Targeting peace

THE targeted terrorist attacks on four non-locals and a Pandit shopkeeper in Kashmir within a span of 24 hours point to a coordinated attempt to spread panic and foment communal strife. Their toolkit is familiar, as is the timing. Kashmir is having perhaps its best tourist season in recent memory. Gulmarg has been packed to capacity for months, the tulip garden has had a record number of visitors and plans are afoot for the Amarnath yatra after a pandemic-induced gap. The semblance of normalcy amid heightened economic activity can partly explain the desperation to resort to mindless firing on hapless commoners. Another likely trigger point to create an atmosphere of uncertainty is the debate surrounding the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits three decades ago, rekindled by a propaganda movie and voices calling for their dignified return.

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The Army’s Northern Command has put at 172 the number of terrorists still active in Jammu and Kashmir, 79 of them foreign mercenaries believed to have been sent by Pakistan. The data shows a dip in the number of youth joining terror outfits, but the immediate concern for the security grid is to double the efforts to hunt down those responsible for the attacks, and demolish the apparatus that seeks to create a scare. Thankfully, the mutually-brokered truce on border firing is still holding.

Though the recommendations of the J&K delimitation panel are being contested, the political process that got stalled after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 could get activated soon. Whatever their ideological differences and manifested prejudices, not having communal harmony and peace as the primary points of reference would be a disservice to the people the political class claims to represent. All must speak in one voice against the senseless violence. Distrust is a shared burden in the troubled region and reconciliation, too, would need a combined effort.