Pahalgam attack an ‘explosion of venom’ of Post-2019 changes in IIOJK: Anuradha Bhasin
Jammu: Anuradha Bhasin, who hails from Jammu region of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and is the managing editor of Kashmir Times has termed the Pahlgam attack an ‘explosion of venom’, rooted in the changes that have happened since August 2019 when India unilaterally revoked the Kashmir’s special status. Kashmir Times, an English-language newspaper, was published from both Srinagar and Jammu.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Anuradha Bhasin currently lives in the US. In her debut book, A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After 370 (2022), Bhasin critiqued the decisions made on August 5, 2019, and deconstructed the narrative of the Hindu nationalist BJP. A long-time advocate for media freedom, civil liberties, and gender rights in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, she faced retaliation in October 2020 when Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir administration sealed the Srinagar office of Kashmir Times.
After the Pahalgam incident on April 22, which drew global condemnation, Anuradha Bhasin in a media interview said the BJP-led Indian government has been consistently making claims about restoring peace in the Valley and showcasing a high influx of tourists as a “sign of normalcy”.
“All those claims lay punctured with the latest attack [in Pahalgam]. While promoting Kashmir as a safe tourist destination, the [Modi] government has made the unsuspecting visitors vulnerable. They have turned them into sitting ducks by failing to provide the security infrastructure necessary to match their safety needs. The government’s public declaration that everything is normal—[that] there is peace in the Valley and militancy has been decimated—has fallen flat. These false assurances have attracted a high influx of tourists. On the ground, these assurances do not exist.”
In response to a question about the possible reasons behind the Pahalgam attack, she said, “It is very difficult to say why exactly the Pahalgam tragedy happened. This is an unprecedented attack after many years. Barring a few minor incidents in the past, tourists have not been targeted in the Valley. Certainly, the attacks have not been of this magnitude and scale. Kashmir does not lend legitimacy to such attacks, and these remain unacceptable to Kashmiri society. These attacks go against the fundamental Kashmiri ethos of hospitality. Besides hospitality, tourism is also an important economic lifeline of Kashmir. This attack stands out. Moreover, the scale of this incident is extremely shocking, devastating, and painful. Yet, it does not come as a surprise.”
When asked whether she as a key Kashmiri observer did expect it, she said, “For many of us, who have been closely observing Kashmir for years, this is something that could have been easily anticipated. Not exactly in the manner in which it eventually happened, but certainly all of us knew that there could be an explosion of venom. All of that is rooted in the changes that have happened since August 2019 [the withdrawal of Kashmir’s special status and statehood]. In the striking claims of the government on normalcy, the manufactured “all is well” and “everyone is happy” narrative, there is deepening resentment on the ground. There are different ways through which the people of Kashmir are being disempowered. Indignities have been heaped on them. They have lost their political rights in every way.”
About recent IIOJK Assembly election and the victory of the National Conference, she said, “Even though elections have taken place, the present political dispensation does not enjoy powers and rights in the federally administered territory. The rights of the people are severely curtailed. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the elected government led by Omar Abdullah to address the grievances of the people. They have lost their constitutional protections. New laws that have been introduced threaten jobs, lands, and livelihoods of the native Kashmiris. There is an overall atmosphere of repression with continuous arrests, detentions, and raids. There is an atmosphere of fear and surveillance in Kashmir wherein they feel suffocated and silenced. This kind of suppression is unnatural and unsustainable. Many of us feared that the way the government has been completely throttling all aspirations of the people and pushing them to the margins, there would be a reaction. Still, difficult to say who is exactly responsible for this attack, but these are the harsh ground realities. I won’t be surprised if some local hands too are involved in the attack.”
In response t o another question, Anuradha Bhasin said, “Recently, it came to light that more than 83,000 domicile certificates have been issued by the government to non-Kashmiris in the last two years. Kashmiris feel more and more pushed to the corner. If you look at the larger politics of the Hindu right wing across India and how anti-Muslim hate propaganda is being instilled, Kashmiris find themselves at the centre of this hate project. All these factors provide sufficient reasons for radicalisation and a venomous reaction.”
“Who is responsible for this attack remains a mystery. However, there are reasons why this happened.”
