The recent encounter with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists in the valley ended with the killing of the most wanted and notorious terrorist Burhan Wani from Tral, Jammu & Kashmir. Radicalization in the valley has been a huge cause of concern for the country cutting across political lines and for the people living in the valley. Burhan Wani, 21, joined the terror organization – Hizb-ul-Mujahideen at the age of 15. Burhan was responsible for a variety of crimes in garnering youngsters from the valley towards waging war against India using social media as a strong catalyst.
Therefore it was natural for the security forces to launch a manhunt against this terrorist. The successful operation is definitely a short in the arm for the security forces as well as the nation at large. But what is highly disappointing and demotivating is that top global media houses chose to portray him as a youth icon and rebel. Some even went to the extent of comparing his killing to the sacrifice of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, a legendary freedom fighter. Prominent journalists and Self anointed youth leaders from JNU who are renowned for supporting terrorists went to the extent of glorifying “him and terming his killing as sacrifice”. Several media houses posted images of the funeral procession as their respective cover photos on social media web pages. A leading journalist termed him as innocent and called “A cricket loving son of a Head master” then few further went to the extent of arguing that since there is lack of economic opportunity thus youth are taking to arms. Atleast in Burhan’s case, I beg to differ as his father, the headmaster of a higher secondary school at Lurgam, 5 km from Tral. With this background in the family, it should have been so that Burhan should have armed himself with education and not weapons.
Despite enormous efforts to promote proactive engagement with the people of the valley and several developmental initiatives by the present state government, armed forces, and key civil society organizations, there is confrontation between the army and a section of youth who have fallen prey to the evil of radicalization. There seems to be a definite trend in the valley which has preferred ballot to bullet. In 2014, the state of J&K especially the valley came out in large numbers to vote despite the vociferous call to boycott polls. This was visible in the recently concluded Anantnag by-elections, in which Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was elected to the state assembly with a large margin. This only shows the faith of the people in the valley towards democracy, peace, prosperity and progress. The rot of radicalization is never ending and runs deep, the recent attacks on CRPF convoy and other such dastardly terror strikes have proved that the common reason for the spurt in such attacks is the usage of state sponsored terror from across the border. Pakistan’s statement on the encounter highlights the simple double standards which the country adopts vis-a-vis Pakistan Occupied Jammu & Kashmir and Balochistan. Also, this proves that the Government in Pakistan is not acting alone; it is ably supported by the powerful army and ISI. A recent discernible example, is the meeting called by India’s most wanted terrorist, Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin addressing a meeting calling for more youth to join the war waged against India.
To remove the scourge of terrorism, there needs to be resolute political will. The valley does not need state politicos taking advantage of the situation and stoking fire with their irresponsible statements. It was shameful to see former CM and elected MLA, Mr. Omar Abdullah predict riots in wake of the encounter perhaps the lack of political will in resolving the crisis at hand. Every political party in India need to contribute to confidence building measure of restoring normalcy in the valley and taking it to greater heights of development. In such a situation all the pillars of our democracy – including the media need to stand firm with our security forces to eliminate terror not just from the valley but from our country.
It’s not just the war between non-state actors in valley and security forces to restore normal life. But it’s fight of idea of India and idea of Pakistan and should be defeated into Kashmir itself, so that ethos of the Kashmiriyat can be restored.
(Writer is Research Fellow at India Foundation)