Valley in vexation

The euphoria first created by the surgical strike and recently by the Bollywood flick Uri changed into seething anger following the dastardly suicide bombing of 40 CRPF personnel on the heavily guarded Jammu-Srinagar highway. The Pak-sponsored terrorism has once again come to haunt us.

More than 2500 CRPF personnel stranded at Jammu due to inclement weather availed the clear-weather window to move to their places of deployment in a 78-vehicle convoy in the wee hours of the Valentine's Day, only to fall in the assassins' trap some ten hours later at Lethpora in Pulwama district barely 20 km from the state capital.

The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) wolf allegedly travelling in an SUV laden with quintals of explosives rammed the car into one of the buses destroying both the vehicles, taking the lives out of 40 CRPF personnel and injuring several others from more than ten different battalions.

The explosion was so loud that it could be heard till miles away. It has indeed shaken the conscience of the whole nation.

In the three-decade-old militancy in the valley, it is only the second time that a Kashmiri youth has been successfully radicalised to blow himself up by using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED). The first such fidayeen attack occurred almost two decades back in 2000 when a 17-year-old Afaq Ahmed Shah rammed an explosive-laced red Maruti car into the Badamibagh headquarters of the Army in Srinagar. This time the perpetrator was Adil Ahmed Dar, a 20-year youth from South Kashmir and a known C-category militant.

Hafeez Mohammed Idrees, the publicity wing chief of Lashkar-e-Tiba (LeT) used to say that the Lashkar youth would break the backbone of India through suicide squads. His warning has come true albeit through the recent suicide attacks by a different radical group, JeM.

It is not that IEDs have not been used in the valley in the past. These were frequently used around the turn of the century but had gradually gone out of favour. Fidayeen attacks on security forces and their campuses were largely the handiwork of the Pakistani terrorists or other mercenaries at the behest of Pakistan. More than 98 per cent of such attacks have been carried out by a foreign terrorist. It should be worrying to the Indian security apparatus that more local youth have now been involved in fidayeen attacks. LeT and JeM seem to have successfully passed the baton to the local disgruntled elements by training, equipping and organising them in Afzal Guru Squads (AGS).

Suicide bombings are the most cost-effective tool in the arsenal of a terrorist organisation to cause maximum damage at minimum cost. Experience around the world confirms that even the most advanced nations like America have not found an answer to the problem of car bombs. Terrorist states like Pakistan and its handmaiden Jaish-e-Mohammad put precious little or no premium on the lives of innocent youth who they recruit and indoctrinate with religious fundamentalism and then release in a blind alley that ends in hell. Fardeen Ahmad Khanday and Adil Ahmed Dar in their last video message talk about the fidayeen squad of Jaish-e-Mohammad. References to "victory" of Taliban over the USA in Afghanistan and the resolve of JeM to bring India on her knees indicate that the current geopolitical situation in Afghanistan has emboldened the jihadist groups to strike more vigorously and with impunity in Kashmir. Fardeen Khanday, all of 16 years, was involved in the fidayeen attack on CRPF camp in Lethpora in Pulwama on the new year eve of 2018.

It is true that militancy in the valley is largely confined to the South Kashmir. But it is also a fact that a good number of youngsters engage in stone-pelting and pro-jihadi sloganeering and posts on social media. The feeling of helplessness in a violent landscape makes them drift towards 'icons' like Burhan Wani championing radical Islam. It is no longer just the impoverished youth who are getting attracted to the wily radical propaganda and joining the terrorist ranks. Burhan Wani and Fardeen Khanday, after all, came from well-off families. With the local youth joining daring suicide attacks on security forces, the threat of radicalisation in the valley is real. The feeling of alienation needs to be addressed by building a counter-narrative for the ongoing radicalisation.

There is a deficit of trust and governance in the valley. The mainstream political parties of J&K, at best, run with the hare and hunt with the hounds depending on the benches they occupy in the state assembly. If these parties wish to remain relevant in the valley, they will have to diligently work with the common people to regain the ground lost to the hardliner groups and terrorists. The onus of preserving Sufi Islam and Kashmiriyat lies squarely on the political parties and civil society. Regular dialogue with these parties and civil society is a must to fill the present political vacuum in the trouble-torn state. The state bureaucracy will have to ensure better sensitivity to the local concerns and respond with alacrity. It should appear to every Kashmiri that his voice is heard and that it counts.

The tempers in India are running high and that is evident from the electronic and social media debates and posts. All sorts of demands for quick retributive action ranging from war to blocking river waters have been made in this surcharged atmosphere. Questions have been raised about the tactical efficiency of the road opening party (ROP) and need to move such a large convoy. Intelligence agencies have also been questioned about their failure to provide specific information about this attack.

In all this cacophony, India including all the opposition parties has stood together transcending all differences. All that was visible through the grief when the mortal remains of the fallen heroes were received in Delhi was the cold anger and a steely resolve to give a befitting, measured and calculated response to this aggression on our democracy by the recalcitrant neighbour. India has kept all her options open to deploy the national power, be it economic, diplomatic or military, to deal with the rogue neighbour. The recent steps on these fronts and neutralisation of the JeM leadership in the valley in an operation within a week of the horrific car bombing indicate that India will not flinch from taking any hard decisions or actions.

The cowardly act of targeting innocent soldiers, the biggest ever strike in the last three decades in the valley is definitely a watershed moment that will impact and decide the future of Indo-Pak discourse and engagement.

Convoys for movement of troops is a necessity. Regular courier service to ferry them from Jammu to Kashmir is desirable which will help avoid the possibility of such attacks in the future. More precautions will be taken by the security forces when such convoys move.

In the meantime, security forces including CRPF remain engaged in dismantling Pakistan-sponsored terror machinery in the valley and the josh remains high.

(The author is an IPS officer who has served in the Kashmir valley. He is an alumnus of National Defence College. The views expressed are strictly personal)