Majority of such protests took place in Southern districts of Valley, youth understood futility of street protests, say officials
Srinagar: It has been a year since Government of India scrapped the article 370 and cut the erstwhile state into two Union Territories—Ladakh and J&K, for security agencies and the BJP unit of J&K, there is a reason to cheer as figures suggest that zero street protests were reported while only 14 incidents of law and order took place in the first half of the ensuing year.
Official data reveals that no major law and order situation was witnessed in Kashmir since January 1 this year barring a few incidents that were small in nature. “Two protests erupted in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district when top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Reyaz Naikoo was killed. The law and order incidents were less violent in nature compared to previous years and no civilian killing took place in the protests,” an official privy to the data, told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).
They said that youth of Kashmir have understood the futility of the street protests and have decided to not to indulge such things. “Only 14 incidents of law and order took place and that too in southern parts of Kashmir. The number is too less if compared to previous years. This signifies a big change,” a security official said. Top security officials in Kashmir also believe that this year post abrogation of article 370 has witnessed a sea change.
Meanwhile, BJP’s J&K unit states that it was because of the J&K’s integration in the union of India that the street protests have died down completely. “You can call it the direct dividend of article 370 roll back. See, today there are no protests at the encounter sites. Stone pelting incidents have vanished completely and youth are cracking IAS and other competitive exams,” said BJP J&K General Secretary Ashok Koul. He, however, said that the development couldn’t take place the way it should have and the reason is COVID-19 pandemic—(KNO)