A tense situation prevails in Kishtwar a week after the killing of a senior BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit Parihar by suspected militants. Authorities have maintained an uneasy calm by imposing curfew across Chenab Valley. Army has also carried out a flag march in some towns, even though no violent incident took place. However, soon after the killings of Parihar brothers, people had staged protests in Kishtwar. Authorities took no chances with the security measures to ensure peace and also in view of the upcoming Panchayat elections in the state. The government has also formed a special investigation team headed by an additional superintendent of police to probe the double murder.
Chenab Valley as the region is popularly called has witnessed communal clashes in past which have had profound bearing on the state’s politics. In 2013, riots broke out in Kishtwar and spread to other parts of Jammu province, leaving three dead and causing massive loss of property. Earlier in 2008 also, three people had lost their lives in communal clashes in the town.
This violent communal history and its meshing with competitive extremist politics in the state has deeply polarized what was once a largely untroubled region, albeit always politically charged with a separatist undertow. Certainly the relations between Hindus and Muslims in the region, otherwise tied together by deep cultural bonds have experienced strain in recent years. There is an entirely new politics that has come up which is viciously opportunistic and feeds off mutual prejudice and suspicions.
Chenab Valley which almost rivals Kashmir Valley in geographical size has traditionally been a political stronghold of National Conference. Muslims of the region are from Kashmiri ethnic stock and therefore trace their ideological and political outlook to Kashmir Valley, whileas Hindus are of mixed Kashmiri and Dogra descent and identify themselves with Hindu majority Jammu and mainland India.
So, the killing of Parihar brothers is likely to have a far-reaching political fallout for Chenab as well as the Jammu region as a whole. More so, in the ensuing Panchayat polls. The BJP has sought strengthening of Village Defence Committees to counter what it sees as attempts to revive militancy in the region. It has also sought re-deployment of forces to the region.
Mercifully, however, the tenuous calm in the region has held. And the leaders of the two communities have a role to play in this. The imam of Kishtwars Jamia Masjid, Farooq Kitchloo, condemned the killings and urged Muslims to join the victims last rites. One hopes that the situation returns to normal soon. Long roiled by the violence which has led to a loss of thousands of lives, the state can hardly afford a communal riot in Kishtwar which can very well spread to other parts of the state.
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