Militancy in Kashmir is on the Run: Senior Advocate & Chairman Kashmir Policy & Strategy Group, Ashok Bhan

New Delhi, 28 June 2022: Speaking with the Kashmiri law students on line today, Supreme Court Senior Advocate & Chairman Kashmir (Policy & Strategy) Group, Ashok Bhan said, “the militancy in Kashmir is on the run, for the reasons that the militants are targeting innocent and unarmed civilians and lost the courage and ability to majorly involve with security forces. The security ecosystem in place is very alert and robust that the breed of so-called hybrid militants indulge in cowardice acts of killing unarmed innocents.”

The civil society and political class like a welcome statement and appeal Ms Mehbooba Mufti did recently should exert and uninterruptedly appeal to these young gun toting youngsters across the board to drop their guns and join the mainstream socio-cultural life and be good citizens. This is the high time for these militants to save their lives otherwise zero tolerance for militancy and all-out cleaning operations launched shortened their lives, he said.

Bhan also highlighted that the brutal killings of the innocent are against the tenets of all religions and particularly Islam (whoever kills a soul, it is as if he had slain the entire mankind, And whoever saves one, it is as if he saved mankind entirely).

There is no room for this madness of killing innocent people the Kashmiri society is sick of continued violence as was observed recently. Kashmiri Muslims came forward to raise their voice against ‘targeted killings. There was a protest at Lal Chowk, Srinagar against targeted killings. The Grand Mufti of Kashmir Valley said, he condemns the killing of innocent persons. Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam said, Kashmiri Pandits or Dogra Hindus are an inviolable part of Kashmir and Kashmiriyat, and they should not be allowed to leave the Valley. “The Muslims of Kashmir are with their Pandit brothers”, he said.

The imam of Anantnag mosque said after Friday prayers that “killing of innocents cannot be termed as jihad”. “If some people think that a Musalman is doing jihad by attacking minorities, then I oppose such acts. Islam has not allowed such jihad where minorities are killed because of their religion”, the imam said. He appealed to all Kashmiri Muslims to come out and protest such killings

Mirwaiz Molvi Omar Farooq as the Chief religious leader has been time and again asking the gun-toting youngsters to shun the gun and help in ushering in the peace process. He has been always a votary of the revival of the plural ethos of Kashmiriyat and returns of Kashmiri Pandits back to their homeland.

While talking about the historic significance of Kashmir, he said that Kashmir has a rich heritage and that dates back to more than five thousand years. It was from the 14th Century and the advent of foreign rule and their policies of intolerance and rapid decline of intellectual pursuits seeped into Kashmir. The tyrant rulers decimated the intellectual potential in Kashmir. Kashmiri youth has to live up to their rich heritage and not lose their lives in Militancy for nothing. They should be made conscious by elders that they wittingly or forcibly volunteer to get killed in a short span and that causes devastating lifelong agony to their parents and family.

The youth of Kashmir live, work, study and trade unhindered in different parts of India. They have loved compatriots. They prosper and surely appreciate the opportunity for other natives back in the Valley They are the brand ambassadors for peace, democracy and terror-free life. Why aren’t they speaking up to secure the right to life of other Kashmiris and appeal to new-age militants to shun the gun and join the mainstream life, Bhan said.