Amit Shah is in Kashmir and there were no bandhs this time. The defeat of Hurriyat is out in the open now

For his first official visit outside the national capital, after taking charge, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. During his visit, Amit Shah will be reviewing the overall security situation in the region with a special focus on restoring peace in the valley and counter-terrorist operations. For the same, he has chaired the unified headquarter meeting of the security grid in Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier Amit Shah also met the family members of the Jammu and Kashmir Police inspector Arshad Ahmed Khan, who lost his life in a terror attack in Anantnag on 12th of June; Shah also met a delegation newly elected Sarpanches in the state.

The visit of Amit Shah comes just days after Hurriyat leaders proposed talks with the Indian government which was welcomed by Governor Satya Pal Malik. Interestingly, this time no calls for bandh were issued by separatist leaders, first in 30 years for the visit of a Union Home Minister. However, this change in Hurriyat’s approach is not just a result of this single high profile visit but a result of several steps taken by the Modi administration.

As part of its plan to deal with the security situation in Kashmir, the Narendra Modi government has followed a two-pronged strategy to deal with the separatist forces. The first part of the strategy was to discard the false notion that the Hurriyat commands great influence over the Kashmiri society and are perhaps the real stakeholder in the ever-burning Kashmir issue. The second part mainly included efforts to curb terror activities in the region.

Hurriyat for the most part of its existence has been given the status of a genuine stakeholder in the matter and consequently has been made part of all the important discussions, however over the past few years Hurriyat has been losing relevance given various scandal involving Hurriyat leaders even the government has completely rejected the influence of Hurriyat, signaling that they are no longer the stakeholders in the Kashmir issue.

Since the past few years, the Modi government has been on a relentless crackdown spree on terrorists and terror financing by the separatists. In 2017 security forces faced 1,261 incidents of stone pelting in Jammu and Kashmir, against 2,808 incidents in 2016 and 730 in 2015. There was a sharp rise in stone pelting in 2016 after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani at the hands of the security forces. In July 2018, the then police chief S P Vaid said that the number of stone pelting incidents have dropped by about 90 percent. The consistent reduction in incidents since 2017 could be owed to a number of factors, one of them being demonetization and the other being the Enforcement Directorate and NIA’s crackdown on separatists in Kashmir and their links with Pakistan.

In 2015, ED had also filed a charge-sheet against Firdous Ahmed Shah, member of Syed Ali Geelani’s Hurriyat Conference for having received, through his “friend”, money from “Madina Traders” in Brescia, Italy through a sender named Javed Iqbal, via Western Union Money Transfer. The same name of Madina Traders and Javed Iqbal was involved with 26/11 attack when a money transfer was made for activating Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) used during the Mumbai terror strikes.

In March, Enforcement Directorate (ED) had imposed a penalty of Rs.14.40 Lakhs on Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani under the Foreign Exchange Management Act. The recent crackdown on the corruption scandal in Jammu & Kashmir Bank has also broken the back of the Hurriyat leaders who used the J&K Bank for illegal activities in collusion with other corrupt officials of the bank.  

With its relentless crackdown on terror financing, the Narendra Modi Government has also been working to fight radical terrorism in the region. Security forces combined with voices from within the Kashmiri society have been combating the issues like radicalization with a firm resolve. Various security operations to clear out the terror elements which have been perpetuating under the patronage of local ‘political’ leadership and foreign support have also aided the efforts. Hundreds of most dangerous terrorists have been neutralized by the security forces over the past few years.

The MHA had earlier disclosed that 102 terrorists have been neutralized in the valley this year, while another 286 terrorists are still believed to be active. It must be noted that soon after assuming charge as the Home Minister, Amit Shah had met the Jammu & Kashmir Governor, Satya Pal Malik in New Delhi, who briefed Shah about the security situation in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Malik had told reporters, “I have discussed security matters and development issues with the Home Minister.”

Earlier Hurriyat leaders, who in the past have indulged in Pakistan sponsored narratives, were also on the back foot when Indian government indicated towards arresting of all the Hurriyat leaders who would have attended the national day event at the Pakistan High Commission, in New Delhi. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the Awami Action Committee, one of the two key factions of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, was adamant on sending Hurriyat representative to the Pakistan national day celebrations however nobody from the Hurriyat cadre was ready to be the sacrificial lamb and be arrested.

Ultimately Modi government has been successful in combating the situation in Kashmir in a holistic way, which includes constant attempts to amalgamate the Kashmiri society with the mainstream Indian society and to fight the radical terrorism with an iron hand. Firm resolve of the Indian government to address terrorism in Kashmir is surely bearing fruits, with the ‘stone pelting’ Hurriyat cadre discouraged, top Hurriyat leadership is also in a fix, Hurriyat, and now with the ground cleared and finding themselves nowhere, the Hurriyat is compelled to take this step to call for talks.