The dastardly dimensions of the attack are gradually sinking in even as the Government of India announced its immediate diplomatic and other retaliatory measures.
It is generally expected to be followed up with punitive military action across the LoC, sooner than later, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
As the brutality and savagery of the April-22 terrorist attack on tourists at Pahalgam in South Kashmir sink in, the people in the border state are anxiously awaiting its inevitable retaliatory response, which could probably reignite the Line of Control (LoC) that has, otherwise, been silent for the past few years.
A massive manhunt is underway across Jammu and Kashmir to nab the culprits believed to be hiding in remote higher reaches of the Pir Panchal mountain range.
Vicious elements of the carnage correspond to the tone and tenor of rabid vituperation voiced recently by Pakistan army chief General Asim Muneer recently at a function in Islamabad. As if on cue, terrorists executed their dastardly action by echoing Muneer’s words while carrying out the merciless shooting of tourists.
There seems to be quite a bit in linking the timing as well as the methodology.
The dastardly dimensions of the attack are gradually sinking in even as the Government of India announced its immediate diplomatic and other retaliatory measures.
It is generally expected to be followed up with punitive military action across the LoC, sooner than later. The anger and anguish across the country add to its gravity.
Never since the outbreak of militancy in 1990s has the civil society in Kashmir reacted so resoundingly, so spontaneously and so unitedly to a terrorist attack as was witnessed in the immediate fallout of the Pahalgam carnage.
Coming a few months after the last assembly elections that witnessed a record turnout of voters across the board, the collective mood on the ground today looks to be unambiguously against the perpetrators of the crime whose footprints as well identity is all too evident.
That said, the circumstances of the brazen terrorist attack as also the way in which its operational fallout was being handled raise a few disturbing questions.
In hindsight, though, a question that comes to mind in the wake of the Pahalgam carnage is whether it was advisable to inconclusively terminate the extensive anti-terrorist operations in Rajouri-Poonch sector (and later the Kathua belt), launched in response to brazen terrorist attacks on security forces.
Surprise attacks on military personnel in succession resulted in casualties. And the highly motivated culprits armed with sophisticated weapons were able to strike and disappear from the scene.
In its ugly aftermath, local civilian suspects were subjected to torture for which the Army, later, punished the guilty.
The operation lasted over several weeks but the Pakistani terrorists remained untraced. Nothing was heard about the operation after that. Presumably, it was called off.
Some time later, suspicious movement was reported in the Doda-Kishtwar Mountain range though no major incident or encounter was reported.
These sub-mountain ranges, partly with thick forestation in the lower reaches, extend up to South Kashmir (where Pahalgam is located) and further up to Zanskar and Kargil in Ladakh.
Whether the terrorist module that struck at Baisaran in Pahalgam on April 22 could be the same that was active in Rajouri and Kathua is a matter of conjecture.
Nothing cannot be ruled out offhand, primarily because the earlier operations against them were called off inconclusively.
Or, it could even be a different module freshly replenished with war material.
Secondly, the annual Amarnath Yatra being just a few weeks away, how was it that a vulnerable open space like Baisaran so near the Pahalgam Yatra base camp and visited by many tourists almost daily, had been left without even a police cover?
Tourist spots across the Valley are usually police-protected.
Ordinarily, the Army takes over the responsibility of securing the outer periphery of the Yatra route, leaving the inner parameters including Pahalgam base camp to para-military and state police forces.
Army routinely commences 'area domination' in the periphery of Pahalgam a month or so in advance of the annual pilgrimage, commencing within the next few weeks and ending in August.
That even the state police or the paramilitary personnel were seen nowhere around Baisaran, so close to Pahalgam, in the third week of April obviously needs to be explained.
It is not too much to assume that the terrorists must have found it safe to survey their target area before choosing to go for their dastardly act.
Even if these observations were to be waved off as being wiser-after-the-event, there is sufficient weight in it to warrant a serious look by all concerned.
That also explains the official admission of 'lapses' by the central government at an all-party meet in New Delhi on Thursday soon after Union Home Minister Amit Shah's return from his Pahalgam visit.
The fallout of the tragedy has also revealed a jarring aspect of the virtually amorphous division of authority in the sensitive border.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had to unceremoniously self-exit from a meeting held by the Union home minister, to discuss the Pahalgam tragedy, at which the chief secretary and the DGP were present.
Under the archaic arrangement, the lt governor holds the law and order portfolio while a popularly elected chief minister is rendered persona non grata.
Kashmir is not Delhi, even though both may be UTs. Not only the geography of the country's most sensitive border state but its turbulent history shows the desirability of enlisting popular ground support without which even the best of security arrangements would be left with gaping holes.
The significance of grassroot feedback obtained from an elected structure can hardly be overemphasised.
In the case of J&K there are precedents too: the first information about 1965 massive infiltration into Kashmir had come from a Gujjar via the local legislator.
Again, in the 1990s it was the same channel that provided the first reports of large scale intrusion of militants armed and trained across the Line of Control (LoC).
It is nearly six months ago that Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the UT's elected chief minister after securing the popular vote in an election that is still being held up as the visible sign of vibrant Indian democracy.
Restoration of full statehood to the UT was expected to follow sooner than later.
Ironically, almost half a year after the assembly election there is no indication of any such thing.
Yet another point is the alienation of Gujjar, Bakarwal nomadic communities in the past few years, when they were ousted and dislocated from the grazing lands in higher reaches, has deprived the security system of a vital link in the intelligence chain.
The nomads with their livestock move between Kashmir and Jammu division, seasonally, and are in a better position to detect suspicious movement along these remote tracks.
Its utility in the past is a historical fact.
The aftermath of the Pahalgam tragedy has also exposed the negativity of a section of the national media in reporting and interpreting different dimensions of the carnage.
For this reason, a few of the private TV reporters were prevented from covering the unprecedented massive upsurge, across the Kashmir Valley, against Pakistan-inspired terrorism, as they sought to give a mischievous sectarian twist to it.
On the other hand, there were also a good number of tourists from across the board, who came forward and hailed their local hosts for making them feel safe and comfortable.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
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