Bloodshed in Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district has witnessed two incidents of targeted killings in just four days. A Kashmiri Pandit farmer was gunned down by terrorists outside his ancestral house on Saturday; two labourers from Uttar Pradesh were killed when a grenade was thrown inside their rented accommodation on Tuesday. The fresh bout of violence comes amid a clamour by various political parties to hold early Assembly elections, even as the tourist season is in full bloom in the Valley. The killings are apparently an attempt to disturb peace and scuttle the long-delayed electoral process, under which the delimitation exercise was completed earlier this year.

A local ‘hybrid terrorist’ of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has been arrested for his involvement in the grenade attack. According to security agencies, such terrorists, who are tough to track as they seamlessly return to their routine lives after carrying out strikes, were responsible for most of the killings that rocked Kashmir in October last year. These low-profile assailants, quietly radicalised by anti-India forces, have been targeting civilians, police personnel, political workers and migrant labourers. The law enforcement and intelligence agencies need to go all out to ferret out these terrorists and their handlers so as to prevent more bloodshed and send out the stern message that the rule of law prevails in the Valley.

During a recent visit to Baramulla, Home Minister Amit Shah had declared that he would listen and talk to the people of the Valley, not to Pakistan. This was an attempt to reach out to the Kashmiris and dissuade them from falling prey to Pakistani propaganda. There is no doubt that the neighbouring nation wants to keep the terror pot boiling. The Centre should reiterate that the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan is not feasible unless the latter shuns its old agenda of bleeding India with a thousand cuts. At the same time, the Union government can’t afford to snub regional leaders, who have considerable sway among the Kashmiris. Cracking down on terrorism and bridging the trust deficit are prerequisites for the return of the ballot in J&K.

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