Securing J&K polls

The cold-blooded killing of the workers of the National Conference, as well as those of the People’s Democratic Party, is reprehensible...

The cold-blooded killing of the workers of the National Conference, as well as those of the People’s Democratic Party, is reprehensible but should not come as a surprise. Nor should the abduction of some political activists.

It may be recalled that political leaders and workers were specially targeted by terrorists during the election campaign in Punjab when they started to take part in the election campaign. The past few weeks have seen more and more people in the Valley veer towards participating in the election process, and this seems to have unnerved jehadi groups on both sides of the Line of Control. The aim of these groups is clear: to disrupt the J&K polls and, at the very minimum, reduce participation by political workers and leaders.

These groups do not have the courage to stand up and be counted through a democratic process and have, in characteristically cowardly fashion, resorted to the bullet instead.

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General Pervez Musharraf has made public announcements that no terrorism would be permitted from Pakistan-held territories. The US has, on more than one occasion, assured New Delhi that Pakistan is serious about these promises. By a curious coincidence, the world will commemorate the first anniversary of September 11, a few days before polling starts in J&K.

The sentiment and actions against international terrorism would undoubtedly receive added focus and attention across the globe to make all forms of terrorism less acceptable to the civilised world. Al Qaeda and other groups have been on the run, although a few of them have been captured or killed.

This does not mean that jehadi terrorism is about to end, or that such terrorist groups are about to give up their nefarious acts. In fact, they may be expected to keep fighting for a long time.

It is against this background that we need to see the situation in J&K.

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The realisation that the coming elections would have significantly higher participation by the people tired of the senseless violence of more than a decade seems to have added to the desperation of the terrorists.

The risks to the political leaders and workers is likely to increase in the coming days, almost in inverse proportion to the desire of the people to participate in the process of choosing their future government.

Implicit in the current spate of terrorist killings is the threat to the other innocents of the state, especially the voters and their families. The problem, of course, is that the greater the participation of people in the electoral process the more difficult it becomes possible to provide security to individual politicians.

At the same time, the establishment would need to ensure that a climate of security is generated rather than trying to protect each and every person threatened by the desperados.

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