Primary Role

Yashovardhan Azad

Come winter and Kashmir is transformed into a wonderland—silver and magical with snow-clad mountains and valleys, frozen rivers, icy wind in the conifers, frosty mornings and sipping of hot kahwah while warming around kangris in the mellowed apricot light of the afternoon. The ethereal beauty has stood the test of time despite the pain suffered by people from militant violence, killings of innocents and persistent attempts from across the border to destabilise the idyllic environs.

Each year has a macabre end. The tally of the dead among civilians, brave jawans and terrorists is compared with previous years in a heartless statistical exercise. And every new year is welcomed with trepidation by gauging infiltration numbers from across the border with the melting of snow and by counting the number of militants, overground workers and radicalised youth in the valley.

Since the army moved in 1989-90 to stem the sudden onslaught of terrorism, the state has never remained the same. A constant threat kept the forces on their toes and the people on the edge with internet shutdowns, mobile phone restrictions and circumscribed movements from time to time. The advent of terrorism in 1989-90 has scarred the landscape and the psyche of the people. The state has also been embroiled in various controversies—with an ineptitude local administration, ever increasing footprint of the security forces, opposition to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, alleged human rights violations and curbs on freedom.

A recurring theme of the protests from opposition leaders, activists, civil society has been withdrawal of the army from the Kashmir hinterland. With the government, army, central armed police forces (CAPF) and the state police publicising the consistent downward slide of violence, the rationale of maintaining its large size in the valley does need an explanation. As early as in December 2013, a prominent national daily had set off the debate by pitching strongly for the army’s withdrawal from Kashmir. Today the argument appears strengthened, after fears of an upsurge of violence following the creation of the union territories of J&K and Ladakh, and the abro