The targeted killing of 32 Hindus in Doda district of Jammu by suspected terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba threatens to undermine two important foundations of India’s current Kashmir policy — engaging the moderates and dissidents of J&K and sustaining the peace process with Pakistan. That the despicable act has come less than two days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Round Table with the Hurriyat leaders and a meeting between senior Indian and Pakistani officials on additional confidence-building measures in Kashmir would inevitably juxtapose the prospects for the peace process with the continuing terrorist violence in the state. It could be argued that the latest brutality in J&K breaches India’s threshold of tolerance to terrorism and demands an end to the peace process. But if the reported assessment of the government is that the latest round of violence is the desperate work of those seeking to derail the peace process, there is every reason for the government to stay the course. Yet as this paper reported, there might be a growing opinion within the government that the prime minister should delay his long overdue visit to Pakistan. The worst thing the government could do at this moment is to wring its hands — neither pursue the peace process vigorously nor call it off. If the UPA government believes the peace process has begun to isolate the extremists, then it should step on the accelerator by unveiling a range of political measures to improve the human conditions in the state. Equally important would be setting an early date for the visit of Manmohan Singh to Pakistan. The suggestion that the prime minister should wait until the monsoon is over does not represent a well thought out policy but the classic bureaucratic option of “masterly inactivity” in dealing with all major national challenges. Waiting further would in no way resolve the emerging tension between the peace process and continuing terrorist violence. It would only leave the Lashkar-e-Toiba in control of the Subcontinent’s destiny. Instead the government must act purposefully to reinforce the peace process and at the same time go after the Lashkar and other terrorist outfits.
