Kishtwar violence: Not separatists, political alienation is the real problem

Is the violence in Kishtwar an inter-community clash or is it a calculated ethnic cleansing backed by the separatists?

Noted activist and lawyer Shabnam Lone rejected BJP’s claim that the situation in Kishtwar was a repeat of the situation in 1990 - when large scale forced migration of Kashmiri Pundits took place. She said, “No ethnic cleansing is happening and this is a gross exaggeration.”

Speaking to CNN-IBN, she said, “Kashmir has never been a ’normal’ state. So some people with flags(people were allegedly carrying LeT and Pakistani flags) is a normal occurrence. It is nothing new - That does not mean that you indulge in violence.”

She also denied Arun Jaitley’s claim that separatist groups were targetting Hindus in the valley. “This has been a state of loot, loot and loot. Separatists elements have been there in the state since 1947. Once the politicians don’t deliver they put all the blame on the separatists.”

However, Shabnam Lone did agree with the BJP that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah had failed the state completely. “Yes, it is completely true that Omar and Farooq Abdullah treat Jammu and Kashmir like their personal property.”

Praveen Swami, National Security Analyst for Firstpost.com and CNN-IBN, said, “Jammu region has a long history of violence and political parties including National Conference has cashed in on it some time or the other.” In an earlier article in Firstpost he noted how a small feud during a football match between young boys in Rajouri snowballed into a fight and ultimately resulted in the death of four people.

“This whole region flares up easily. Kishtwar and Rajouri have had incidents like this before. In times like this when the violence is much less than that has been witnessed earlier the politicans could have aided the process of reconciliation. Unfortunately they have let us down once again,” he added.