SOURCE: TIMES NOW
Increase of Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP’s) footprints in Kashmir Valley has led rattled Pakistan and it’s proxies to train their guns on unarmed sarpanches and other grass root level workers. During the last 48 hours, two BJP sarpanches have been targeted by Pakistan sponsored terrorists.
On Thursday morning, Sajjad Khandey (45), BJP sarpanch, was hit from point-blank range by terrorists outside his residence in Qazigund’s, Vessu area in south Kashmir. Khandey succumbed to his injuries while on way to hospital. This is the second terror attack on a BJP sarpanch. Two days back, terrorists had sprayed bullets on another BJP sarpanch, Arif Ahmad, in Kulgam area. However, he survived.
“Such acts of cowardice by Pakistan sponsored terrorists will not scare us. It will further strengthen our resolve to work for the development of people of Kashmir,” said Sofi Yousuf, senior BJP leader and in charge of South Kashmir constituency.
Why BJP leaders on terror hit list?
The idea behind these targetted killings is to scuttle Modi government’s 3D approach – Dialogue, Development and Democracy – aimed to transform Valley into Naya Kashmir. By killing BJP sarpanches, terror outfits in the valley are trying to prevent BJP from making inroads into Kashmir.
Trigger happy terrorists by carrying out targeted killings are trying to generate fear psychosis among BJP workers to prevent their participation in grass root level democracy and development initiatives taken by Modi govt in Kashmir.
“Pace at which BJP is growing in Kashmir valley has perturbed people sitting across the border. Pakistan and its proxy fear that in the coming months hardly any space will be left available for separatist elements and their sympathisers within the mainstream political parties,’’ said Yudhvir Sethi, vice president BJP.
Since abrogation of Article 370, BJP is the only party that has been able to consolidate its organisational structure. More than 2.5 lakh people have joined BJP in Kashmir during the membership drive launched by the party.
Pakistan wants to nip lotus in bud before it blooms and makes its presence felt everywhere in Valley. One year down the line, even Kashmir centric political parties are wary of BJP’s growth in Valley. They feel that by keeping most of the political party leaders under detention, BJP got enough time to carve space for itself.
Senior PDP leader Nayeem Akhtar, during his recent interview after release to one of the media house, described BJP’s Kashmir policy as the foundation stone of Hindu Rashtra. Terming the Muslim residents of Jammu and Kashmir as ‘the most powerless citizens’ of India, Akhtar said that the BJP’s project is to turn J&K into a Hindu majority state from where no Muslim chief minister can be elected.
A few days back, Pakistan sponsored terrorist group ‘The Resistance Front’ (TRF) – a proxy of Lashkar- e- Toiba – had taken responsibility for the assassination of Kashmiri Pandit sarpanch, Ajay Pandita Bharti in South Kashmir. TRF had issued a statement in which it had warned that no ‘political stooge’ who stands with ‘occupational regime’ will be spared.
Khanday is the third sarpanch to be killed by terrorists in south Kashmir ever since the panchayat polls in December 2018. In November last year, militants killed Sarpanch Rafi Ahmad. Another sarpanch Ajay Pandita was killed in June this year.
The attacks on the sarpanches have intensified in the run-up to a high-profile function of the representatives of Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) and Urban Local Bodies (ULB) in Srinagar scheduled for August 10.
For almost one-and-a-half-year now, the Centre, the then state administration and now the UT administration has been showcasing the panchayat elections as one of their major accomplishments in Jammu and Kashmir and a way forward for the development of the Union Territory.
The Centre has even pushed the local administration to take the process forward and even under the most challenging circumstances, the polls for the second tier of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) – the Block Development Council (BDC) – were conducted in October last year.
‘’Pakistan cannot see normalcy in Kashmir. To keep a pot of terrorism boiling they are resorting to such cowardly tactics. But people of Kashmir have always shown faith in democracy. Nothing is going to deter them from taking part in political activities,’’ said Kavinder Gupta, former Deputy Chief Minister.
ISI Game Plan to target Democracy and Development in Kashmir
Pakistan has been trying to ramp up terrorism in the valley since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 last year. They have tried to rake up issue in the United Nations (UN) with no support from the international community. Even their efforts to instigate Kashmiris to come out on streets to protest against New Delhi’s step to reorganise the state of J&K has failed.
Desperate Pakistan is, therefore, resorting to age-old tactics of using its proxies to scuttle peace in the region to make their presence felt. Pakistan’s spy agency has been in cahoots with terror commanders operating in Kashmir Valley to activate its terror network in an effort to disrupt peace in the Kashmir valley.
Two days back during a core group meeting that was chaired by GOC 15 Corps Lt Gen BS Raju and co-chaired by DGP Dilbagh Singh, discussed intel inputs indicating desperation in Pakistani establishment and separatists to generate violence and civil casualties in the valley.
During the meeting, senior officers maintained that security forces have to wary of attacks on political workers like sarpanches, on soldiers on leave and IED attacks and attacks on isolated posts or patrols.
As per inputs Pakistan’s spy agency ISI has ordered the terrorist outfits operating in the Valley to target policemen and sarpanches. The recent anti-terror operations conducted by the security forces have almost decimated the terror network. More than 150 terrorists have been eliminated during the last six months, breaking the backbone of terror aided and abetted by Pakistan.
To revive their terror-related activities, plan to target sarpanches was made few months during a meeting between ISI officers and terror commanders from Jaish and Lashkar-e-Toiba in Pakistan occupied Kashmir’s Nikiyaal Sector. The meeting was attended by Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Ashfaq Barwaal, Yusuf Qari and Jais-e-Mohammad terrorists Rahman Khan.
In the meeting, the terrorists were asked to prepare a hit-list of the name of sarpanches. Despite boycott calls by Pakistan sponsored terror outfits, these sarpanches had taken part in the election process. They had openly defied the terrorists’ orders to boycott the election. But plan to target these grass root level workers could not be implemented earlier because of the elimination of several of top commanders by security forces during counter-terror operation.
These setbacks at the hands of security forces led terror commanders to change their strategy. Mentors sitting across borders have instructed their cadre to avoid direct confrontation with security forces. Instead, they have been asked to go for soft targets to send a message loud and clear that they are very much around.
However, huge gathering during the funeral procession of BJP sarpanch Sajjad Khandey has made it clear that Pakistani bullets will snuff out lives of innocent Kashmiris, but will fail to shatter their strong resolve and determination for carving peaceful and prosperous Kashmir.
