CASO: The cause of alienation in Kashmir

The killings and carnages in Kashmir are though as old as is the armed uprising that erupted in 1989 but the frequency of civilian killings has increased almost hundred times since the unrest triggered by the killing of top Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen Command Burhan Wani in mid summer two years back. The Cordon & Search Operation (CASO) in presence of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) launched by police, paramilitaries and army under the PDP-BJP dispensation headed by Mehbooba Mufti has become as dangerous as was the anti-militancy operation carried out during the reign of erstwhile Farooq Abdullah led National Conference government (1996-2002) jointly by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu & Kashmir Police and the pro-government gun men most of whom had become part of government forces after quitting militancy. Government takes pride in its claim of killing largest number of militants in any calendar year during last year, i.e, 2017 but government does not ponder over the rising public anger which has now disconnected the mainstream political parties from the people at grass roots to the extent that government has been forced to defer the panchayat elections this year after countermanding parliamentary elections for the bye election to South Kashmir Lok Sabha seat last year. So the record numbers of militant killings have not brought Delhi closer to Kashmir but are deepening fast the crisis of alienation of youth in Kashmir. Interestingly on one hand the main stream political parties are getting disconnected from the people at the grass roots as fast as is the tendency of youth to throng encounter sites in the aftermath of the killing of militants and join militant ranks but on the other hand government continues with a failed experience like Cardon & Search Operation (CASO).
Even naives can understand that harassment done to people during Cordon & Search Operations (CASO) is deepening the crisis of alienation and increasing the tendency of youth to join violent street protests and militancy. What should be worrying for the government in the increasing tendency of youth to move from university and colleges campuses to militancy but even quitting Aligarah Muslim University and joining militancy by Manan Wani a research scholar of Aligarah Muslim University from frontier district Kupwara too has not woken up Mehbooba government in Kashmir and Modi government in Delhi from deep slumber. Killing civilians and dubbing them over ground workers (OGWs) not within hours but within minutes without conducting a proper investigation by impartial investigative agencies is a tendency that could take government in both Jammu & Kashmir and as well Delhi too far away from pragmatic courses of reconciliation. Time is running out and the situation emerging in Kashmir is still leaving some scope for the Jammu & Kashmir government and the Modi dispensation in Delhi to take some pragmatic measures for bringing back the youth of Kashmir from the path of death and destruction to centers of teaching learning processes. It is the time for both the central and state government to learn from the experiences of CASO and AFSPA and take some bold initiatives for reconciliation in Kashmir as otherwise it would be too late from them to win back the bleeding hearts of Kashmir.