Brig Anil Gupta
Terrorism has many faces. But two of them are very potent and most dangerous. These are the terrorists and the terror network. Recent successes achieved by the security forces in killing hundred plus terrorists during ‘Operation All Out' has sent a ray of hope among the countrymen that terrorism in Kashmir is nearing its end. However, as the past experience shows the cycle of terrorism resurfaces again and again and terrorism re-raises its ugly head whenever there is a hope of peace. The reason is obvious. Our hostile neighbour runs a factory of terrorism. Whenever, the number of terrorists goes down, it resupplies them. In doing all this he is assisted in his nefarious designs by a very well laid out terror network in Kashmir. It is very easy for the security forces to eliminate a gun-wielding terrorist but those who do not wield a gun or wear a mask and roam around freely providing support to terrorists are difficult to identify and hence neutralise. They form the backbone of terror network. This is equally if not more dangerous than the terrorists and needs the immediate attention of the security forces and the central government. It is this combination of terror sympathisers (over ground workers) and anti-nationals that needs to be tackled simultaneously in order to sound the last-post of terrorism in Kashmir.
The most visible and active face of the terror network in Kashmir is the Hurriyat. It is an out-agency of the Pakistani Deep state operating from the safe havens of the Valley. I am not sure what idea Mehbooba was referring to when see said that “an idea can't be jailed” but I am very certain of the idea being nurtured by the Hurriyat at the behest of Pakistan and that is the idea of “Islamisation” of Kashmir. The dual face of the Hurriyat was thoroughly exposed when Syed Salahhudin was declared as a global terrorist by the United States of America. He is a protégé of Syed Ali Shah Gilani, the most hardline Hurriyat leader and the patron of terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen (HM). Terrorism is being used as a tool for “Islamisation” and thus is only means to an end. Yasin Malik is an ex member of JKLF. Maulavi Omar Farooq also reportedly patronised a terror group. Ayesha Andrabi's Dukhtaran-e-Millat has introduced the girls in Kashmir to terrorism.
Hurriyat leadership is blatantly involved in terror funding and hawala transactions to sustain terrorism in Kashmir. They not only act as a conduit for money received from the Deep State but also collect funds locally. They also receive huge caches from Saudi Arabia, Gulf nations and Europe particularly great Britain. They have also misused the cross-LOC trade facility, started as a Confidence Building Measure, to generate hawala funds. The recent arrests of many Hurriyat leaders including close relatives and colleagues of Geelani have exposed the black deeds of these leaders. I totally concur with Gen Syed Ata Hasnain who has written in a just published article in Swarajya, “Control the flow of illegitimate money, and a separatist terrorist movement is starved out. Neither can separatist leaders, nor high profile terrorists live without luxuries of power that money brings”. The NIA operations need to be taken to their logical conclusion and not used as a tool of “appeasement” as has been happening in the past. Any sort of political influence direct or indirect must be resisted because the Hurriyat leaders also hold the remote control of many soft separatists and mainstream political leaders of Kashmir. In the past as a quid pro quo they have used their influence over the political leadership not only to get out of the clutches of law but also obtain many favours for themselves or their family members in form of landed property at throw away prices and plumb government jobs, out of turn and without going through the laid down procedures. The huge properties owned by the top rung Hurriyat leaders in Kashmir, Jammu, Dubai and other places also need to be investigated, their source of funding determined and confiscated if found illegal. Also, all government jobs obtained through extra-constitutional means and illegally need to be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation because the involvement of the then government in these illegal appointments cannot be ruled out. After thorough investigation, the guilty including those who granted illegal favours need to be tried and punished.
The armed wing of the over-ground workers is represented by the masked stone-pelters, who instead of wielding an AK-47 pelt missiles in form of stones at the security forces thus hindering their conduct of ant-terror operations. These are not innocent misguided youth but hard core paid professionals. Manu Khajuria, a free-lance writer on Kashmir affairs has aptly described this breed, “the stone-pelting, militant-protecting, Kashmiri today, is misguided in purpose and suffering from a severe identity crisis. It has turned him blind to the external hand that changed Kashmir. Many a Kashmiri, including the politician from the Valley alleges that Delhi and the armed forces “ko Kashmir chahiye, Kashmiri nahi”. This allegation, as hollow as it is, is applicable to the Kashmiri himself who is refusing to see the external hand”.
There is no doubt that they coerce the innocents also to come out so that in event of any one of them being hit in the retaliatory action of the security forces, they can arouse public sentiments leading to protests and processions. These groups are led by the “Instigators”, who are usually good orators and master the art of converting a mob into a violent crowd. They are the lower rung of separatist leaders or religious preachers and can be seen at all sites of stone-pelting. Unlike, the pelters who are paid like daily wagers they are on the permanent pay rolls of the Deep State. They have been allotted areas of responsibility by their masters. Apart from organising stone pelting they are also responsible for spreading anti-national propaganda and radicalism as well. As warned by the Chief of Army Staff in no uncertain words, “those who obstruct our operations in Jammu and Kashmir and don't support security forces, shall be treated as “over-ground workers” of terrorists and that residents who want to continue with terror by displaying flags of Pakistan and Jehadi groups will be treated “as anti-nationals” and the army will not spare them”. The time has come to give a definite shape to the warning of the Army Chief.
The next important and most complicated component of the terror network is that of “Sympathisers”. They apart from the locals who provide shelter to the terrorists, include those who manage their logistics like the hawala operators, government officials, policemen, doctors, transporters lawyers and members of judiciary, politicians, students, businessmen, mullahs and moulvis. The list is endless. This category also includes the highly indoctrinated youth who is always waiting for a trigger or an opportunity to join the terrorist ranks. The youth appears to have side lined the Hurriyat and taken over the mantle of leadership of the current turmoil. However, the leadership is faceless. Bulk of the youth is facing a dilemma and lacks clarity. Their mind vacillates between the ideas of ‘Azadi' and ‘Islamisation'. This is causing havoc.
It is a herculean task to identify the sympathisers. But local intelligence operatives and ground level informers of the security forces play an important role in exposing the sympathisers. The readers would be astonished to note the details of huge properties acquired by the Hurriyat leaders in Hindu-dominant Jammu region with the active connivance of the sympathetic government officials and the government machinery. A few IT savvy youngsters also form part of the network of sympathisers who basically assist in exploitation of social media for pro-terrorist activities and anti-national propaganda. Mobile data usage, as per official claims, is higher in Kashmir than other parts of the country because of lack of other sources of entertainment.
Kashmir's mosques have always been used for politico-religious ends since 1931, and more recently for separatism since 1989 when the militancy broke out. But the character of the mosque has changed dramatically in the last decade. The clerics are not only using the religious platform to exhort the locals to join the fight for achievement of Nizam e Mustaffa but also promoting terrorists. They are actively helping the terrorists by using the loudspeakers fitted in the ramparts of the mosques for making pro-terrorist announcements and also ordering the local population to assemble near the site of encounter to hamper the CICT (counter insurgency counter terror) operations. Through their rabble-rousing hate speeches at the end of the prayers they create anti-security forces hysteria among the audiences. The recent lynching of Dy SP Pandith outside the Jama Masjid on the holy night of Shab e Qadar is a classic example. To bring an end to terror this nexus between the clerics and terrorists will also have to be eliminated.
Last but not the least the mainstream politicians/ power brokers also form part of the terror network. The severity of their involvement varies depending on the fact whether they are in or out of power? They form an unholy Alliance of Interests (AOI) with the Hurriyat in the belief that their political fortune depends on anti-India rhetoric. A critical appraisal of the statements made on daily basis by the Abdullahs especially when the senior Abdullah was canvassing for the Srinagar Parliamentary election will hold testimony to my hypothesis. It is equally true for other valley based politicians, barring a few. People like Er Rashid are having the best of both the worlds. He enjoys the fruits of an elected representative but at the same time spares no opportunity to spit anti-India venom and malign the security forces. He enjoys the maximum ‘Azadi' and yet keeps harping about plebiscite like an old struck HMV (His Master's Voice) record. Not even the USA permits such blatant misuse of freedom of speech for anti-national activities. Our forefathers who framed the Constitution did not conceptualise rabid misuse of certain provisions of the constitution which are being exploited by the terrorists and their sympathisers. Time has come to accept the reality and make needed amends to safeguard the national interest. Until and unless, the terrorists and the terror network are eliminated, hope for return of peace will remain a distant dream. Terrorists cannot survive without the oxygen provided to them by the terror network.
Finally, the central government needs to be complimented for having acknowledged the elephant in the room and put in place an appropriate strategy. The current strategy is “triple hammer”- SF action against the armed terrorists and their sympathisers (OGWs). NIA, ED and Economic Offences Wing against terror funding and finance. Third is exposing Pak internationally as a harbourer of terror and forcing it to give up terror as state policy. The inter se priorities may vary depending on the situation. However, there is a political vacuum at state level. The local leadership has failed to communicate the peace dividend, and what lies in store because of the policies and plans of the Government of India. In order to prevent a repeat of the previous occasions, the current leadership needs to gear up to the challenges that lie ahead, anticipate them and prepare a political and administrative response for the same.
(The author is a Jammu based columnist, political commentator, security and strategic analyst. He can be contacted at anil5457@gmail.com.)
