DNA Edit: Heart of the matter - At the frontier of the dispute, Kashmir is tense

In fast-moving events of the last 24 hours, the Kashmir Valley, tense at the best of times, has become a virtual fortress.

Business is down as people prefer to stay indoors, the deployment of extra para-military troops on the ground since Sunday, providing the extra edge of insecurity. With a virtual battle raging in their backyard, and aware that they are at the frontier of any serious disturbance, should a war or even a limited engagement break out, the anxiety of the people is understandable.

Adding to the tension and intrigue are orders issued to doctors to be present at their locations, leaves of government employees cancelled, directions to stock food grains at public distribution centres and a host of similar emergency measures, without assigning any specific reason.

If the situation in the urban areas is tense, districts near the Line of Control (LoC), particularly Poonch, are under heavy shelling by the Pakistani Army. Most locals have left for safer places. Residents living close to the Balakot sector, near Poonch, have moved out. It is important for both the central and state government, currently under Delhi rule, to assuage the fears of the citizenry. While it is true that it is Kashmir, which is at the centre of the dispute between the two warring South Asian neighbours, its people should not be held ransom to the vagaries of bilateral ties. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly said this week, the government’s fight is not against the people of Kashmir but against terror. If anything, this is the right time to win the confidence of the people, who have faced bitter alienation. Given the circumstances of the Pulwama attack and the involvement of local Kashmiris in the killing of 40 CRPF men, it probably looks a difficult proposition at this stage when tensions are running high, but it is never too late to try.