The recent anti-military operations conducted in South Kashmir will give the Indian Army plenty of reasons to feel satisfied, the main among them being that this should put a halt to militant operations for some time. But the good news will be tempered by the sobering fact that over 100 civilians were injured in these encounters ensuring that the continuing anger against the Army intensifies. Already protests have broken out and a complete shutdown has taken place in the Valley. What should disturb observers is that not only were there an extraordinarily high number of civilians being injured but that more and more people now seem to be willing to come between militants and security forces.

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The move has led to a hardening of attitudes by the Army and Security Forces which bodes ill for the future. Army officers have stated that they exercise maximum restraint but their priority will be to complete the operation. The fallout is not difficult to understand. The growing number of casualties will in turn led to anger and that anger will lead to more locals willing to put themselves in harm’s way, as is happening now. As a result, the Army and thus the rest of India may curb militancy but will slowly lose the battle to win over the hearts of Kashmiris.

So what can be done about this? Can we somehow persuade angry civilians to stop acting as ‘flash mobs’ and step away from the line of fire? Can we somehow persuade them to not see the militants as poster-boy heroes fighting for them? It is difficult but possible. Despite the television images and shared WhatsApp clips showing youth shouting anti-India slogans and more recently waving ISIS flags, there was an estimated 19,000 youth who registered for Army recruitment last year. This silver lining is something that all sections of society — security forces, politicians and the common man in Jammu and Kashmir need to build upon.

These young men should to an extent be used as ‘poster boys’ themselves with the Army repeatedly stressing to the people in J&K that through their hard work they are making the country proud and looking after their security. By constantly laying emphasis to this, the ‘otherness’ of the Army can be reduced and hopefully the hostility of the people can come down. This is as far as the Army is concerned. On the political front all the major political parties — despite their ideological differences — must make a joint appeal to the people to not support militancy or militants. They need to stress the fact that neither the police, nor the Army or the government is interested in harassing innocent citizens, they just want to end militancy.

The parties must also emphasise here that there is no glory in dying as poster-boy militant Burhan Wani did. On the contrary, by working with the government, supporting the security forces, their voices and views – whatever they may be – are more likely to be heard. There is nothing to be gained by waving ISIS flags and fanning terrorism. These steps are easier said than done and with the hardening of attitudes on both sides it will be tough to implement. But tentative steps need to be taken by all organs of the state. In fighting for Kashmir the security forces must remind Kashmiris that they are fighting for them too.