Kashmir on the boil

Kashmir is again on the boil. The analysts who have held the view that the peace prevailing here was fragile and subject to any change have been vindicated. This time the killing of civilians at the hands of Border Security Force (BSF) in Gool area of Ramban district has triggered massive protests and not only the Chenab region (of which Gool is a part) but Kashmir valley too is seething with anger.

Compared to Kashmir, Chenab region has been less volatile in the past two decades. Though the area has been infested with militancy and the people have suffered at the hands of both the State and non-State actors, over the last decade or so this has been a relatively peaceful region and people have willingly participated in elections as well.

But the hard reality that was exemplified by the action of BSF men on Wednesday and Thursday is that the chasm between the population and the forces had always existed. Otherwise there was no need for the BSF to go for searches at late night in that area, and that too without police and enter into an altercation with the Imam of the local mosque and take it too far. The stories coming out of the affected area are heart- breaking and even the Superintendent of the Police of Ramban told a national daily that even he could have been the target of BSF firing as it was so sudden. The political science professor who got killed was among those who were trying to negotiate with the agitating crowd but was not spared. On top of it, the BSF spokesman justified the killings saying that the troops fired in self-defence when the mob was trying to loot ammunition.

The question is why would the crowd have an eye on the ammunition? What for? Where they going to sell it in some arms and ammunition market? They were simply registering their protest against the sacrilege and the treatment meted out to the Imam who is highly respected. The way BSF behaved, it even forced the State Cabinet to put on record its condemnation which is again for the first time in the history of Kashmir's 22-year-old conflict. The Ramban killings are not new but just a reminder about a situation which has potential to turn violent. A few weeks back, the Army killed two civilians in Bandipore and whole Kashmir erupted. While, on the one hand, the government has been making claims that normalcy was returning to Kashmir and the tourist influx was on, the security forces, on the other hand, were on the job to puncture this theory.

Kashmir has been actually craving for peace as the three years of turmoil from 2008 to 2010 claimed more than 200 lives; 2011 and 2012 were seen as the years of "peace" and now the consolidation process should have been set in motion. But contrary to that the forces apparently meant for "the security" of the people are targeting the.

What is this happening when people at large want the atmosphere to be filled with peace and optimism? The answer perhaps lies between the powers they enjoy under Armed Forces Special Powers Act and lack of accountability. The sense of unaccountability has crept so deep into the minds of the security forces that they believe that they could get away with anything. There are scores of examples of men from armed forces going scot-free for the crimes they have committed on similar lines. The helplessness of the civilian government headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also speaks volumes about how the security grid functions in the State. Every time such an incident takes place, he has nothing to offer: A routine probe is ordered and he repeats the same word "unacceptable".

Such a situation also brings to the fore the reality that a vacuum exists on the ground. This is of political engagement. With these incidents getting repeated every other month, the space for a peace constituency is shrinking. There is no political engagement with those who challenge the Indian rule in Kashmir. Delhi boasts about having a "popularly elected government" in Srinagar and which, however, has been rendered powerless.

This is obviously opening a space for those who are against peace. So the forces targeting innocent civilians, leading to political turmoil, are working against peace when the populace desperately wants it. For the second consecutive day on Saturday, entire Kashmir was shut. The State had imposed severe restrictions and the separatists called for a bandh. Everything seems to be going back to square one and this time it is not something fuelled from across the border. In the absence of any political outreach, the average Kashmiri is at a distance from New Delhi. He believes that the Government of India does not want the political problem to be solved and does not care for the people. Delhi must wake up and realize how it is slipping away towards a more dangerous path.

(The writer is the editor of Rising Kashmir)