{"id":174793,"date":"2021-10-23T02:27:28","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T20:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/?p=174793"},"modified":"2021-10-23T02:27:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T20:57:28","slug":"jk-strategy-needs-rethink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/2021\/10\/23\/jk-strategy-needs-rethink\/","title":{"rendered":"J&K strategy needs rethink"},"content":{"rendered":"

Civilian Killings<\/strong>
\nBy Insaf<\/strong><\/p>\n

North block should be in a bind viz its strategy on Kashmir. Civilian killings, migrant workers leaving the Valley, an exodus of dozens of families, including Kashmiri Pandits who had returned after getting jobs under the Special Scheme for Kashmiri migrants, clearly reveals that return of normalcy is a far cry. Shifting migrant workers to safe places or providing security in their areas is not an answer. According to reports there are 3 lakh-odd migrant workers in the Valley, mostly engaged by locals in private construction works, paddy and apple harvesting. The nagging fear among workers of now being targeted should make Raj Bhavan and Home Ministry rethink on its so-called development agenda. With another two non-locals killed on Sunday last, the tally of civilians killed is 11 this month, of the 28 this year so far. Worse, if these attacks persist, which weren\u2019t seen during peak of militancy in 1990-2001, the outside work force will have no option but to leave, no matter the promises of safety being made.
\nTweaking of strategy is critical as security agencies are gradually realising the shift in approach by militants who now target civilians, particularly members of minority community. It is realised by the police that the killings are being carried out by newly-recruited terrorists or those about to join the ranks, using pistols and this is attributed to \u201cfrustration of terrorist handlers\u201d following a destruction of their support structures. Majority of the killings are being carried out under banner of \u201cThe Resistance Front, although the militants involved in the incidents belong to Hizb and Lashkar.\u201d The bid to communalise the Valley is underway, which needs deft handling, as the message from the targeted killing is crystal clear: Pandits and outsiders are not welcome and it\u2019s a fight for the rights of local residents. What is the way ahead. Home Minister Amit Shah has held security review meeting with top RAW, NIA and Intelligence Bureau officers; political parties are demanding restoration of statehood and an elected government and LG Manoj Sinha has stated: We\u2019ll hunt down terrorists, their sympathisers and avenge every drop of innocent civilian\u2019s blood\u2026 We remain committed to fast-paced development and will endeavour to build a prosperous and peaceful UT of J&K.\u201d Easier said than done. Action not mere words is critical.<\/p>\n

MP Communally Charged
\nMadhya Pradesh is getting a notorious reputation of becoming increasingly communally charged. This week saw the police trying to restore order in some districts following clashes between two groups and Home Minister Narottam Mishra having to elaborate that four persons were arrested, five detained and cases registered against over 100 people. On Tuesday last, in Dhar city, a dispute arose after members of a processionon occasion of Milad-un-Nabi, deviated from the permitted route; in Rajpur town of Barwani, a clasherupted over \u2018objectionable\u2019 song being played during a religious procession, and some people including a police officer were injured in stone-pelting; in Jabalpur, police had to lathi-charge and lob teargas shells after some persons threw firecrackers and stones at them while gathering for prayers to mark Milad-un-Nabi. And though Mishra said the police are on alert and monitoring the situation, communal violence broke out again on Wednesday night in Sendhwa town, Barwani, over a brawl during a Garba programme, following presence of members of different community. Over15 persons, including four policemen were hurt and at least two vehicles damaged, plus a case was registered against a mob of local residents, which attacked the cops for stopping it from vandalising a place of worship. Recall, the VHP hasthrough posters outside Garba venues warned: \u201centry of non-Hindus is prohibited\u201d across 56 pandals, as it claims \u201cnon-Hindu men indulge in objectionable activities.\u201d Provocation? The administration will do well to remember \u2018a stitch in time saves nine.\u2019<\/p>\n

UP Dragging Its Feet
\nWill Uttar Pradesh stop dragging its feet and act? Or will Yogi Adityanath government continue to be tenacious? Signs of exasperation appeared on Wednesday lastwith a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, seeking details of recording of witnesses\u2019 statements in the dastardly Lakhimpur Khiri case, in which 8 people died. Shockingly, of 44 witnesses only four\u2019s statement had been recorded so far\u2014 over two weeks since the incident! Prompting the CJI to observe it can\u2019t be an \u2018unending story\u2019 and his colleague saying \u201cWe think you are dragging your feet. So please dispel that impression.\u201d Obviously, the government counsel\u2019s explanation that courts were closed on account of Dussehra;there were several video clips which needed more asking; everybody was arrested (10 persons including the minister\u2019s son Ashish Mishra) and a status report had been filed in a \u2018sealed cover\u2019, didn\u2019t cut much ice with the bench. It\u2019s concern was with the FIR regarding farmers\u2019 death and not the counter FIR on those who drove the vehicles which ploughed into the farmers were lynched. Besides, it sought arrangements for witness protection as some could be \u2018browbeaten.\u2019 The government has a week\u2019s time to complete the process. Will it, is anybody\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n

Targeting Christians
\nHate crimes against Christians are growing in 21 States, particularly north India, in past nine months. A fact-finding report \u2018Christians under attack in India\u2019, by Association of Protection of Civil Rights, United Christian Forum and United against Hatereleased on Thursday last documents that of 305 incidents of violence against Christians, Jharkhand, UP, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh recorded 169, with Karnataka adding 32. The hate crimes seem to be increasingly compounded by rallies\/slogans against the community based on fears or anxiety over \u2018religious conversions\u2019: October 3, over 200 unidentified persons, belonging to local right-wing groups,\u00a0vandalised a church in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, attacked those assembled for Sunday prayers; October 10, UP police in Mau district arrested several people following complaints from a Hindutva group; earlier this week in Karnataka Hubali district, Bajrang Dal and VHP members entered a church singing bhajans; alocal BJP MLA blocked a highway demanding the pastor\u2019s arrest; August 29, a group of over 100 people\u00a0allegedly beat up a 25-year-old pastor at his house in a remote village in\u00a0Chhattisgarh\u2019s Kabirdham district, etc. Time for North Block to protect India\u2019s secularism and not be like an ostrich buried with its head in the sand.<\/p>\n

Bollywood Drug Drama
\nMaharashtra\u2019s Bollywood gets national attention. With superstar Shah Rukh Khan\u2019s son\u2019s Aryan arrested by the NCB, among 20 others, though he was not in possession of any drugs, and his bail petition turned down by a Mumbai sessions court on Wednesday last has raised a number of questions. More so as the judge observed \u201con the face of it\u201d, Aryan was indulging in \u201cillicit drug activities on a regular basis\u201d and his WhatsApp chats also showed, prima facie, that he was in touch with drug peddlers. But most questions emanate from NCP leader and Minister Nawab Malik, who on Thursday demanded to know what was the NCB\u2019s Mumbai region chief Sameer Wankhede doing in Dubai and the Maldives with his family during the pandemic lockdown and threatened him with jail for \u201cconcocting drug cases against Bollywood personalities\u201d. He claimed on Thursday last: \u201cIt\u2019s very clear all this \u2018vasuli\u2019 (extortion) took place in Maldives and Dubai. I am releasing those photos. What was he doing in Maldives-Dubai, he must answer.\u201d While photos are awaited, the message that goes out is that attempts were being made to implicate certain film folks in fake cases and parade them before the NCB. The war between NCP and NCB is another addition to the drama, and will be watched for the climax. \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n

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Civilian Killings By Insaf North block should be in a bind viz its strategy on Kashmir. Civilian killings, migrant workers leaving the Valley, an exodus of dozens of families, including Kashmiri Pandits who had returned after getting jobs under the Special Scheme for Kashmiri migrants, clearly reveals that return of normalcy is a far cry. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-174793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174793\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}