J&K: Sectarian Killings Point To A New Terror Agenda
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-10-08 04:00:56
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
In a ghastly incident that confirmed that terrorists in J&K have changed tack and are now indulging in sectarian killings which point to an agenda of ethnic cleansing, a Sikh school principal and a Pandit teacher were killed in the Eidgah locality of Srinagar on Thursday as gun-toting militants barged in and demanded to see their IDs. Earlier, when terror strikes were made, it was to create fear in general and it did not bother the groups who were killed. But now, they are targeting and killing non-Muslims.
In the incident at Sangam Eidgah Boys' Higher Secondary School in Srinagar, it was clear that the three gun-wielding terrorists had come with the sole purpose of identifying and killing non-Muslims. They verified the IDs of everyone and then singled out principal Supinder Kaur and teacher Deepak Chand and shot them dead.
This is a dangerous new agenda that is likely to cause upheaval in J&K. On the one hand, it will win sympathy for the terrorists who will play on the fear of the Kashmiri Muslims that post the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A, they will be swamped by non-Muslims from mainland India who will now be able to buy their land and on the other, turn the Kashmiri Muslims against non-Muslims who have been residing in the state for ages. Some of these Kashmiri Muslims might even turn informers for the terrorists. If things go out of hand, it might also start an exodus of non-Muslims from the UT, which is what the terrorists are aiming for.
There is no easy solution to the problem. Despite the presence of a huge number of security personnel in the UT, it is practically impossible to provide individual security to each and every non-Muslim in the UT. The administration will have to think out of the box and tackle the menace through a mix of political initiatives like completing the delimitation exercise and holding elections, community meetings, educating the people about the real changes in land laws and bringing good informers on board who can give prior information of the evil designs of terror groups.
