Battle of hearts and minds in Kashmir

In Karimabad village, 56-year-old Ghulam Rasool Pandit was the lone person who didn't participate in his son 28-year-old son Naseer Ahmad Pandit's funeral procession. In the region, where thousands participate in funeral prayers of militants, it was something unusual. But he had his reasons.

"After all he was my son, dear son. Being a father, I couldn't muster the courage to participate in my son's funeral. I didn't want people to see me in tears", he says.

MILITANCY

In 2015 Naseer, a constable with the Jammu and Kashmir Police decamped with two AK-47 rifles and joined the Hizbul Mujahideen. He was seen close to Hizbul Mujahideen's 22-yearold commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani.

Naseer was killed in an encounter in south Kashmir Shopian district on April 7. Ghulam Rasool says being a man of principles his son was against drug traffickers and once he saw the police being hand-in-glove with them, he decided to call it a day and joined militancy. The father says his son had his own approach and ideology.

RADICALISATION

Police officers say not Pakistan, but the ideology coupled with anger against the system, was responsible for surge in the militancy. This year, according to police 38 youth so far have joined militancy. In the same period last year the number stood at 29. Last year, 72 youths had joined militant outfits. According to sources, this year 68 militants have been killed including 41 unidentified, 22 locals.

A senior police officer posted in south Kashmir said things are changing in the Valley and there is a surge in militancy, not fuelled by Pakistan. He attributed it to radicalisation of the youth coupled with intense anger.

BATTLE OF HEARTS AND MINDS

The Army, police and security agencies have long tried to win, what they call, "battle of hearts and minds" in protracted insurgency in Kashmir. But the largescale funeral processions in South Kashmir, which now spread everywhere, show different picture of the ground zero. On Friday, youths having stones and bricks in their hand assembled in the old town Srinagar and halted stone throwing at the police and paramilitary forces for few moments to offer prayers in absentia for six militants, all foreigners, killed in two separate encounters in frontier Kupwara on Thursday. In Kupwara hundreds of people participated in the last rites of a militant in frontier district.

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