As the Union Government and the Opposition square off on the latter’s demand for holding talks with Hurriyat leaders and separatists to exorcise the specter of violence that has engulfed Kashmir Valley for more than two months, feedback from the ground suggests that such an engagement may not yield any results because no one controls the stone-pelters anymore.
Sources dealing with the situation said that the Hurriyat leaders and separatists were irrelevant to the prevailing situation in Kashmir Valley since the protest is led mainly by students and youth radicalised and indoctrinated by religious fundamentalists.
There is an increasing realisation that unlike in the past when political engagements with protesters helped in defusing the situation, this time the scope for such a political intervention has shrunk since the agitation is rooted not in any genuine grievance but in the precincts of mosques mushrooming across the Valley.
Similarly, feedback from the ground also suggests that aspirations of “azadi’ or “autonomy” are not the catalysts for the ongoing violence, nor development or the lack of it its causes. “It’s a peculiar situation. It’s driven by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists and Pakistan-sponsored religious fundamentalists who want to establish a theocratic State in Jammu & Kashmir,” said a source who just returned from the Valley.
Sources pointed out that during the all-party meeting in Delhi, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah summed up the situation, saying, “Today, even if the Centre offers autonomy, there will be few takers for it in
the Valley.”
The sources said that the separatists and the Hurriyat leaders stand so alienated from the protesters that had they met the members of the all-party delegation, they might have faced violent protests by the stone-pelters. However, the Government may not be averse to holding talks with separatists and the Hurriyat leaders once the situation improved on the ground.
Sources said that the protesters are provoking the security forces by pelting them with stones. When the security forces retaliate, then the protestors play the victim card. “Nobody wants to hurt civilians or anyone, but the narrative of protest must change,” said a source.
The sources also pointed out that it was wrong to claim that excess force was used to deal with the protests in the Valley. They pointed out that while 6,000 civilians have suffered pellet injuries, as many as 5,500 jawans of the security forces were also nursing injuries suffered from the stones.
Given the fluid situation, the Government cannot have any definite road map to deal with the crisis but will have to react according to the development. While not ruling out the deployment of the Army if the situation did not improve, sources said the Government could use both firmness and compassion in dealing with the unrest. As the violence has still not abated, top Government sources say that the State will assert itself against troublemakers while civilians will be treated with “compassion.”
In this regard, the Government is willing to provide the best medical care even to those injured in clashes with the security forces. It also refuses to buy the theory of victimhood by troublemakers who first instigate violence and then claim sufferings because of retaliatory action by the security forces.
The dual strategy appears to be the Government’s approach amid demands for initiating a dialogue process with all stakeholders in the State. On the external front, the Government appears to be in no mood for a dialogue with Pakistan which, it is convinced, is “100 per cent” behind the current unrest in Kashmir and has taken a “complete U-turn” by injecting bitterness in the relations.