DNA Edit: Guns and roses

In the last three years, Kashmir witnessed a palpable surge in terrorism-related activities and a corresponding rise in Indian Army operations. The year 2017 had been particularly fraught, with security forces killing 203 militants till December 10.

The figures furnished by MoS for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir in Lok Sabha last month showed militancy claimed the lives of 37 civilians and 75 Indian soldiers in 2017. These numbers are crucial to the understanding of Kashmir’s predicament where innocent people and misguided youth are being sucked into the vortex of violence.

When PDP MLA Aijaz Ahmad Mir calls Kashmiri militants “our brothers” and those killed “martyrs”, and expresses sorrow over the death of security personnel, it only serves to rub salt on the wounds of those who have had to pay a heavy price for extremism. What is also astonishing is the BJP’s silence over Mir’s pronouncements.

The saffron party is part of the ruling combine in the state, even though the health of the alliance doesn’t appear too rosy. Mir, who hails from Wachi, an area where militancy is rife, has witnessed, along with thousands of other Kashmiris, the tremendous collateral damage the state has had to endure.

This loss of lives is the handiwork of Pakistani Army regulars and non-state actors who have tapped into the disenchantment of the youth by supplying them arms and offering them training. True, the local militants are Kashmiris, hence citizens of India, but so are the many Army personnel from different parts of the country who laid down their lives to contain militancy.

Mir’s idea of a peace process includes roping in militants, but India shouldn’t encourage separatist elements who attach more value to Islamabad’s empty assurances than New Delhi’s humanitarian gestures. The BJP should take strong exceptions to Mir’s unsolicited advice.

The party should make it brutally clear to Mir that there can’t be any compromise with either militants or Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. It’s heartening to know that in her appeal to the state’s youth not to pick up arms, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has said whatever the people of Jammu and Kashmir would get, they would get it only from India and nowhere else.

Her faith in the Indian Constitution and in the special constitution of J&K will definitely give a fillip to the peace process. There have been concerted attempts by the BJP-led Centre to integrate Kashmir into the mainstream, including dropping 4,500 cases against youths involved in stone pelting for the first time.

There is also increased participation of Kashmiri youth in the civil services. All these are positive signs. However, at the same time, leaders like Mir should also be told in no uncertain terms that playing to the gallery won’t be of any use.

One must never equate a terrorist’s killing with the death of a policeman or a security personnel who sacrifices his life to defend the state and public. Mir must remember that a lasting peace solution can only come about when Pakistan stops peddling terror and removes itself from the Kashmir imbroglio. When tensions along the border rise, peace bleeds from bullet wounds.