Shyam Khosla

The night between August 1 and 2 was by far the bloodiest night of the decade-old terrorism that has caused havoc in J&K. The hollowness of the Administration's tall claims about adequate security to Amarnath Yatra was exposed as terrorists gunned down 22 pilgrims, including sadhus, women and children, at Pahalgam—the pilgrimage base camp—even as they were partaking of prasad at the langar. Six locals, two policemen and two terrorists also perished in the gun battle that followed. Within hours of the carnage at Pahalgam, heavily armed terrorists butchered 23 Hindus in two separate incidents in Doda district of Jammu.

Terrorists cordoned off Danmata and Kunda villages, lined up male Hindus and shot them dead. In these well-calibrated attacks, terrorists struck at far-off places in the State spreading mayhem in which more than 100 innocent and unarmed citizens lost their lives and scores of others were grievously injured. The ghastly killings have outraged the nation. It is for the first time since the eruption of cross-border terrorism in J&K that the terrorists have breached the security ring to attack the pilgrims visiting Amarnath cave. There are reports that the State Govt turned down Union Home Minister's suggestion that the army be deployed on the entire route of the yatra.

It was the J&K police which was given the task. The result is for everyone to see. (Unlike previous years, the army was not deployed in sufficient strength along the route of the Yatra). And this even as the Government claims that it knew that Pakistan-backed separatist groups and mercenaries would resort to violence to sabotage the “peace process”. Who is responsible for this serious security lapse? Has the Govt learned the right lesson? Intelligence agencies have claimed that they had forewarned the authorities about the possible escalation of terrorist violence in the State. Any person with a modicum of intelligence could have predicted this. Pakistan's response to the Prime Minister's bus diplomacy was Kargil and President Clinton's visit to India was greeted by Pakistan-backed terrorist groups with the massacre of Sikhs in the Valley.

There is nothing to show that the intelligence agencies gave any concrete information to the security forces. Was it not yet another failure on the part of the intelligence agencies? It is a measure of Hindu society's tolerance that the massacre of Hindus, particularly pilgrims, by Islamic fundamentalists has not generated any backlash. This should not mislead the Government to believe that the Hindu psyche has not been deeply hurt. The wounds inflicted on the Hindu psyche by Pakistan-supported terrorist gangs will take a long time to heal. But who cares? Merciless butchering of Hindu pilgrims does not disturb the secular brigade. They wake up only when someone belonging to the minority community is robbed or attacked by anti-social elements.

Their mission is to tarnish the image of Hindu organisations by accusing them of targeting minorities. For the secularists, there is no reason to get agitated over massacre of sadhus and pilgrims, innocent citizens and poor labourers. As for the motives behind these attacks, numerous theories have been propounded by political and security analysts. Terrorists and their Pakistani masters, it is said, have gone berserk over the prospects of peace returning to a state they had turned into a killing field. They are said to be upset over Hizbul Mujahideen's unilateral cease-fire and want to send strong signals that Hizb cannot deliver and that the Centre must talk to Islamabad and terrorist groups comprising of “jehadis” from Pakistan, Afghanistan and West Asia. The spate of killings during a single night, analysts point out, are meant to warn the supporters of Hizb that there would be severe reprisals. Last but not the least significant motive behind targeting Hindu pilgrims is to incite communal riots in the country and to drive out all Hindus from the State. Five members of the family of a surrendered militant were among those who perished in an inter-gang clash last week.

Authorities apprehend that in the event of Hizb standing by its offer of cease-fire and talks, inter-gang clashes will escalate. Hizb has been thrown out of the Pakistan-based United Jehadi Council and inter-gang rivalry is bound to trigger more bloodbaths in the State. Intelligence sources say terrorists indulging in inter-gang warfare tend to be in army fatigues to mislead the people. This is a well-rehearsed ploy to put the blame on the security forces and spread the canard that the army was behind gunning down “innocent people”. These allegations are then picked up, without verification by the so-called human rights groups, funded by foreign powers, to malign the security forces and the country. The security forces are in an unenviable position. They have no means to identify whether a terrorist group belongs to the Hizb that has declared cease-fire or any other outfit under the direct control of Islamabad. Repeated requests by army to Hizb cadres to identify themselves and to move to clearly marked out areas to avoid any clash between the security forces and the Hizb cadres have gone unheeded.

Under the circumstances, misunderstandings leading to unintended clashes cannot be ruled out. The security forces are severely handicapped in fighting terrorists in this complex situation. The Government says the bloodbath in J&K will not affect its efforts to establish contact with Hizb representatives to chalk out the modalities and set up a mechanism for talks for the implementation of the cease-fire. Postponing talks, the Government says, will amount to playing into Pak hands. The Opposition has accused the Government of failure to prevent the ghastly massacre of innocent people, including pilgrims, women and children. The people tend to agree with the Opposition on this count. How will the Government carry the nation with it on this hazardous path? No one can afford to ignore the fact that Hizb is blowing hot and cold in the same breath. While its Srinagar Commander, Abdul Majid Dar, has condemned the brutal killing of innocent and unarmed citizens and attributed these attacks to those who had “no love for the freedom of the people of the State and have used the movement to make ill-gotten money”, its leaders based in Pakistan have toed the Pakistani line to insinuate that the Indian army was behind this dirty work.

The Hurriyat too has demanded an enquiry into the series of carnage by an international agency. By implication, the Hurriyat leader are echoing the Pakistani lie that the Indian army had gunned down the pilgrims. We had pleaded with the Government to proceed with extreme caution in opening peace talks with Kashmiri separatists. The ghastly massacre of innocent citizens has underlined the need to be more vigilant and cautious in dealing with Pak-supported terrorist groups. Peace will return to the State only when New Delhi is in a position of strength to talk to its “misguided citizens”. India's sovereignty cannot be compromised. The Government should not be afraid of talking but it must appear talk out of fear or pressure from foreign powers. The security forces should be given a free hand to combat cross-border terrorism before the Government agrees to sit on the negotiating table with those who are itching for “azadi”.

Jagadguru Sri Sankaracharya Swamigal of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam had appealed to the people of Bharat, who are disturbed with the continous massacre of innocent people by the militants in Kashmir and particularly the incident on August 1,2000, when many people including pilgrims to the Amarnath cave were killed, to join together on August 7, at their respective places of worship and/or at a Siva Temple in their locality and conduct a mass prayer for five minuts to maintain communal harmony and peace, seek destruction of the evils that affect the country and that the departed souls rest in peace. International President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shri Ashok Singhal had also appealed to the people to join in.

Prime Minister’s message from Pahalgam rejecting the inclusion of Pakistan in the ongoing Kashmir talks has poured cold water over the hopes of Marxist politicians soft on Kashmir. The CPI-M has toed a liberal line of including Pakistan in the talks. Incidentally this is also the demand of pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen. The CPI(M)’s central committee had said that New Delhi’s stance of not talking to Pakistan until it stops cross-border terrorism completely, was not acceptable to the party. They held the opinion that India should hold talks with the military regime on issues of mutual concern. This line, however, was rejected by all the political parties including the CPI(M)’s own ally the CPI. It was demanded in the Parliament to take stern measures against the foreign mercenaries who had carried out killings in Kashmir. (FOC)