Rattled by the high rate of killings of their ‘local assets’ by police in Kashmir, the desperate Pakistani handlers have adapted a new tactic – targeted killing of soft targets, using their unlisted ‘Over the Ground’ (OTG) members. These are sort of ‘lone wolf’ attacks, difficult to predict or prevent but highly impactful. Over the last couple of months over a dozen people have become victims to such attacks by what are termed as hybrid terrorists. A hybrid terrorist is defined as an unlisted member (OTG) of a terror group who has received training in usage of small firearms (pistols, grenades etc) for carrying out targeted killings. After carrying out the targeted killing, the terrorist resumes his day-to-day activity instead of returning underground like his full-time counterparts. The impact of these and other such killings is causing a re-enactment of the 1990 Mass Exodus that saw the Ethnic Cleansing of Kashmir. Media have been highlighting desperate Hindus/ KPs trying to leave their homes to escape death. An atmosphere of fear, despair and uncertainty has again gripped the Kashmir valley, particularly, its minorities.

Since August 5, 2019 administration has taken several decisive steps to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure. Security forces have been given a relatively free hand to eliminate terror mongers. In the January-April 22 period, as many as 62 terrorists (47 local) have been killed in various encounters. As per IGP Kashmir, Mr Vijay Kumar, 32 terrorists were neutralised within three months of their joining the ranks of terror outfits, due to superior human intelligence on ground and technical surveillance. Having said that, an important question arises: Can Terrorism be eliminated through police action alone? Experience in Punjab shows that efforts of security forces led by the legendary KPS Gill succeeded because of two vital factors:

• A drastic reduction in the support base of terrorists especially amongst the rural Jat Sikhs. This led to better human intelligence about terrorist whereabouts, reduced ‘safe houses’ for terrorists and, ultimately, to their quick elimination.
• Free hand given to the Security Forces by Chief Minister Beant Singh. His strong political support insulated police from ‘harassment’ by vested interests in media, the agenda driven ‘human rights and Civil Liberties’ activists.

I have lived in Punjab for almost 15 years; my job involved extensive traveling and market interaction. I have ‘seen’ the change in socio-political discourse post 1988, first hand. Only when ordinary citizens have a change of heart can a security operation of this complexity and scale succeed. Police force would have made some ‘unintended’ mistakes in the process; some collateral damage like some ‘innocents’ getting hurt can’t be ruled out. One needs to remember that fighting armed terrorists is a war like situation. I have seen police chasing a ‘big’ terrorist (Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala?) in July 1992 in Model Gram area of Ludhiana and saw the kind of difficulties police faced, kind of precautions they took to minimize chances of innocent civilians falling prey to crossfire. In May 1992, a terror organization put up posters in a particular locality of Ludhiana, threatening to blow up the area because no family provided shelter to their top gun as police were chasing him! We faced a 5-day bandh in our locality, enforced by a terror group, following elimination of their top terrorist by police. Civil society, however, refused to succumb to terror tactics!

So where is the Civil Society of Kashmir?
Post release of movie The Kashmir Files, a number of ‘social activists’, lawyers, politicos and ‘academics’ from Kashmir criticized the movie for showing ‘a false story, for being one sided’ etc. We heard debates on numerous TV channels where members of intelligencia, the Kashmiri Muslim community and from the ‘liberal-secular brigade’ of India spoke of Kashmir’s ‘secular’ ethos, ‘bhaichara’, Kashmiriyat, and how they were eager to have KPs back in the valley. Even Mehbooba Mufti suddenly remembered that she has grown up amidst KPs and had KP teachers.

On You Tube I saw a recent video of a question answer session with students at the Chandigarh Music n Film Festival. Two young Kashmiri Muslim girls (one ‘properly attired’ with hijab) asked Mr Vivek Agnihotri why he had not shown the Muslim suffering due to terrorism in Kashmir to balance his film. Mr Agnihotri’s response was classic:

He asked the two ladies:

• If they (or someone else from Kashmir) had asked the same question of the directors of 8 earlier movies made on Kashmir since 1990s, which mostly glorified terrorism and totally ignored the subject of KP Genocide? Were those movies ‘balanced’?
• Whether the two of them were willing to put out posts on social media, criticizing terrorism and violence against KPs in Kashmir?
• If they (or someone else) had ever questioned why cinema halls in Kashmir have been closed for last 32 years?

The sheepish looks on the faces of the two ladies were answer enough! If only the two ladies had a sense of propriety and the courage of their convictions, they would have admitted on social media their lack of action. As targeted killings became more frequent in April-May 22, I was expecting a storm of protests to erupt in Kashmir. I was expecting a series of candle marches, bandhs, hartals and processions in Kashmir, protesting against the wanton killings from the ‘secular and liberal’ civil society in Kashmir! I soon started wondering where the ‘secular brigade’ was hibernating and why even social media in Kashmir was not protesting. Much to my disappointment, I realized that we are facing indoctrinated mindsets with deep rooted biases, with specific, disruptive ideology. Sahir Ludhianvi’s immortal lines come to mind suddenly,” Kahan hein, kahan hein muhafiz khudi ke?” I want to ask Jinhe naaz hai Hind ki Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb pe – voh Kahan hein?”

Looking for reasons, I came across some disturbing information:

• Supinder Kaur & Deepak Chand, two Non-Muslim High Threat Potential teachers were posted to high danger zone of Eidgah area in Srinagar while 20 zero-threat Muslim teachers were posted to a school in high security zone of Tulsibagh, Srinagar. Both ‘High Threat’ teachers were shot dead on 7 Oct 2021.
• Rajni Bala & her husband Raj Kumar were posted in 2 separate high danger zones in Kulgam even while Zero Threat teachers were conveniently posted in local schools of Kulgam. Rajni Bala was shot dead on 31 May 2022.
• Education Department has leaked a transfer list of 177 Pandit teachers in social media which is a serious security breach.

• Rahul Bhat, a KP, was shifted from Budgam to militant-infested Chadoora where he was shot dead in the Tehsildar's office on 12 May 2022.

• SBI/EDB posted zero-threat local officers at convenient places but Vijay Kumar of Rajasthan was posted in the terror hub of Kakran-Arreh in Kulgam. He was shot dead at his bank branch on 2 June 2022.

• KP Employees posted to Kashmir valley under PM Employment Package are forced to live in ghettos with as many as 3 families sharing a kitchen. The Package has been functioning since 2012 and in 10 years, proper accommodation could not be arranged for these unfortunate victims of terrorism. Even the Rohingya refugees have better facilities in Kashmir.

These facts reveal a method in the madness. There is a deliberate attempt by Kashmiri bureaucracy to scuttle whatever attempts are being made by Govt of India. Some retired Kashmiri Pandit bureaucrats with whom I interacted revealed an interesting sequence:

• Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), a radical Islamic group, was, in 1950s, more of an NGO, involved in spreading its network of schools in the Valley. It gave scholarships to ‘bright Muslim’ students, providing them religious + regular education.
• By the 1970s, JeI had established a strong presence all over the Valley, especially amongst teachers and college students, several of whom were products from their own school network.
• JeI ventured into electoral politics by late 1960s to dispel the notion that politics and religion are separate. In 1972 elections, it won 5 Legislative Assembly seats, much to the discomfort of National Conference.
• The JeI members in Assembly opposed what they termed ‘un-Islamic’ laws. Their demand, obviously was imposition of Sharia Laws or Islamic alternatives.
• Atmosphere in Kashmir was vitiated only after the influx of Maulvis from UP/Bihar in 1970s. Small message boards were put up in every locality and mysterious messages would be written on those message boards every Friday.
• The funding of new mosques and these maulvis came from Saudis and Gulf.
• These preachers started indoctrination of young minds in the valley through Madrasas
• Post 1972, JeI members started penetrating the state bureaucracy. As a result, today, a very high number of bureaucrats in vital positions owe allegiance to the Jamaat.

Radicalization of middle even top-level bureaucracy in Kashmir is a very important factor in the non-compliance, delay or distortion of policies. Unfortunately, bureaucrats were allowed a free hand by ‘administratively weak’ politicians like the Abdullahs and Muftis. As early as 1986, Governor Jagmohan was able to identify and sack 5 such black sheep for their pro-Pakistan loyalties, including Abdul Ghani Bhat who later headed the separatist Hurriyat Conference. There have been a few half-hearted attempts since then to weed out such elements. I believe in the last 6 months, 25 J&K Govt employees have been sacked for links with terrorists, including people in education, police, public health, revenue departments! However, this represents just the tip of the iceberg.

The current spate of killings is part of the campaign against three important changes being brought in:

1. Issue of Domicile Certificates to Kashmiri Pandits:
   Post 1990, getting a ‘State Subject’ Certificate by KP migrants was a nightmare, particularly for those settled outside J&K. Relief Commissioners in recent years have facilitated the issue of Domicile Certificates by organizing Camps in Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune etc. This has caused resentment amongst Kashmiri Muslims as it means revival of KP claims in J&K.
    
2. Monitoring of Complaints about Migrant Property:
   Jammu & Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property Act, 1997 was passed in 1997 but remained on paper only all these years. On September 7, 2021, an ‘on-line’ portal for registering complaints about fraud, distress sale, encroachment, tampering with revenue records, trespassing of property was launched to monitor and offer time bound solution to such grievances. Hundreds of complaints were registered since then and a high percentage of such complaints was found to be correct, leading to action by Govt. In December 2021, J&K High Court held that any transfer of migrant property without prior permission of Revenue and Relief Ministry is null and void under the Jammu & Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property Act, 1997. This move has caused serious resentment among the ‘civil society’ in Kashmir as they do not want to lose whatever has been conveniently usurped.
    
3. Delimitation Commission of India (DCI)Recommendations:
   On May 5, 2022, DCI forwarded its final report to the Central Govt, recommending reservation of at least 2 Assembly seats for migrant KPs and one seat for displaced people from Pakistan Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. People in the valley see this as an attempt to deny power to Muslim majority of the valley.

‘Civil Society’ in Kashmir is indeed a pampered lot! They want to milk all the benefits from Central/ State Govt without yielding anything in return. They want the right to own property in any part of India but do not want the original inhabitants of Kashmir (KPs) to return or claim their property. Hence the bogey of ‘demographic changes’ is being orchestrated by their well-wishers in Indian Media, in Pakistan and their think tanks in the West. Govt of India shall have to fight the battle on two fronts:

• Media:
  In the era of social media, dissemination of facts to fight slanted media reports is easy. Truth, with documentation, can help defang the serpents of falsehoods.

• Strong Administrative Action:
  A background check of all employees needs to be done to weed out the snakes in the grass. Then only can policy subversion be stopped. What is of concern to every nationalist is why the LG/ Govt of India have not taken any action against people responsible for various lapses like deliberately posting high-risk employees to danger zones or, for leaking out posting locations of various KP/ Hindu employees. If action is not taken, it shall only embolden these mischievous elements. If action has been taken, that needs to be given adequate publicity to send out a clear signal to other snakes in the grass. Ajit Doval has held meetings with senior bureaucrats and some KP employee groups in Kashmir – some action on ground alone can restore confidence of KPs in the fairness of this Government.