It seems that these selective killings, whether it is of the Pandits or the tourists, by killing a few, the terrorists scare lakhs.Yes, they have succeeded.
So how does one stop 'selective' killings?
It is difficult to stop. When lakhs of people are coming you can not provide a security escort to everyone all the time. But overall we have been dominating the situation and we have tried to reduce it. But it affects the economy of the state of Kashmir, the hotel keepers, the shikarawallas, the houseboats people or the transport people, who are all the beneficiaries of tourism stand to lose.
The terrorists do selective killings of civilians that these people do not dare openly protest. If they were not terrorised, they could have taken the matter to the streets.
The other unfortunate thing is that in spite of this, there is some sympathy for the terrorists amongst quite a few people on account of religious consideration. The moment they say 'Islam is in danger', logic is given a go by. This is the ground situation.
But things are not politically too bad; my own feeling is that this anti-India feeling in the valley is not as high as it gets projected in the media and by some politicians for their own ends.
Photograph: Supporters of the pro-Pakistani Muslim League Jammu Kashmir demonstrate against Pope Benedict XVI during a protest in Srinagar, September 16, 2006. Pope Benedict provoked worldwide Muslim outrage with his comments in which he spoke about the 'issue of jihad, holy war'. Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images
Also see: 'Many Kashmiris are positive about Pakistan's role'
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