Jammu, March 24
Was the massacre of 24 Pandits in a sleepy village in Pulwama district part of a plan of the militants to scuttle the government’s move to rehabilitate the Kashmiri migrants in the valley?

Was the elimination of Abdul Majeed Dar, former chief commander (operations) of the Hizbul Mujahideen an attempt to derail the peace process?

These questions have not elicited uniform answer. While the Panun Kashmir, a premier organisation of the displaced Pandits, has treated the Pulwama carnage as nothing more than act of putting spikes in Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s plan of rehabilitating migrants, in phases, in the Mattan and Khirbhawani areas government leaders have a different story to tell.

Mufti Sayeed and his ministerial colleague, Muzaffar Hussain Beig, told the state Assembly today that such massacres had taken place for the past several years and denied that the escalation in the militancy-related violence was the result of any soft approach towards the militants.

Mr Beig said “the security forces, including the Army, have been clearly told to deal firmly with the militants.” Mufti Sayeed said “the Army has been told in specific terms to reduce the level of infiltration from across the border and something is being done to check the ingress.”

But Dr Ajay Chrungoo and Mr Kuldeep Raina of the Panun Kashmir said “whenever the government talked of rehabilitating the Pandits in the valley, the militants carried out one massacre after the other.” They said “the carnages witnessed in Wandhama and Sangrampora and other places were the outcome of the then Chief Minister, Dr Farooq’s Abdullah’s repeated announcements that the migrants would be taken back and he had asked the Centre to provide the required financial support for raising clusters for the displaced people.”

A former NC minister, Mr Ali Mohammad Sagar, said in the Assembly here today “the Chief Minister was trying to play to the gallary by announcing his plan of rehabilitating Pandits in the valley when the plan had not yet been started in the shape of raising clusters for the displaced people.” Mr Sagar, too, suspected that the Pulwama carnage was the rebel’s retaliation to the government’s commitment to rehabilitate migrants in the valley which they had left 13 years ago.

Mr Chief Minister countered his critics, who had blamed his healing touch policy for the massacre saying that there had been an unnecessary uproar when his government had released eight separatists only. He said he had succeeded in convincing the Central Government of the usefulness of initiating a dialogue with the elected representatives and others for resolving the issue. He said since the NDA government was sincere, it appointed Mr N.N. Vohra as the centre’s interlocutor.

The state government sources said during the past three weeks, militants had killed civilians in various areas of the Jammu region and Pakistani troops had resorted to intermittent but heavy firing on the Indian border villages right from Kargil to Poonch-Rajouri in which several civilians were killed. Hence, the sources argue, the Pulwama massacre should not be viewed in isolation but accepted as part of a plan of Pakistan and its agencies to derail the peace process.