In one of the deadliest terror attacks, 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and many others injured when terrorists targeted a convoy with a car bomb at Awantipora in Jammu & Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Thursday. Reportedly, it was a suicide attack by a terrorist belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed ramming his Mahindra Scorpio bearing more than 350 kgs of explosives into the convoy. As the whole nation erupted in collective anger, unfortunately the politicians started to politicize the incident. The blame game and cheap politics over martyred soldiers was avoidable on a day when the nation was mourning their killing.
The family members of the dead soldiers are yet to even see their bodies, but the politicians are using them to score brownie points against one another. The incident exposes intelligence failure. Also, it once again shows how soldiers operating in Kashmir carry out their duty in such difficult conditions. Successive governments have badly failed them. They make great sacrifices for the nation and carry out their duty with utmost sincerity. The sacrifice of the soldiers goes in vain as people keep joining terrorist organizations due to lack of political solution. The military professionally do their job of neutralizing the terrorists, but politicians fail them by never trying to bring a permanent solution to the Kashmir problem. As the whole nation mourns the incident, it is also time for serious introspection. No doubt an appropriate response should be given to the terrorists responsible for the massacre. There is also the need for a long-term solution to end the Kashmir conflict. This vicious cycle of death has to end for peace to return to the valley.