It was long due, but finally Ban on JKLF & Jamat-e-Islami is a great move
| 23-Mar-2019 |
written by Sandeep Kumar, a research scholar
Although Kashmir has been hot on security and political from a long time now, but since 1989 the Pakistan-sponsored and abetted gun culture has spoiled the age-old peaceful coexistence and tranquil life on this land of sufis and rishis. The advent of radical ideologies, and their explosive connect with a large sections of the young lot, post 2000 has been worrying. The situation aggravated post 2008, and reached to explosive levels after the killing of Burhan Wani in 2016. Although Central Government and its security and intelligence agencies were seized of the matter, and quite a sizable number of strategies were adopted to wean off the impact of radical ideologies on the minds of impacted youth. Such efforts couldn't bore fruits as expected and required because of the complicity of successive governments who allowed the separatist and their supporters to have a strong influence on the mindscape of the people of Kashmir.
Kashmir-based two mainstream political parties, National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party, have to share a huge responsibility for the prevailing security situation in Kashmir. The way both Omar and Mehbooba during their respective tenures as head of the governments allowed the funerals of militants to turn into a spectacle of holy accomplishment by letting thousands of people converge could be counted as a big compromise on security by these two leaders.
In this context the crackdown on the extremist forces and ban on Jamat-e-Islami in Kashmir is a welcome step. Acting tough on separatists and other fundamentalists and extremists including Jamat will surely help in containing the situation in restive Valley.
Since February 28, when Centre announced that it was banning the Jamat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir for five years under anti-terror law on grounds that it was in close touch with militant outfits and is expected to escalate secessionist movement in the state, a strong message has gone to both the extremist forces and their handlers in Pakistan that India is not going to be soft anymore on terrorists, their sympathizers and supporters. The notification banning Jamat-e-Islami under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs after a high-level meeting on security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This decision, which came barely a few days after the Jammu and Kashmir Police had arrested around 100 cadres of the Jamat in the state, was a long pending one which could have come much earlier. But nevertheless it has began to show its results. The incidents of stone pelting have come down, and a fear of the law could be seen to have engulfed these separatists and extremists that they can't carry on with their nefarious designs of vitiating peace in the state and continue to sowing seeds of secession in Valley anymore as freely as they were before February 28. There is no doubt that Jamaat has been indulging in activities intended to disrupt the territorial integrity of India.
I would like to pay my tributes to the brave soldiers of CRPF who were martyred in February 14 terrorist attack in Pulwama, which forced the Government of India, to think and act tough for the interest of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and of larger interest of nation, of which J&K is a proud part and will always be. Hope the toughness has persistence with it, so that a dawn of peace engulfs Kashmir no sooner than later.