- Will the valley turn into a new terrorist haven?
The years-long recourse to state violence in occupied Kashmir has led to widespread alienation among the Kashmiri people, especially the youth that comprise over 68 per cent of the population. The killing of the charismatic militant leader Burhan Wani, the use of pellet guns against stone-pelting teenagers and the humiliation of tying a young Kashmiri to the bonnet of an army jeep as a human shield are all etched on the collective memory of the Kashmiri people. The removal of the special status after the revocation of Article 370, permission to outsiders to buy property, get jobs and be settled permanently in the Valley have generated fears in Kashmiris of becoming a minority in their own homeland and being lynched by those who want to make India a Hindu state.
For the first time in five days the people in Srinagar were allowed to go out to pray in the mosques of their particular localities amid restrictions on moving from one locality to another. With police and paramilitary presence all along the city streets and at the mosques, it was possible to stop protests. The crackdown on telephones, mobile phones, internet and TV news cannot go on week after week nor can the presence of police and paramilitary units on this scale be maintained for months.
So far anger and frustration were confined to the common people and the Hurriyet rank and file. With the revocation of Article 370 the politicians who supported India too have started speaking the language of the separatists. Alienation has come full circle.
As a result of the army operation in Pakistan’s tribal areas, terrorist have largely been taken out or forced to migrate to Afghanistan. Once the Afghan issue is s settled, terrorists will have to leave Afghanistan or be eliminated. There is a likelihood of Al-Qaeda and the IS relocating to occupied Kashmir where they already have some presence. With a population full of rage against Indian atrocities, the terrorist networks with global reach are likely to flourish like fishes in water. The BJP government’s action will have highly negative repercussions for India and the rest of the world.