Killing of BJP leaders – a new trend in Kashmir

By Arun Joshi August is proving to be the cruellest month for the BJP leaders in Kashmir. On Tuesday night, terrorists killed a prominent BJP leader Javaid Ahmad Dar in  Kulgam district in south Kashmir This assassination took place close on heels of the killing of two leaders of the party Sarpanch  Ghulam Rasool Dar and his wife, a panch or Panchayat member, in Anantnag on August 9.  All the three were shot dead. In between on  August 12, a grenade was lobbed at the house of BJP leader Jasbir Singh in Rajouri, border town in Jammu region, in which a four-year child was killed, though it was clear that the real target was the party leader. Combined with one another these assassinations point out to the new trend of political killings in Kashmir to stop the march of the nationalist forces in Kashmir. Several such attacks have taken place in which the party leaders, especially those holding positions in Panchayats and block development councils, were killed.  BJP leaders are being targeted because they represent an ultra-nationalist ide that runs against the grain and training of militants to target anyone and anything that challenges them and their ways of spreading terror in the Valley. A unanimous view in the party is that all this being done at the behest of Pakistan. This amounts to two things, charging Pakistan with stoking troubles in Kashmir, secondly, it is a grim admission that Pakistan’s agencies use Kashmiri hands to kill the Indian nationalists. The BJP leaders are being specially chosen as targets as attacks on them makes big news for they belong to the country’s ruling party. This also underlines the ideological conflict that Islamic radicals are having with the saffron party at the political level.  Though it fits into the familiar pattern of militants going after the people representing  India and idea of India, but it is new because, of late, only BJP leaders have appeared on the hit list of the militants. The pattern of the political killings has its roots in terrorists’ designs to neutralize all pro-India forces. First political assassination had taken place on August 20, 1989, when the Jammu Kashmir Liberation  Front militants had killed a   functionary of the then ruling National Conference  Mohammad Yusuf Halwai. The NC leader had defied militants’ call to put off all the lights on the night of Independence Day, August 15, 1989. Since then, hundreds of political leaders, including ministers, legislators and party functionaries of almost all parties have been killed by militants. National Conference has suffered the most. “ We have strong inputs that  Pakistan-based terror groups, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizb-ul-Mujahadeen, would try to mount terror attacks all across  J&K,” Director General of police Dilbag Singh who is visiting various parts of the UT to review the situation shared his assessment with media. There is absolutely no doubt that Pakistan is active in stoking terrorism in  J&K  and one of the most favoured ways is to make the militants in Kashmir to kill the political leaders, especially those of the BJP, the party it blames for changing the demographic character of the Muslim majority Kashmir by abrogating Article 370 and 35A on  August 5, 2019.  Pakistan’ civilian and military leadership has made no bones about its intentions on this issue. Prime Minister Imran Khan and others have been calling on the Kashmiris to resist, which means activation of militants and directing them toward violence – by targeting convoys, hurling grenades in the crowded places, assassinating policemen and security personnel and killing of the political leaders. The violence in Kashmir serves Pakistan’s longstanding interests to project Kashmir as a. hot spot in the world that can trigger wider conflict. Pakistan has been incessantly making noises about  Kashmir being the nuclear flashpoint. The hype given by Pakistan in its media and also through cyberspace to anti-August 5, 2019 decisions of Government of India is also as a major factor for provocation. The BJP represents what all abrogation of the special status of J&K stands for. This is the new dimension that has made terrorists to target the saffron party leaders. About the Author: Arun Joshi is a senior journalist based in J&K. He has worked with Hindustan Times, Times of India, Indian Express, and The Tribune. He has authored “ Eyewitness Kashmir: Teetering on Nuclear War” and three other books. DISCLAIMER This is the personal opinion of the author. The views expressed in this write up have nothing to do with it.