On Sunday morning, the first since he took oath for the second time as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah was feeling happy and proud. At 53, he had completed the ‘21 kilometres half-marathon in a record 2.04 hours at an average speed of ‘one kilometre in less than six minutes’.
It indeed was a phenomenal achievement for someone who had never run that long in a stretch before and had no proper training and no running plan.
Visuals of his marathon running along the ‘romantically beautiful’ banks of Dal Lake were all over the social media. They provided a semblance of normalcy and revived the old memories after decades. Srinagar looked like any other town across the globe, something akin to European cities because of the climate and natural beauty.
Peace “seemed” to have returned to Kashmir, but for the tragic evening near Sonamarg, just 80 km from Srinagar, the same day when seven workers of a construction company were gunned down by militants. This was a harsh reminder of terror on an otherwise completely peaceful day in the valley that militants still have the capacity and capability to strike at will wherever they want.
The new CM is not far from reality
This harsh reality of Kashmir must not be lost on anyone. In fact, Omar has himself often been warning against complacency and misreading the massive tourist flow into the valley as a sign of normalcy. It certainly is not. It has proved Omar right that the peace in Kashmir valley is still quite fragile.
The Sunday evening attack on the workers of a tunnel construction company was well-planned and well-executed. This also indicates that it was not an isolated attack but well organised and well thought off. The timing of the attack was also crucial since it took place within a few days of Omar taking over as the Chief Minister. The terrorists had aimed at a bigger number of casualties to send a message and make their presence felt.
This is the beginning of the challenges for Omar. Pakistan and its notorious intelligence agency, ISI will always try to keep the Kashmir pot boiling. The way Kashmiris participated in the assembly elections must have come as a rude shock for them (Pakistan and ISI) that after about four decades the situation in Kashmir is back to square one like it was in mid 1980s when Pakistan started subversion there.
Today’s Kashmir & Kashmiris are different
Much water has flown down the River Jehlum since then. Kashmiris have realised the futility of violence. They have realised that Kashmir is and will always be part of India and can never become Pakistan, as former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah remarked today while condemning the Sonmarg terror incident.
But that does not mean Pakistan, its army and the intelligence agency ISI will give up on Kashmir. It is also a fact that they will keep on finding the “vulnerable” elements in Kashmir valley to use them for their designs despite even the pro-Pakistan organisations like Jamaat-e-Islami reconciling to the new reality of ‘Naya Kashmir’.
Omar has a more challenging marathon, which has just begun. Like his half marathon in Srinagar, he will have to complete it no matter how challenging it is going to be. Unlike during the Srinagar marathon, he may not have many people to prop and cheer him up. He may have ‘opposite winds’ to face and confront with.
Hopefully he should be cheered and supported by everyone, cutting across party and ideological lines, to complete and win this marathon, knowing well how challenging it is for him. This marathon, like any Olympian runner, is running for the country to defeat the sectarian, divisive, extremist and terrorist forces.
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