BREAKING THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE
1. State of Jammu & Kashmir has been tormented by the insurgency since the late 1980s. It has been a result of the under currents in the Kashmiri masses created by the separatist leaders & Pakistan, using false narratives against the Indian government & employing religion as a tool & basis to turn the citizens against their own motherland & fellow countrymen. Since the independence, this feeling of indifference have been time & again fueled by them by using unlawful & unethical means, with an overall aim of controlling the situation in Kashmir & its merger with Pakistan. Little did Pakistan realize, that this sort of misadventure would not give them the control over Kashmir, but only increase violence to uncontrollable levels & the innocents of the Kashmir would be the fodder of this continuous ‘Cycle of Violence’. Lt Gen Asad Durrani (ex ISI Director General) has mentioned in his book that even the ISI, who had orchestrated the terrorism in Kashmir, did not expect the situation to escalate to such levels & slip out of hand & control of the ISI.
2. This state has witnessed unprecedented levels of violence for the past three decades. In order to control this violence, first it is important to understand the main reason behind this vicious web of terrorism. The masterminds across the LoC have created a mechanism of continuous chain of terrorist recruitment amongst the youth population through their widely spread over ground workers network. As soon as Indian Army neutralizes a terrorist, a fresh one is recruited from the same area by carrying out an act of violence against Kashmiris or Security Forces. The whole aim is to keep the chain intact & orchestrate violence to unsettle the government & portray it as an indigenous independent struggle by the Kashmiris, while the monetary support, planning, weapons & directions come from Pakistan. This argument is further substantiated by neutralization/ apprehension of a large number of Pak origin terrorists or Pak trained terrorists by Indian Army & Jammu Kashmir Police every year. The documents, weapons & administrative stores received from them are a proof of the Pakistani involvement & malicious intent to increase the violence in Kashmir.
3. The common people in Kashmir have to endure a lot more hardships & struggles than people anywhere else in our country. A child during his growing up years, witness unprecedented violence levels against the relatives, loved ones or village people by terrorists. The locals are often forced to provide the shelter, food or other favours, which often involve the harassment of the ladies or girls of the house. The sense of safety provided by the Security Forces also comes at a cost of increased discomfort during the operations & searches. The common civilians are threatened and pressed from all sides, resulting in unending sufferings.
4. At a very early stage of life, they are exposed to the radical thoughts by the Maulvis, social media or people with separatist ideologies. These young vulnerable minds are methodically targeted by the seasoned over ground workers, separatists & Maulvis after observing them & their inclinations. People with bitter experiences & biases against the army or government are chosen. They are made to believe that they have been chosen for this special task by god & their Muslim brethren have to be freed from the atrocities by the Indian government. False narratives & stories thereby create an everlasting impact thus leaving them at the mercy of their handlers & they mould them into the terrorists, who are not able to differentiate between good & bad, & justify the killing of violence in the name of Allah.
5. For a young kid in Kashmir this ‘Cycle of Violence’ starts with a very younger age. When he witnesses violence in his village or neighbourhood. Later he is subjected to the brainwashing by the people behind the curtain. Moreover, he is lured in the name of 72 virgins after ‘Shahadat’ & the associated perks in this life. Larger than life image, respect, heroism, thrill of weapons, feeling of power, money & popularity among the females are the main reasons that attract a young boy towards terrorism despite knowing the fact that where it would lead him. These young boys projected as a face of the resistance of Kashmir are actually at the lowest rank of the hierarchy & are expendables for those who orchestrate these violent acts from behind the curtain. These teenagers play at the hands of these all-knowing ‘Terrorists without Weapons’. Before the joining of a tanzeem, terrorists are asked to prove themselves by an act of violence against the security forces or Kashmiris supporting India. Such acts more often than not, result in fatal/ non-fatal injury to the innocent civilians. The terrorist thereafter is recruited into the tanzeem & as a result pop up on the radar of security forces. Within few months, most of these terrorists are trapped in the encounters by the security forces. They are given sufficient chances to surrender & join the mainstream by the forces & government, however, in most number of cases they refuse & are neutralized by security forces. After this the cycle of recruitment from the relatives or the same village starts again, as the locals feel wronged by the government & the forces.
6. While, the security forces target the terrorists but are handicapped when it comes to the actual perpetrators of the violence. The people who orchestrate such crimes & start the, ‘Cycle of Violence’ often walk free & continue the brainwashing & recruitment of the young minds. It is high time that appropriate amendments in the law be made so as to take stringent action against such ‘Terrorists without Weapons’, so that the levels of violence in Kashmir can be reduced & common citizens live a normal life free from the clutches of radicals. Terrorists are like the branches of the tree, by killing them security forces can only prevent the situation from worsening further, but to be able to make actual difference, we must address the root cause i.e. the radical Maulvis, over ground workers & political separatists. Only by clipping the roots we can reduce the violence levels & uproot this tree of terrorism. We must educate the younger generation of Kashmir to deviate from this violent path & contribute towards the progress of Kashmir & India.
