Kashmir killings, barbaric butchery

A Chilling reminder that the deep state of the Pakistani military, along with its intelligence agency, predominantly the ISI calls all the shots when it comes to terrorism in the Kashmir valley and beyond had unfortunately unfolded on the 22nd of April. Innocent civilians who were probably enjoying their hard-earned break, escaping the scorching Indian summer for some winter respite, were gunned down in cold blood in an act of disgraceful, naked, barbaric terrorism. However, there is a pattern as similar massacres took place when the United States of America President Bill Clinton was visiting India, an indigenous group of Sikhs in the Kashmir valley, where mercilessly hacked. During the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s landmark visit to Lahore, innocent civilians were also exterminated. With the serving United States Vice President Vince’s ongoing visit to India, the attack comes at a very critical juncture, and there are three vital aspects to this carnage.
In recent months, the serving Pakistan army chief, Asim Munir, has made several inflammatory statements citing the old mythical narrative of Kashmir being the jugular vein of Pakistan and unequivocal support of the two-nation theory, in which both the Hindu and the Muslim communities cannot live side by side together. In recent times Pakistan army has failed to stabilise the security situation inside Pakistan, and there have been violent acts of resistance and attacks, especially in the troubled region of Baluchistan and other parts of Kashmir like Gilgit.
The army has been losing its existential credibility as they gets a lion's share of the Pakistani GDP on the pretence and promise that they are the sole guardian and defenders of the entire country, including a long-cherished dream of unifying the Kashmir valley to the plains of Punjab. This attack has once again cemented the naive attempt to internationalise the Kashmir issue. With the present Trump administration giving a very low voltage of engagement with Pakistan, it may be a failed last-ditch attempt to make themselves relevant in the international equation.
Recently, India had got custody of one of the key conspirators and accused of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, TH Rana, a Canadian National who was in detention in the United States, had been handed over to India to face due process. Proscribed organisations like Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) with its mastermind Hafiz Sayed, are trying to gain their importance back when it comes to matters of international terrorism.
This attack also exposes the final ability and lack of security apparatus in the valley, where life had almost returned back to normal, and a huge amount of both domestic and foreign tourists were visiting the region, adding valuable revenue mechanisms to the locals. A black spot on the booming tourism front will definitely strike an economic blow in the entire region.
Lastly, there are also parallels which could be drawn from the infamous operation Searchlight in 1971 Dhaka, East Pakistan, where members of the minority communities were identified, singled out, and then shot at point blank as they were perceived supporters of the anti-Pakistan Bangladesh war of liberation. Innocent tourists were identified as the worst possible form of targeted terrorism and were exterminated in front of their loved ones.
If the Pakistani deep state and its non-state actors believe that by raising the Kashmir issue internationally, using the blood of innocents will certainly backfire. The terrorism in Kashmir is not an internal domestic dispute concerning India only, but has greater ramifications for the entire region and beyond. The free liberal western world should take cognizance and act with precision to ensure that all the streams feeding into the ocean of terrorism, which resonates from the deep state of Pakistan, must be effectively barraged. A very strong and stern response awaits them, something possibly which they have either not factored in or grossly overestimated.
 
Author, Priyajit Debsarkar