Opinion Express View | Heal and hold to account: In government’s ‘Naya Kashmir,’ no one should get away with murder

Two weeks ago, after the Supreme Court endorsed the abrogation of Article 370, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was not just a “legal judgment” but a beacon of hope, a promise of a brighter future. The fragility of this promise was underscored by two events barely 10 days after the verdict. Last Thursday, four soldiers were killed and three others injured in a militant ambush on two army vehicles in Poonch district. A day later, eight civilians from the district’s Topa Pir area were picked up for questioning by the security forces. Three of them have been found dead in the night. Five injured civilians have been admitted to a government hospital in Rajouri. Their relatives have alleged torture. There cannot be any questioning of the need to be vigilant against terrorism. The Poonch attack is a worrying reminder that militant attacks remain a part of J&K’s landscape. But the allegations of custodial violence speak of a brutal, unacceptable high-handedness by the security forces. This is not “Naya Kashmir” that the Centre talks about, these are the worst ghosts of the past. The charges, the circumstances, must be thoroughly investigated and the guilty brought to book.

More so, when these go against the grain of the bigger picture in J&K in the past three years. On December 6, Home Minister Amit Shah told Lok Sabha that there was a 70 per cent decline in incidents of terrorism, a 72 per cent fall in deaths of the civilians, and 59 per cent decline in deaths of security force personnel in J&K between the UPA (2004-2014) and NDA (2014-2023) periods. Home Ministry data also shows a consistent decline in incidents of stone pelting in the last three years. And yet the fact is that in J&K, where mainstream politics and politicians are still marginalised, a drop in violence can, by no means, be seen as all-is-well. Sustaining peace requires constant investment in building local peoples’ trust in the administration and security forces as much as in development and expansion of opportunity. That’s why the words of the brother of one of the three civilians who died on Friday — “this is the prize we have got for working for the nation” — are telling, more so because he is a BSF constable himself.

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Clearly, those who behind the ambush were hoping to throw a spoke in the government’s approach to J&K, post the Supreme Court verdict. In a concurring note to the Supreme Court judgment, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had talked of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights violations by state and non-state actors. That may not be on the government’s anvil currently but its message has acquired increased resonance after the terrorist attack and its aftermath. No time must be lost in applying the healing touch. The promise of a job and compensation is a right step but much more significant and pressing is the need to make it clear that no one, in “Naya Kashmir”, can get away with murder. Failure to do so will be playing into the hands of the terrorist.