By Deepika BhanKashmir in 2022 continued to prove to be a story that has baffled critics, rattled enemies, exposed propagandists, and concealed painful secrets.
The year has been bitter-sweet for the Union Territory that underwent a change in its status with the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.
It saw further changes after the delimitation of constituencies, grant of citizenship rights to West Pakistan refugees, and 132 schools/colleges and roads across Jammu and Kashmir being renamed after the martyrs from the state police as well as the Army.
Changes have been occurring in the UT, but the most striking is the silence in the streets, which used to reverberate with anti-India, pro-Pakistan slogans and frenzy of stone pelters.Year 2022 saw none of these.
Politically, the Assembly is still to be revived, but with the delimitation commission completing its work, the chances of elections look brighter in 2023.
Much water has flowed under the bridge in the UT since 2019.Although a series of actions were initiated against terrorists and their support infrastructure, cases of targeted killings and gunfights continued to disrupt the peace.
Yet, even as the minorities and non-locals came under increasing terror attacks, tourism in the valley flourished like never before.The number of pilgrims to Amarnath in Kashmir touched an all-time high and it was no different at the Mata Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu.
The locals who have been embracing visitors from all over the country and the world are happy at the never-seen-before rush of arrivals.
Official figures show that Kashmir saw a record 2.3 million tourists arrivals in 2022 – the highest number in 75 years and a sign of a great year after more than three decades of terror and violence.In April, the Srinagar International Airport crossed a milestone by recording the highest number of daily flights – 102 – and of daily passengers – 15,199.
2022 has been a remarkable year for tourism, not just for Kashmir, but for the whole of the UT.Even the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri, which used to be in the news for incidents of firing on the Line of Control, infiltration attempts or anti-military activities, are moving towards tourism from terrorism.
The last time the valley saw tourists in large numbers was in 2012, when about 13 lakh people visited.But, 2022 has been the best-ever year for the industry.
It has given a fillip to Kashmir’s economy.
Year 2022 also saw the return of cinema to the valley.
It was after three decades that cinema theatres reopened in Kashmir.After the eruption of militancy in 1989, terrorists had ordered the closure of these cinemas, and burnt and bombed some of them.
But now an INOX in Srinagar is a reality.
The government may be trying to showcase this as a step towards normality, but the fact is that the locals are still not flocking to the cinemas.
Music and theatre, too, have returned and the year passing by saw a lot of musical programmes held in the valley and the border areas in Jammu.Schools and colleges are organising musical programmes the way they used to before 1990.
Even girls and women are taking to singing and girl bands are not an uncommon feature today.
Sports is another field that has seen Kashmiri youth bring laurels to the UT and the country.
The Centre has been pushing to make Jammu and Kashmir a sports hub of the country.
A massive upgrade of the sports infrastructure is being carried out across the UT.New stadiums have been thrown open and the government has set the target of engaging more than three million young people in various sports.
Athletes from Kashmir are winning medals in sports such as Wushu, Karate, and Kickboxing and are making Kashmir as well as India proud.
These youngsters, who have made their mark at different levels, are emerging as sources of inspiration for budding athletes to pursue their passion.
Recently, Ayeera Chisti from Srinagar created history by winning a medal at the World Junior Wushu Championship.
And Arif Mohd Khan carried the Indian flag to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where he was the lone Indian to participate in the Alpine Skiing event.
Several success stories have come up from young people in Kashmir, who a few years ago were seen pelting stones and attacking security forces.
No one could have imagined even in 2020 that there would be no mass reaction to the seizure of property, mainly plots of land, worth Rs 122.89 crore of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami in Kulgam, Pulwama, Budgam and Srinagar.The seized property included the house of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the late Hurriyat leader.
Geelani’s home was the headquarters where conspiracies were hatched.From here, diktats were issued for bandhs and orders given for stone-pelting and attacks on security forces and vital installations.It was a nerve centre for everything anti-India.
And yet, when the property was seized, there was no protest, not even a murmur.
For the separatists and their supporters, the fall has been complete.
Yasin Malik, who headed the banned JKLF, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Special NIA Court in Delhi after he was convicted in a terror-funding case.
More cases against him have been opened, including the one related to the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed.
Cases against other supporters of the terror network are also making progress.
Pakistan, which has been aiding and abetting terrorism in J&K, has been jolted by the majority of the Kashmiris, especially the young, moving away from violence.
It continues with its rhetoric in various international forums, including the UN.
Finding its plot weakening in Kashmir, Pakistan has been pushing in drugs through the LoC and other International Borders.Drug addiction has become a major cause of concern in the valley.
A report from the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre in AIIMS has revealed that more than six lakh people in Jammu and Kashmir are victims of drug abuse.
As high as 90 per cent of the drug addicts are in the 17-33 age group.
If drug addiction is the dark underbelly of the Kashmiri society, hatred and bloodshed are still the bitter turths that continue to haunt the UT.
Year 2022 saw Kashmiri Pandits and non-locals being targeted.As many as 14 people belonging to minority communities, including three Kashmiri Pandits (KPs), were killed in Jammu and Kashmir till November 30.Terrorists killed KPs who had chosen to stay on or take up jobs in Kashmir.
The families of the slain KPs had pointed fingers at their colleagues and neighbours for giving away pinpointed information about them.
Various terror outfits have been giving out open threats to KP state government employees to leave Kashmir.The employees who are working in the valley have been seeking relocation to safer zones, but the administration has not been paying any heed.
Displaced KPs continue to wait for the rehabilitation package that was promised by the Modi-led government.A film depicting their tragedy – ‘The Kashmir Files’ – did attract a lot of sympathy and controversy at the national and international levels.
The Opposition has criticised the BJP government of merely using the plight of the KPs to push the party’s larger agenda.
The KPs continue to wait for justice, even as the government makes all-out efforts to show that Kashmir is changing for the better.
For the Modi-led government, the UT is a project meant to be a success.Year 2022 has given the Centre a lot to feel satisfied about.
Its continued crackdown on separatists as well as terror sympathisers has yielded results, but the minorities continue to live in fear in Kashmir.
There is silence in the streets, but it is not because of the sub-zero temperature.
It is about the betrayal by the so-called separatists, who created a mythical dream of freedom; it is also about the political dynasties that have played dubious roles to fan the flames of violence.
The Chillai-Kalan is about deep freeze which melts after a time period.
(Deepika Bhan can be contacted at [email protected])
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