naik Dinesh, and J&K Police Sub-Inspector Sageer Ahmad Pathan. It was a colossal loss for the Indian Armed Forces in which officers of the rank of Major and Colonel gave the supreme sacrifice for the country in an anti-terror operation. 

The last time India had lost such high-ranking soldiers due to Pakistan’s nefarious terror designs was in 2015. The Indian Army had lost two Colonels in a year - Colonel M N Rai who died while fighting terrorists in the Tral area of south Kashmir and Colonel Santosh Mahadik who was martyred in an encounter in Kupwara.  

The Handwara operation has an extraordinary significance because it happened at a time when India was in a state of an unprecedented health emergency. A nation of 1.3 billion engaged in a collective fight against the coronavirus pandemic ended up mourning the death of its sons sworn to protect her. It happened because our fearless soldiers put their lives on the line to save civilians who were held hostage by terrorists in a house at a village in the Rajwar forests of the Handwara area in Kashmir. One of the terrorists was a Pakistani national and Commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba while the other was a local resident as per media reports. 

On May 2, 2020, Colonel Ashutosh Sharma and his team led a joint cordon and search operation along with JK Police after receiving intelligence that terrorists had held around 11 civilians, including women and children, captive in a house and were using them as human shields. Colonel Sharma and his men successfully managed to extricate the civilians from the house. However, during the process, a fierce gun battle transpired between the terrorists and the five-member team in which the two terrorists were killed but the encounter ended up claiming the lives of the gallant Indian soldiers. 

The Handwara encounter is the truest and the boldest reflection of commitment, selflessness, and magnanimity of our security forces. Despite being at the receiving end of attacks, harassment and stones pelted by Pakistan sponsored anti-India Kashmiri seditionists, the Indian Army is always at the forefront of protecting average Kashmiris whenever there is a crisis - be it a natural disaster like the 2014 Kashmir floods or a terror-related situation such as Handwara. Therefore, the least that our bravehearts deserve is a unanimous voice coming from the political class and the civil society across the nation that backs their efforts in the valley instead of encouraging a pseudo-liberal agenda that only advocates the human rights of the seditious elements in Kashmir while ignoring the same for the Armed Forces.

Let alone an unambiguous backing of our forces, the political opposition in India spearheaded by the Congress party overtly criticised the removal of Article 370. Elected representatives of the Congress and many other left-leaning leaders tried to internationalise Kashmir on the floor of the Parliament in their bid to extend a counter-narrative to Modi’s historic step. It is this brazenness for cheap political gains that serves as an impetus for the anti-India brigade and then the mess is for the Army to clean up due to which they often end up losing their lives. 

More recently, the Pulitzer controversy has turned out to be one of the more visible straws in the pack of Congress’s growing separatist tendencies exemplifying the party’s conscious choice to encourage separatism. This has put the Gandhis in the same bracket as the Abdullahs and the Muftis of Kashmir. By congratulating the Pulitzer winning Indian photographers of the Associated Press and thereby automatically endorsing the outrageous citation of the photographs that mentioned Kashmir as a disputed territory under siege and Burhan Wani as a “rebel” rather than a terrorist - Rahul Gandhi made it abundantly clear that he subscribes to the Pakistani stand that challenges Kashmir being an integral part of India. 

There cannot be a greater insult to India’s sovereignty by Rahul Gandhi and therefore the Congress party that considers itself to be the principal opposition party in the country and a political entity that carries the legacy of being the “supreme contributor” in India’s freedom struggle. When a party that owes allegiance to the Indian constitution resonates the line on Kashmir taken by the Pakistan army and the ISI, not only does it cast a shadow on its loyalty towards India but also poses threat to the country’s internal security because of the motivation it supplies to the radicalised forces in the valley. 

The fact of the matter is that ever since Narendra Modi took over the reigns of the country from the UPA in 2014, a rapidly growing crescendo of nationalism has created an atmosphere of desperation in the anti-Modi camp. Through the abrogation of Article 370, the Modi government established an unequivocal stand that anything which challenges the integrity and sovereignty of India will be nipped in the bud. 

But the united Modi-baiters comprising of the Congress, the Communists, the pseudo-secular lobby, Kashmiri separatist voices, and the foreign-funded anti-India human rights NGOs hold an opposite position with regards to Kashmir. The lobbyists have been left exposed on more occasions than one consistently for several years through their strategic silence on the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits in the 90s by Islamic Jihadists, a blatant soft-corner for the stone-pelting brigade of Kashmir that glorifies terrorists and attacks our security forces while conveniently referring to them as misguided youth and victims of the state’s apathy, or more recently by their unabashed and scathing criticism of the revocation of the discriminatory and draconian Article 370. 

After the dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo was eliminated by the forces on May 6, 2020, in the Beighpora village of the Pulwama district in Kashmir, stone-pelters and vandals got a new lease of life as they attacked the security personnel and damaged their vehicles. For one of the most wanted terrorists in Kashmir who would soon have completed eight years of his association with the Hizbul Mujahideen, the terror apologists showcased such enormous display of sympathy and solidarity that even the COVID scare could not stop them from gathering in large numbers and engaging in violence. 

Again it was the Army that was targeted for merely performing its duty of neutralising a terrorist who had been wreaking havoc in the valley, especially after the killing of Burhan Wani in 2016 post which Naikoo had become the commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen. The western media and the leftist media groups in India flagrantly indulged in glorifying Riyaz Naikoo, calling him a “farmer’s son” and a “mathematics graduate” who once taught poor students free of cost. It is disheartening to imagine how all this must weigh on the psyche of the Indian Armed Forces who are in the line of fire in Kashmir on a daily basis.

In light of all that has been analysed above, it is clear that there are two simultaneous battles that India is currently pitted against - one on the ground involving the seditionists in Kashmir and terrorists from across the LoC, and another against terror-sympathising fake narrative creators that are parasitically thriving in India. But the pertinent question is that while the fight against Pakistan sponsored terrorism in Kashmir in the post Article 370 era continues relentlessly, can India afford to let go in vain the ultimate sacrifices that our braveheart soldiers make day in and day out to combat terror? Is it not time India assured its Armed Forces that the country stands behind them unconditionally and with utmost gratitude? 

If it requires a severe reprimand or introducing a law against all those who for their vested political or other interests take a line that contradicts the actions of our security forces or challenges Kashmir’s belongingness to India - then so be it.