‘Do not let terrorists use mosques,’ Kashmir IG Vijay Kumar appeals to Masjid Committees

Yesterday, a heart-wrenching terror attack took place in Kashmir’s Sopore which led to a CRPF trooper giving the supreme sacrifice and a civilian getting killed. A three-year old toddler, grandson of the slain civilian who was killed by terrorists, was rescued from the spot by Jammu & Kashmir Police.

The toddler was seen wailing and sitting on his grandfather’s body, who succumbed to the bullets fired by terrorists hiding in a Mosque at the CRPF personnel. Some disturbing pictures of the incident went viral on social media. This is the second time in a month that terrorists have misused mosques in the Valley.

Kashmir IG Vijay Kumar said, “Terrorists fired from a masjid on CRPF party in Sopore, resulting in deaths of a jawan, a civilian & injuries to 3 personnel. Terrorists misused masjids in 2 operations in last 1 month. I request masjid committees to not let terrorists use religious places.”

The Inspector-General has made a crucial point here. Terrorists and radical elements who are the biggest challenge to peaceful existence in the Valley have been misusing Mosques for quite some time now.

Its origins can be traced to the exodus, or effectively a genocide, of the Kashmiri Pandits in the year 1989 and early 1990.

In his book, Our Moon Has Blood Clots, Rahul Pandita describes the events of January 1990. According to him, massive crowds assembled in Mosques and shouted anti-India, anti-Pandit slogans.

Horrifying slogans were raised from loudspeakers in Mosques- “Kaafiro ko maaro (kill the outsiders)”, “Yahan Nizam-e-Mustafa chalega (what we want in Kashmir, rule of Allah)”, “We want Kashmir with Pandit women, not Pandit men”.

What happened in the next few months is traumatising- hundreds of innocent Kashmiri Pandits were murdered, raped and tortured. Only a few stayed back, and the rest of them moved to Jammu and other parts of the country effectively becoming refugees in their own country.

Years of Pakistan-backed terrorism has followed the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. Acts of violence have been reported around Mosques time and again. Stone-pelting on police and security forces after Friday prayers in Srinagar, Shopian and other towns has been reported time and again.

In the year 2017, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Mohammed Ayub Pandith was lynched to death by a mob outside Srinagar’s Jama Masjid.

The incident had happened on a Thursday when thousands had gathered at the Mosque for night-long congregational prayers. The prayers were led by separatist Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

Pandith was on duty near the Mosque at the time of the incident.

The security forces in Kashmir thus face a big challenge of tackling the misuse of mosques by stone-pelters and terrorists. Radical elements like Mirwaiz are often accused of giving provocative speeches during Friday sermons.

Who feels the pain when terrorists misuse mosques for targeting security personnel? Three-year olds who have to look at their parents and grandparents getting killed right before their eyes.

The Indian security establishment will have to confront this challenge sooner or later. It doesn’t really make any sense skirting around this issue.

Last year, a Jammu & Kashmir Police note had sought details of mosques across the Kashmir Valley. This was reported just before the abrogation of Article 370 and decision to bifurcate the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir into two Union Territories- Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

The order read, “Provide details of your mosques and their managements falling under your jurisdictions.” The details sought included the name of the Mosque, the ideological affiliation, name of the Imam and the management head.

This was a good start to gather adequate information about the Mosques in the Valley and build coordination between the Mosque managements and the local police. The government and the security forces must proceed with such measures.

India has broken the back of cross-border terrorism, and now Lashkar-e-Taiba is trying to create seemingly indigenous fronts like the TRF (The Resistance Front). Of course, these are just rebranded versions of Pakistani terror outfits.

But India must remain careful as Pakistan would try to ratchet religious extremism, as it has already lost the proxy war.

Security forces must build enough intelligence and coordination across mosques in the Valley and strongly desist Masjid Committees from letting terrorists use Mosques in the Valley.