Though the recently militant and civilian killings have pushed the people of Kashmir in a state of shock and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti working in alliance with the BJP the party in power at the centre is crying over the demand for dialogue over Kashmir and reach out to the people shaken by the non stop killing of civilians but the Central government is not moving even an inch from its current policy on Kashmir revolving around “ operation all out” pursued by the government forces for last three years in the state. Chief Minister calling an all party meeting to discuss the situation developing in the backdrop of last week’s killings in Srinagar and Shopian with the leaders of the mainstream parties is a usual exercise initiated by almost every chief minister confronted with the challenges of street protests and gunfights with militants in populated areas but a call much awaited from New Delhi is unlikely to come even this time when the killing of one Assistant professor a day after joining militant ranks is dropping indications of a new phase of militancy erupting in Kashmir valley. In the aftermath of the 2016 unrest which continued for more than six months and resulted in the killing of more than one hundred civilian the central government though appointed former Director Intelligence Bureau (IB) Dineshwar Sharma and tasked him the job of political engagement in Kashmir but he restricted his engagements in Kashmir with the people not even remotely connected to the current crisis in Kashmir obviously for the reasons of not having a clear mandate and well defined road map to talk to the pro freedom leaders who challenge the state’s accession with the Union of India and seek a resolution of Kashmir issue outside the constitution of India. The silence of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the recent killings in Kashmir shows his unwillingness to respond to the cries of Kashmir even over the suspension of the “operation all out” which has not only resulted in the killing of record number of militants but also in the deaths of record number of civilian during last more than one and a half year in Kashmir.
By all standards of understandabilities the suspension of “operation all out” and the ban on pellet guns are the two concessions if allowed by the central government can stop the increasing intensity in the killing of civilians in Kashmir. So the solution does not lie in the Chief Minister’s All party meeting in Srinagar but her meeting with the Prime Minister and Home Minister in Delhi.
The concern is the use of lethal weapons in crowd control policing that results in the killing of civilians. For the last three years the central government is showing its unwillingness to concede the demand for the ban on the use of pellet guns with the contention that pellets are the least lethal weapons but keeping in view the recent unprecedented rise in the number of civilian killings the ban on use of pellet guns in crowd control policing is the obviously the one big reason for increasing intensity in the killing of civilians in Kashmir. By all standards of understandabilities the suspension of “operation all out” and the ban on pellet guns are the two concessions if allowed by the central government can stop the increasing intensity in the killing of civilians in Kashmir. So the solution does not lie in the Chief Minister’s All party meeting in Srinagar but her meeting with the Prime Minister and Home Minister in Delhi.
