Table of Contents
What’s happening?
- In what is being seen by security agencies as a shift in their strategy, militants have in 2021 targeted civilians and, more recently, members of the minority community in J&K.
- Almost all civilian killings have been carried out by newly recruited terrorists or those about to join the ranks, using pistols, police said.
- Of the 28 civilians killed until October 7 this year, seven were non-Muslims, including two Hindu outsiders and five local Hindus and Sikhs.
- In 2020, 37 civilians were killed, and in 2019, as many as 39 civilians.
reason
- Police officers attributed this to the “frustration of terrorist handlers” following a destruction of their support structures and effective maintenance of law and order.
- There is a new challenge, though.
- Unlike full-time militants who go missing from their villages or advertise themselves on social media and thus end up figuring on militant lists, these part-timers are largely under the radar and thus difficult to track.
- Director General of Police, Jammu & Kashmir, Dilbag Singh, told, nearly all civilian killings this year were carried out using pistols and these “weapons were brought in using drones from across the border”.
- He also said the majority of civilian killings have been carried out under the banner of The Resistance Front “although the militants involved in the incidents belong to Hizb and Lashkar.”
- Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said, “Due to killing of huge numbers of terrorists of all outfits specially their leadership, terrorist handlers have started targeting unarmed policemen, innocent civilians, politicians and now innocent civilians from minority communities including women.”
- According to him, in some cases, Over Ground Workers (OWGs) were also found to be involved.
- “The police are identifying all such part-time or hybrid terrorists and strict action will be taken against them,” Vijay Kumar said.
- Scores of Kashmiri Pandits abstained from attending offices and many went on a 10-day
leave in the Valley on Friday, in the wake of targeted killings of two Pandits. - Widespread protests were held in Jammu and Kashmir against the killings.
- “I am frightened by the killings of innocent Pandits. We are shifting some of our family members to Jammu for the time being,” a Srinagar-based Kashmiri Pandit teacher, who went on a 10-day leave, said.
- Several schools, especially those located in volatile pockets in the Valley, have offered Pandit employees 10 days of leave period, an official said.
- Sanjay Tickoo, who heads the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), a body representing the voices of those who did not migrate from the Valley in the 1990s, said,
- “Neither those who stayed back since the 1990s nor those who returned to the Valley are feeling secure. Many are leaving out of fear. The condemnation here is nothing but a lip service.”
Political parties?
- The regional parties made a collective appeal to the Pandits not to consider migration.
- The BJP and several Jammu-based parties also organised street protests against the killings and demanded protection for the minorities.
- National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who visited a victim’s family, said, “We can’t let the perpetrators of these terror attacks succeed in their evil designs by driving you out. The overwhelmingly majority of us don’t want you to go. It is our prime responsibility, especially of the majority community, of the Valley to safeguard the lives of minorities.”
Gupkar alliance meet
- Meanwhile, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah chaired a meeting of the Gupkar alliance, an amalgam of regional parties, which was attended by Ms. Mufti also.
- “The current situation in Jammu and Kashmir is the result of the failure of the policies of the Government.
- Whether it was demonetisation or removal of Article 370, these decisions were sold to the country as a solution to the problems of militancy and alienation in Kashmir,” Gupkar alliance spokesman M.Y. Tarigami said.
- Following the killings, security agencies have gone into a huddle and a series of meetings have taken place in Delhi and the newly created Union territory.
- A senior government officer said on condition of anonymity
- that intelligence and security agencies responsible for Jammu and Kashmir have been asked,
- To ensure that civilians are not targeted and persons responsible for these attacks are traced and punished.
Q) Which of the following is not correct regarding Kashmir’s history?
- Kashmir was conquered by Abdali in 1752
- Maharaja Ranjit Singh was 1st Sikh ruler of Kashmir
- Treaty of Amritsar ended Sikh rule in Kashmir
- Ranbir Singh was the first Dogra ruler of J&K
Latest Burning Issues | Free PDF
WhatsApp