Darjeeling seems to be the new 'Kashmir'

These days, Kashmir and Darjeeling, which are miles apart from each other, are unfortunately joined by the tragic cycle of bandh, violence, stone pelting and death.

Kashmir and Darjeeling share a lot of commonalities. The first thing that comes to mind is the scenic beauty, high mountains, green lush meadows and world famous water bodies of these two popular tourist destinations.

Like Kashmir, Darjeeling is also geographically far away from Delhi. Thus the policy makers have unwittingly developed the "out of sight, out of mind" syndrome for both Kashmir and Darjeeling which clearly explains the apathy of successive Central governments towards these beautiful parts of the country.

Why only Kashmir and Darjeeling, the entire northeast region also faces similar indifference from mainland India because of its distance from the national capital.

These days, Kashmir and Darjeeling, which are miles apart from each other--one in the northern tip of the country and the second in the eastern region--are unfortunately joined by the tragic cycle of bandh, violence, stone pelting and death.

Since the summers of 2016, after the killing of Burhan Wani, a militant commander of the Kashmir-based Hizbul Mujahideen, by the Indian security forces on July 8 last year, the Valley was on the boil with a brief period of lull which again was interrupted in April this year.

During the Srinagar Lok Sabha bypolls, a few months ago, on April 9, eight civilians were killed after security personnel opened fire on protesters. The Srinagar bypolls witnessed only seven per cent of voting--worst turnout in the Valley in decades.

According to reports, the protests and violence that rocked 10 districts of Kashmir last year registered the death of around 100 civilians and two security personnel. The number of injured persons was also huge--an estimated 15,000 Kashmiris and 4,000 security men sustained serious wounds.

Apart from the death toll, the most striking aspect of last year's protests was the large-scale participation of youngsters in stone pelting. This led to the excessive use of pellet guns by security forces which left many dead, injured and blinded for a lifetime. In order to quell the protest, the government banned internet services on several occasions in the Valley.

The cycle of violence got repeated this year too. It followed almost a similar pattern; however, the army has stopped the use of pellet guns against stone pelters, after it received strong criticism from various international human rights groups, including the Amnesty International.

The Kashmir problem is always unique in India as the Valley is a favourite hunting ground for terrorists, sponsored by neighbouring Pakistan, whose main targets are security forces.

The border skirmishes have increased manifold in the last few months in Kashmir. On Thursday, reports suggested that three terrorists were gunned down by army men during an encounter in Pulwama.

During the six-hour long operation against Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, jawans had to also fight against fierce stone pelting by the locals.

Like Kashmir, Darjeeling too is under the shroud of massive violence and protests as the Gorkhaland agitation is back with a bang in the hills of West Bengal, this summer.

On Thursday, the indefinite bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the political outfit which is leading the protest, entered the 11th day in the hills. On Saturday, the protest took an ugly turn leading to the death of three GJM supporters.

In Darjeeling too, we saw men and women resorting to stone pelting against jawans during the ongoing protests. Like Kashmir, Darjeeling too has no access to internet all these days.

The worst hit in both Darjeeling and Kashmir are the children who are unable to attend their schools because of the crisis like situation in their respective homelands.

The children of Kashmir are so unfortunate that many of their schools have been set on fire by miscreants. Thus instead of schools, stand charred and mangled pieces of doors, windows, benches and boards.

On Wednesday, the GJM gave a 12-hour 'window' to Darjeeling boarding schools to evacuate students from their campuses to neighbouring places on Friday. Similarly, last year, students in Kashmir hardly went to schools and most of them were promoted to the next level without any examinations. This time too, schools mostly remained closed in the Valley.

If in Kashmir, the locals are fighting for their "self-determination", in the hills the strenuous cry for a separate state is once again reverberating with great passion.

OneIndia News