The discourse over the efficacy of the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution might continue till the cows come home. But the saddest thought as the state of Jammu and Kashmir was transformed to a Union Territory on Friday, the 1st of November, must be Tuesday’s surgical strike by militants at Kulgam, killing five construction labourers from West Bengal’s Murshidabad district. It was a carefully calibrated effort.
The five were ordered to come out of their home, stand in line, and then shot one by one, by a firing squad as it were. They have been driven quicker to death than to a source of livelihood to sustain their families back home and also, of course, themselves. It has been a horrendous prologue to the swelling act of a constitutional theme, decidedly the most momentous since Independence. Is the “insider-outsider” syndrome manifest yet again? Four days after the butchery, the BJP hierarchy has been muted in its response. Details are still rather sketchy as is the involvement.
Rightly has Mamata Banerjee demanded a “serious investigation to get to the real truth”. And the truth must be out without the slightest hedging. The Centre’s credibility is at stake, and damagingly so in the midst of the visit by Members of the European Parliament. What was intrinsically a PR exercise has hit the reefs. Jammu and Kashmir is on the boil three months after the change of status (5 August). It remains posited on a powder keg as it historically has been, not to forget the failures of diplomacy post-August 5 to the west and now to the east of the Radcliffe Line.
The plot gets murkier with the suspected involvement of Hizbul Mujahideen, which has emerged as the prime suspect. The terrorist organisation has now been blamed by the J & K police for the recent spate of attacks on outsiders, including the killing of a truck driver, believed to be from Bengal. In the aftermath of the Kulgam tragedy, the UT’s Intelligence network has confirmed the “complicity of Hizbul Mujahideen in the terror attacks targeted at non-Kashmiri outsiders in J & K”.
HuM is a predominantly Kashmiri terror outfit and is part of Pakistan’s terror network. The ISI is reported to be a major player in terms of directions, funding, resources and training in PoK. HuM cadres work in close coordination with the terror outfits based in Pakistan, notably Lashkar-e-Taiba and JeM. Familiar as these outfits are with the local terrain, they have facilitated the movement of jihadis from across the border. And there is a surge in the movement as winter sets in. As much was palpable in Kulgam late on Tuesday evening… as twilight lapsed to the stillness of the night.