State administration does not have the luxury of resorting to a randomized response: Sajad Gani Lone

State administration does not have the luxury of resorting to a randomized response: Sajad Gani Lone

Recent attacks a deliberate attempt of othering the majority community and identifying it with the savagery that a lunatic fringe is indulging in

Peoples Conference President Sajad Gani Lone today said that the recent spate of attacks is a deliberate attempt of othering the majority community and identifying it with the savagery that a lunatic fringe is indulging in and that the administration doesn’t have the luxury of resorting to a randomized response.

“Attempts are being created to violently target the Minority community. There is a deliberate attempt of othering the majority community and identifying it with the savagery that a lunatic fringe is indulging in. It is important to make a distinction between the majority community and the fringiest of the fringe, consisting of a few individuals who are a curse for this land and people inhabiting this land. They have not spared the majority community either and have killed at whim and continue to target all those who are not in conformity with their world view”, Lone said.

Lone emphasized that what matters is that we remain steadfast and united in this hour of grief and protect our people and our land. Our collective heritage and our collective histories of our struggles, our travails demand that we understand that this land is ours and that we together will not allow trespassers and encroachers to scare us away.

“A helpless civilian can do nothing against the diktats of violence and the majority community is as pained and as scared as the minority community. I am under no illusions- the guns targeting the minority community today will target the majority community tomorrow. They have done it in the past for the last three decades, they have done it just a few days back and they will do it again. What matters is not their madness but our resolve to call a spade a spade. I am a Kashmiri Muslim and have lost my dear father to bullets and there are thousands like me. We are all in it together. We are connected through the pain of losing our loved ones to bullets. Those who indulge in terror, those who believe in violence have no religion, no faith and no nationality”, he added.

Lone underscored that while we as people of J and K cannot afford to give a scattered, disunited response, it is equally important for the state administration to understand that it just does not have the luxury of resorting to a randomized response.

“That would be walking into a trap laid by the killers. What we need is a specific targeting of those involved in acts of terror. Sifting through three-decade records and summoning old OGWs who have reintegrated into the society may do more harm than benefit. Wholesale summoning is as harmful and counter-productive”, he added

He emphasized that the state administration needs to understand that it may have been operating in an environment which was not as challenging as it is today or might be in the future and they need to gear up to face these challenges.

“Our learning curves are bloodied and have been drawn over the last three decades in the company of a lot of pain and bloodshed. Not referring to these curves will be a waste of that sacrifice. We will have to refer to these learning curves and I can tell you with authority that our learning curves will never recommend a randomized response”, he added.