Although there has been a steep decline in terrorist-related violence, the Valley had been responding to the separatists calls for bandhs and protests on issues as trivial as a VIP's visit. That the people did not blindly follow the separatists diktats on every issue was indicated by their rejection of the election boycott calls and their large-scale participation in Assembly and Parliament elections. The people and the 'moderate' separatists had also started opposing the hardliners frequent bandh calls for they had started hitting common man's livelihood.

The dwindling response to the militants calls has, however, undergone a reversal which, for two reasons, does not augur well for the state's security environment and also for its political and administrative health. First, the focus of protests which were hitherto confined to sundry issues, has now shifted on the security forces following the “objectionable actions” of some of their men. Second, earlier the major centres of protests used to be Srinagar's militant-infested congested downtown localities or incident-specific local areas of the Valley. But now every incident, rightly or wrongly suspected to involve security personnel, evokes widespread protests.

The situation is a wake-up call both for the Omar Abdullah-led Congress-NC government and New Delhi as failure to take timely corrective steps can have serious implications. Law and order lapses create conducive ground for terrorism's spread and administration's collapse which invariably destabilises governments. The developments of the past few weeks have already eroded the groundswell of goodwill with which the well-intentioned Chief Minister had assumed office six months ago. As stated in this column four weeks ago, he will have to improve his performance on political and administrative fronts to ensure full-term survival of his government. The CM needs to imbibe Winston Churchill's advice that “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”.

Pakistan President Zardari's admission that militants and extremists were deliberately created and nurtured in the country as a policy to achieve some short-term tactical objectives may be a revelation only for the political illiterate. As one of Pakistan's well-known security analyst Aysha Siddiqa has said that there was nothing new in what the President had said. “It is an open secret.” But the key point, she said, was that the President claimed that the government patronage for militants no longer exists.

The world knows that Pakistan and its economy saviour US had mothered and nursed the terrorists first to oust the Soviet Army from Afghanistan and then by helping Taliban to establish their rule in the country. Simultaneously, to further their strategic interests in the region, Punjab became the target of the CIA-conceived and Pakistan-backed separatist-terrorism that continued for over a decade. After acquiring “strategic depth” by helping establish a friendly Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late eighties, Pakistan diverted its attention to Jammu and Kashmir for promoting terrorist activities in the state.

With the suppression of terrorism in Punjab, Pakistan's game of creating a buffer Sikh state between India and Pakistan by engineering Punjab's secession failed. And by failing to annex Jammu and Kashmir through its three aggressions and by mothering and promoting terrorism in the state, Pakistan's rulers see no alternative but to seek a solution of the Jammu and Kashmir “dispute” through talks.

Besides this, there are two other reasons for Asaf Ali Zardari's admission that his country was a creator and nurturer of terrorists and extremists. The very forces Pakistan created now pose a serious threat to its ruling class and the country's integrity. Pakistani rulers must have realised that their actions were like riding a tiger not knowing how to get off without being eaten.

The second reason is the American pressure to mend relations with India “so that Pakistan concentrates on crushing the terrorists who threaten the country” and the world including the 9/11-hit USA. It is in pursuance of American goading that the Pakistan government has lately started expressing its keenness to resume the composite dialogue with India stalled by 26/11 Mumbai attack. The relevance of these pressures needs to be seen in the light of the US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's impending visit to the region.

There are no two opinions on the need for restoring normal relations and peace between India and Pakistan. This can be achieved only through dialogue and not through wars as Pakistan has hitherto been trying to do. But for India, starting the composite dialogue including the Kashmir issue, as New Delhi has repeatedly asserted, can take place only if Pakistan addresses Indian concerns and sensitivities that include punishing the perpetrators of 26/11 attack and stopping the use of Pakistan territory for launching attacks on India. The sooner it is done the better. (IPA Service)