The cessation of anti-militancy operations in Kashmir during Ramzan is like a lid put on the worsening situation which can get out of hand any time. The step has been taken by an otherwise indifferent Modi regime which let civilians be killed in anti-militancy operations just before Ramzan, thereby worsening the security situation in Kashmir.

Worshippers and security forces clash in Downtown Srinagar

Today’s Kashmir is different from that of the Nineties when militancy broke out here. The challenge for troops and government is not the militancy so much but the growing anger among the people here. No doubt the number of militants is a couple of hundreds, down from thousands in those days, but there is much anger among youth.

The military acted as a deterrent for the youth then but for the present generation, who has grown up in conflict-ridden times, it no longer scares them. These days every youngster in Kashmir with a stone in hand is more deadly than a militant, and they take on security forces to disrupt the anti-militancy operations.

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his recent visit to Kashmir, acknowledged that every stone and weapon raised by ‘misguided’ youth destabilises Jammu and Kashmir and the country. “The State will have to come out of this atmosphere of instability,” he said.

Recently, six civilians and five militants were killed in a Shopian village after security forces trapped a group of militants in a house. In large numbers the youth armed with stones, without caring for their lives amid flowing bullets and bombs, attacked security forces. To eliminate six militants, the troops killed six civilians and over 50 were injured in the process.

This is not an isolated incident; this is common during every anti-militancy operation in Kashmir which has become a major challenge for the security forces and has resulted in collateral damage. The killing and injury to civilians has put the government in a dock. Under such circumstances the military approach, as has been the policy of the Modi regime, is backfiring. After all, how long can troops use force against civil population who confront them on a daily basis.