GK declares old journalism degree is dead: Will it’s 4-month course turn the tide?

 inam ul rehman

 

On April 22, I was with my colleagues in the interiors of Kupwara shooting a documentary. From 9am to 4:30pm we shot nonstop, not even taking a tea, lunch, or loo break. We got exhausted and decided to pack up, as is our wont we switched to social media to see what was happening around. 

 

One of my colleagues informed me that a grenade attack had taken place in the tourist resort of Pahalgam, resulting in many injuries. We were hungry and didn’t pay much heed to it. As we were busy locating a place where we could have lunch-cum-supper, we had to travel a further half an hour to finally zero in on a roadside dhaba. 

 

After satiating our hunger, we logged into our social media and were shell shocked to find out 26 tourists had been murdered by militants! For a moment, we all looked at each other in askance. Not knowing what to say. We quietly boarded our vehicle. 

It was the driver of our hired vehicle who broached the topic.

 

“I think, sir,” said he, “this attack has been carried out by Himachal Pradesh agencies. Since most tourists are coming to Kashmir, it has rattled and dented their business.” 

 

I smiled at him. It was not the first time I was hearing such conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories in conflict areas abound. So let me start with conspiracy theories that are running in Kashmir with regard to the dastardly Pahalgam attack.

  

 

Inside job/ false flag?

 

It is the first thing that many Kashmiris say. Question them why? Because Modi wants to finish us, is their refrain! From the past 6 years the BJP has been beating the drum of normalcy in Kashmir and having virtually defeated insurgency. Then how come this attack would benefit it? No answers. 

Even a single civilian killing in Kashmir sends the BJP in a tizzy.  It perforates their zero-militancy narrative. Then how could it be an inside job?

 

The BJP government has presented itself as a muscular Hindu party which protects the majority. This dastardly attack has greatly dented its image of not being able to protect the very people for whom it gives such a hard posturing.   

 

In democracies, particularly where institutions are strong, it is very, very difficult to carry out false flag operations, as people involved in it can always be found out. Take the 2020 case of three youth from Rajouri district killed in a fake encounter in south Kashmir's Amshipora. It didn’t remain clouded. Army Captain Dismissed for Killing 3 Civilians in Fake Encounter – NDTV. Or 2006 fake encounter deaths Police Probes Fake Encounters in J&K – Hindustan Times

 

 

A ploy to deny statehood?

 

The BJP does not need to carry out such attacks to deny statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Statehood is not dependent on these things. New Delhi is still a union territory no matter which government runs it. Only people’s protest will force the BJP government to give the state status back. However, it seems most people are content with the UT status of Jammu and Kashmir. Average people in Jammu and Kashmir are not demanding the status of state. They seem to be content with this diarchy.   

 

Militants didn’t kill them?

 

Another argument: militants are fighting for a cause and cannot do it! A trained militant is trained to do maximum damage by firing minimum bullets. His training is to create fear among enemies and support among the population he is fighting for. 

 

Before 2019, militants would rarely kill civilians coming from outside Kashmir. After the reading down of the Article 370, and 35A, with the BJP government declaring end of insurgency, it became an event even if a single person was killed in Kashmir.  The Indian media was quick to take up this issue and broadcast hours of transmission on these acts.

 

Pro-Pakistan militants have fired on Amarnath pilgrims in the past. Even in the early 90s pro-Pakistan militants threatened pilgrims not to come to Kashmir which, however, rebounded on them and resulted in thousands of Hindu pilgrims coming to the Amarnath pilgrimage. 

Militants involved in killing of these civilians took a similar pattern as was witnessed in Jaffar express case in Balochistan, Pakistan, wherein militants checked identity cards and then shot dead many non-Balochis Jaffar Express Attack: Militants Kill Non-Balochis – BBC

 

We have seen in the past 35 years that militants have killed civilians in plenty. Only when they sense people’s anger do militant organisations deny their involvement. Case in point is the 2001 assembly blasts in Srinagar, killing of Mirwaiz Farooq, Abdul Gani Lone, Hurriyat Conference (G) leader Mir Hafizullah, and many hundred militants killed in fratricide killings, and civilians, et al. 

 

A trained militant is always trained to inflict maximum damage with minimum bullets. This dastardly attack, while puncturing the government’s claim of insurgency being finished, has successfully demonstrated that militants can also manipulate psychology.   With this attack, pro-Pakistan militants achieved two targets: one, to avenge the killings of civilians in Jaffar express of Balochistan which Pakistan blames on India.  

Pakistan Blames India Again for Baloch Terror Attacks – Times of India. Second, to use this attack to create Hindu-Muslim fissures in mainland India where already chasm exists between the two communities.

 

 

 

Is this shutdown a turning point?

 

The next day, there was a strike against this dastardly attack. For the first time in the Kashmir insurgency, an organic strike was observed against such an attack. It hasn’t happened in the past. Kashmir has never shut on the killings of outsiders. Many people came on their own to protest against this dastardly attack. 

 

This strike also shows that people, while having genuine concern on demographic changes, are not going to tolerate the killing of civilians not involved in it.   

 

It is for certain that the militants involved in these killings will never release their body cam footage. This organic strike has dented not only militants but Pakistan as well. This organic shutdown will make it tougher for militants to target non-Kashmiri civilians again. It also signifies assertion of universal humanistic values, separating the Kashmir cause from violent methods, and may prove a crucial inflection point. 

 

In fact, it is the biggest win for the state of India that Kashmiris on their own shut down against this heinous crime.  

 

Modi caught in his own muscular image?

 

Ever since Narendra Modi publicized surgical strikes and Balakot attack, the public expectation to teach Pakistan a lesson for years to come has reached a crescendo. The media noise will not let him do what diplomacy can do. Instead, the media houses want him to declare something spectacular which is not less than a war. He is now caught in his own muscular image where he cannot diplomatically do more damage to Pakistan.

 

But war, as it seems, is out of question. Pakistani people are conservative, but the state and its army are equipped with modern warfare. If superpower Russia is unable to defeat Ukraine from the past three years, the Indian state is intelligent enough to realise the futility of the war against an equally matched adversary.    

However, the state of India may use water as a strong deterrent in the future, which will quell any thoughts of major attacks by pro-Pakistan elements in Jammu and Kashmir.