‘Sinister design behind selective targeting of victims’ J&K Assembly Resolution assembly resolution on Pahalgam attack

The resolution, moved by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary, said: “Such acts of terror (are) a direct assault on the ethos of Kashmiriyat, the values enshrined in our Constitution, and the spirit of unity, peace, and harmony that have long characterised Jammu & Kashmir and our nation.” The Assembly also endorsed the diplomatic measures taken by the Narendra Modi government in the aftermath of the attack.

The resolution cautioned society and the media against falling victim to attempts at “inflaming passions”, while appealing to state governments to ensure the “safety, dignity and well-being” of Kashmiris, including students.

Several MLAs said that demolition of houses of relatives of militants by security forces in the wake of the attack could be counterproductive.

Speaking about the condemnation of the attack by all quarters, the resolution said that it was for the first time that people from Kathua in Jammu to Kupwara in Kashmir were united on this. “The spontaneous outpouring of moral and material support towards tourists reaffirms the people’s steadfast commitment to peace, communal harmony, and the rule of law,” the resolution said.

Leader of the Opposition Sunil Sharma of the BJPCongress leader G A Mir, Sajad Lone (People’s Conference), Waheed-ur-Rehman Para (PDP) and M Y Tarigami (CPI-M) also spoke during the session.

Earlier, reading out the names of the 26 killed in the terror attack, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that “terrorism will come to an end only when the people are with us’’. “Given the public outrage… this is the beginning of its end if we take the proper steps.”

Pointing to the fact that mosques in Kashmir had observed a two-minute silence before Friday prayers in the memory of those killed in the terror attack – for the first time arguably in the history of Kashmir militancy – Abdullah said his government will strengthen this public sentiment against terror. “We cannot control a terrorist with a gun, but we can end militancy if people are with us. I think that time has come,” he said.

Expressing their “full solidarity with the victims and their families”, the MLAs also remembered “the supreme sacrifice of (pony wallah) Shaheed Syed Adil Hussain Shah, who, while bravely attempting to save tourists, laid down his life”.

Abdullah added that he will not use the tragedy to press for statehood. Under the UT’s rules of governance, the control of the police is with the Lieutenant Governor and, in the wake of the Pahalgam attack, some have urged that this be transferred to the state government.

But, the National Conference vice-president, who had been under pressure from the Opposition on the statehood issue, said: “After Pahalgam, with what face can I ask for statehood? We have talked about statehood in the past and will do so in the future too, but it will be shameful on my part if I tell the Central government that 26 people have died, now give me statehood… Do you think that my politics is so cheap?”.

Abdullah added that he felt personally responsible for what had happened in Baisaran. Saying he was at a loss for words, the CM said: “As Minister for Tourism, I had invited them. Being a host, it was my duty to send them back safely. I could not do it.”

Abdullah said the reason behind convening a special J&K Assembly session was that neither Parliament nor any other House of the country could understand the pain of the 26 families more. “Speaker sahib, those people sitting around you have also lost someone or the other to terrorism. Our sister (the BJP’s) Shagun Parihar, (NC minister) Sakina Itoo, (People’s Conference chairman) Sajad Lone, (NC legislator) Qaysar Jamshaid… Somebody lost their father, uncle… The House also remembers the deadly attack on the J&K Assembly complex on October 1, 2001, that left 40 people dead.”

Referring to the outpouring of anger against the Pahalgam attack, Lone said the blood of so many killed in Kashmir over the past more than three decades has “finally awakened the whole Kashmiri community”.

“This has happened for the first time. We also salute relatives of the deceased who, despite their loss, have created such an environment of harmony that even the face of a Kashmiri who sacrificed his life saving the tourists (Adil Hussain) is known across the country,’’ Lone said.

Requesting the Speaker to include the names of all those who “got martyred” at Pahalgam in obituary references for Assembly records, Lone said: “We have been watching this violence for 37 years and it is a reality that this violence had got acceptance… What we saw when people marched in the streets is that they are not ready to accept that violence… This is the start of an end… the end of social sanctity to violence… We shall create an atmosphere that this mindset does not get reversed.”

The PDP’s Waheed-ur-Rehman Para said the Pahalgam attack was a crime against humanity and a communal act. What was heartening was that “for the first time, people from every nook and corner of Kashmir came out to protest”, Para said, adding that “Hindus too had shown patience and defeated the designs of terrorists”.

Hoping that there were no more terror attacks like Pahalgam, the Congress’s G A Mir said the intentions of terrorists in segregating people as per religion would be defeated by the entire country “unitedly”.

Mir also called for an inquiry into “the security lapses”, particularly as Pahalgam is heavily guarded for falling on the route to the Amarnath shrine, and urged the Centre to issue an advisory so that people from Kashmir are not harmed in other parts of the country.

Khursheed Ahmad Sheikh, the Awami Ittehad Party MLA from Langate and the brother of jailed MP Engineer Rashid, called for a memorial in the memory of the Pahalgam deceased. He also praised the protests in Kashmir over the killings.

The NC’s Altaf Kaloo condemned the killings while appreciating those tourists who had continued to stay in Kashmir despite the terror attack.