RSN Singh
The recent killing of six policemen betrayed the nadir of ‘Ramzan Jihad' in the Kashmir Valley. Their cardinal sin being that they in their line of duty to protect the nation and its citizens, they were part of security forces operations did away with a dreaded LeT commander Junaid Mattoo. The LoC has dissolved as a psychological barrier between civilizational India and depraved entity called Pakistan. It has become inconsequential for the murderous ideology of global jihad. Policemen have been targeted earlier. More than a thousand policemen have been martyred, but never before, the treatment was so gruesome, so beastly. Ramzan in the Valley had never been abused with slaughter of dead bodies. The butchers were Kashmiris and their victim policemen too were Kashmiris. Their martyrdom was humiliated by riddling their dead faces with bullets. Hither-to-fore it was the foreign mercenaries for whom beheadings were game, sanctioned by Jihad and the Pak military. It however remained restricted to LoC. This jihadi bestiality has now traveled to the Valley. Kashmiri terrorists now baying for the blood of Kashmiris, are only a step away. The LoC has dissolved as a psychological barrier between civilizational India and depraved entity called Pakistan. It has become inconsequential for the murderous ideology of global jihad. The same global jihad that during this Ramzan has reveled in claiming innocent lives in Baghdad, Teheran, Kabul, London, Manchester, Manila, Mali, Somalia, and of -course Kashmir. Zakir Musa was dismissed by many pro- Pak apologists when he announced the arrival of global jihad in Kahmir. The stone-pelters now in turn underscored it emphatically during the encounter of security forces with LeT's Junaid Mattoo, and subsequently during the murder of policemen. The fine-tuning between the stone -pelters and the terrorists was unmistakable. The stone-pelters were desperate to aid the escape of Junaid Mattoo by posing a diversionary threat. Besides they played the role of accomplice in murder of policemen, by stone-pelting the reinforcements. In the ongoing global jihad in Ramzan, everything conceivable is being turned into weapon. It could be stones in India or cars and trucks in London. In the ongoing global jihad in Ramzan, everything conceivable is being turned into weapon. It could be stones in India or cars and trucks in London. The overarching weapon is the Jihadi ideology and the entire world of ‘non-believers' is its enemy. So who says terror is not driven by religious ideology! No country like the military-intelligence establishment of Pakistan has historically greater expertise in use of jihadis as both spearhead and shield for conduct of conventional and sub-conventional war. It has acquired this historical expertise in its very short history, even though it is marred by vivisection and nagging threat of implosion. The use of jihadis by Pakistan is a religious-commercial military enterprise. The scale of economy in producing jihadis was perfected by Pakistan's military in over a decade against the soviet forces in Afghanistan. The money came from Saudi Arabia and weapons from America. Today it takes the Americans $ 2mn to maintain one soldier in Afghanistan, Pakistan produces and deploys a jihadi or suicide bomber for a niggardly fraction of that sum. The jihadis are the ones who fight, the military rules the country and pursues its economic interests. A little money and loads of ideology is what costs Pakistan to sustain the jihadi war machine. This is military commerce at its worst. Yet, the military mobilizes public opinion by pejoratively calling Indians as ‘banias' (shopkeepers). Terrorism in Kashmir was never indigenous…The Kashmiri population was terrorized and made to succumb in the name of Jihad, with independence as footnote. So much accustomed has Pakistan military become to wielding jihadis as the principal instrument of warfare that when confronted by them, like the TTP, it is seen floundering and in bewilderment responds with missiles, drones, bombs, fighter aircraft and tanks. None of these weapons have been spared against Pakistanis in Operation Zarb-e-Ajb. They were not spared in Balochistan either on umpteen occasions since the inception of Pakistan. If the Indian military had adopted the same scorched earth policy, the phenomenon of stone pelting in Kashmir Valley, would never have raised its head. Why is this contrast then lost out on the pro-Pak elements? Whatever be the answer, it is surely not in the intangible realm of ‘hearts and mind'. Terrorism in Kashmir was never indigenous. It was a substantial collateral of jihadi machinery assembled against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Foreign mercenaries disengaged from Afghanistan poured in early 90s. The Kashmiri population was terrorized and made to succumb in the name of Jihad, with independence as footnote. The ‘accession to Pakistan' card was played much later when Pakistani terrorists became the overwhelming component of the foreign terrorists since mid 90s. As foreign terrorists (Pakis included) spread their terror to silence pro-India constituency in the Valley there was a concerted campaign in tandem by certain politicians, activists, pseudo intellectuals and one particular media house in New Delhi to ensure that the foreign militants and not the Indian security apparatus held sway over the population. The welter of TV discussions and articles on removal of AFSPA was perplexing. With passage of time it is increasingly becoming evident that it was to facilitate Pakistan's strategic designs in Kashmir. Correspondingly the local component of local jihadis kept on increasing. By the latest count there are 300 terrorists in the Valley of which the local component is nearly half and is increasing. Curiously she chose the inauspicious occasion to reiterate that New Delhi must talk and ‘talks' is the only way. This proxy war ploy is lost out on nobody. Talk to whom? Talk to Pakistan Military? Talk to Hafeez Saeed? Talk to Hurriyat— and other agents of Pakistan? Kashmir has witnessed fidayeen attacks but not suicide bombings. This comfortable thought may also be short-lived. No less than half-a-dozen terrorists neutralized by Indian Army on the LoC had suicide vests on them. The reaction of the Chief Minister on the martyrdom of six police personnel was ambivalent and confounding. Her statements carried a sense of fear of Pakistan and its jihadi machinery of which the LeT and Hurriyat are a part. The J&K police serve as the pivot for counter terror operations in the Valley by other security forces. Hence, the setback to the police force needs to be immediately overcome by a means of a massive, unsparing and unremitting counter terror campaign. The CM who also holds the Home portfolio has not displayed any such resolve. To the contrary she seemed to have abandoned the very security apparatus over which she presides. Curiously she chose the inauspicious occasion to reiterate that New Delhi must talk and ‘talks' is the only way. This proxy war ploy is lost out on nobody. Talk to whom? Talk to Pakistan Military? Talk to Hafeez Saeed? Talk to Hurriyat— and other agents of Pakistan? What response will there be incase talks are initiated with the agents of Pakistan? Will Hurriyat abandon its Pakistani masters, the ISI? Will the agents jettison Wahabi Islam? Will they forsake the seducing prophecy of Ghazwai Hind? Will their preference shift from Jihadi Islam to Kashmiri ancestors? Will the madrasas begin teaching about imperatives of India rather than Ummah and Shariat. Let alone Hindus and Buddhists, the Gujjar Muslims. The Shias, the Pahadi muslims — do not want J&K to be represented by such subverted and depraved elements. The Islamic State type brutality by Kashmiris on Kashmiris, the staring specter of suicide bombers, the arrival of global jihad, the growing component of local jihadis, the brutal jihadi war against the police, the stone pelters dissolving into overall narrative of global jihad, and an ambivalent Chief Minister — is a pernicious mix. It is an inflection point. Whatever be the human cost, the land of Kashmir has to be rescued and reclaimed. It is NOW or NEVER.
