The killing of four terrorists in Jammu on Wednesday touched off political fault lines in Jammu and Kashmir. The encounter in the outskirts of Jammu, long considered as the winter capital of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, denoted so many things all at once, though the main focus was on the status of terrorism and slugfest on Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The police claimed that the truck-borne terrorists were headed to Kashmir, the basis being that the truck was headed toward Kashmir The police have achieved a major success by neutralizing the terrorists, who with the kind of arms and ammunition they were carrying, could have wreaked havoc had they been successful in reaching their destination. The exact details of their targets would never be known as they are dead now. But that doesn’t mean that the terror threat is dead as well.
The Sidhra encounter, as it is known by the place where it took place depicts criticality of the place and the timings . .The truck was coming from the international border side, so it can be easily concluded that the terrorists had come from Pakistan. second, this time – December-January – has been very critical for Jammu and Kashmir. The terror calendar starts with the attacks in January, especially, in the run up to Republic Day. This time around, it is having another dimension – former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s “ Bharat Jodo Yatra” or march for the unity of India, is coming to J&K- it will enter the UT either on January 22 or 23, close to the R-Day.
The BJP, which all along has been claiming that its policies of striking hard against terrorists and their network , ensured peace in J&K, rejoiced the fact that the four terrorists were killed before they could strike. The BJP has a tendency to draw political credit for all the anti-terrorism operations, as while it praises the security forces for their acts of bravery in eliminating terrorists and eliminating them, it extends its claim to the political atmosphere in the country, wherein it takes the ownership of the successes of the security forces. It says that it has been possible because of the free hand that has been given to the security forces in their fights against terrorism. This statement is open to challenge, and this incident has also raised the question mark., which the opposition party has raised. PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti asked, “ if the terrorism is over, who come the terrorists appeared in Jammu. Now it appears that militancy has spread to Jammu as well, it debunks BJP’s claim that things have returned to normalcy.”
She also voiced the concern that the government may use the ruse of militancy to place hurdles in Rahul Gandhi’s yatra . Security concerns can be cited to halt the yatra. Rahul Gandhi’s yatra, which is scheduled to enter the UT in the third week of January 2023, has greater significance than other places that it has passed through since its commencement in September. J&K symbolizes a lot for Congress. Kashmir and Congress are bound by their legacy.
Rahul Gandhi’s great-grandfather and first prime minister of India Jawahar Lal Nehru is reckoned as the one who set up Kashmir policy and maintained its place in the union of India. Nehru’s role, however, in taking the Pakistani invasion of Jammu and Kashmir to the United Nations at the time when the Indian army was reclaiming all the territories captured by the tribesmen, thus leaving the Kashmir issue in balance. The POJK or Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir is seen as legacy of Nehru.
BJP is apprehensive of the impact of Rahul Gandhi’s yatra, and therefore, it is but natural that it may use the security issue as an issue to tell him not to venture into J&K, especially when the yatra would be in the UT around R-Day.
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
