A NOTHER terrorist attack has rattled the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir as questions are being asked about the timing and scale of the sudden aggression. As terrorists are targeting non-locals in regions having distant history of skirmishes, an alarm has been raised by Sunday’s grenade attack in Srinagar. A grenade was lobbed in the busy market area leaving 11 people injured sending a wave of panic in the city teeming with tourists. It has come a day after the Lal Chowk had become a point of attention with zealous celebration of Diwali. Whether the spurt in terror activities in J&K is a result of security lapses or is there a bigger game at play needs an emergent deliberation and immediate action to arrest downward spiral of things. The Srinagar grenade attack is being attributed as retaliation by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) after the security forces eliminated its top Pakistani commander Usman in the Khanyar locality of downtown Srinagar. Military officials take it as a big blow to the Pak-based terror organisation which has left it totally rattled.

 

Yet, the extremists penetrating so deep into the city is a cause of serious concern. Keeping the conspiracy theories aside for a while, there is an urgent need of finding out leaks and loopholes in the security system which have allowed foreign terrorists and home-grown terror groups to yet again forge a deadly network in Jammu & Kashmir. There is no denying the fact that terror attacks have seen an upward tick immediately after the Assembly election results gave mandate for the National Conference Government under Chief Minister Mr. Omar Abdullah. Since assuming office, Mr. Abdullah has passed a resolution for restoring Statehood for Jammu & Kashmir. All along in the background, terror activities were hotting up and attacks were unleashed on migrant labourers and construction workers in Ganderbal district, Budgam and now the grenade attack in Srinagar. Calling it a mere coincidence would be naive as there seems a definite link of these attacks to the restart of democratic process in the region.

 

The re-emergence of locally-grown group The Resistance Front (TRF) with solid footprint of Pakistan in its activities further establishes a connection to disturb the peace and development projects ushered into the UT after the abrogation of Article 370. There seems a sinister design to scuttle all the good and also the efforts to restore democratic mechanism.The design is clear -- to dissuade people from being an equal stakeholder in the growth story through constitutional means. The positive political change and embracing of democratic freedom by the populace has caused severe consternation among the separatists. Further, growing signs of the current dispensation in J&K aligning with the Central Government’s idea of a developed Kashmir fully integrated with the rest of the country are being taken as a death knell for separatism. A combination of this fear and unease of getting wiped out has pushed the separatist forces and their terror proxies to use attacks on civilians as a last throw of dice to establish their influence. While this angle should be tapped further to corner the separatist forces, there also is a need to have a deeper look into the terror incidents to rule out any compromise in the security system in the region. The series of attacks signals a pre-planned activity by the extremist groups with ostensible help from some civilians. That there is a repeated failure in intelligence gathering on these activities is another disturbing aspect of the attacks. It is imperative for the military and the police top brass to shake the security system to rule out any loophole.