Let Jammu Introspect

The Legitimate Desk
After a deadly militant attack on Paramilitary CRPF on February 14 in which over 40 CRPF personnel got killed, there was a consistent panic among Kashmiris in other parts of country. Hundreds of Kashmiris who have been outside valley for studies, business or leisure purposes were caught off guard due to massive outrage in the country. Scores of students, businessmen were thrashed by the mobs after this deadly attack.
Hundreds of students left the colleges for their lives after fanatic elements attacked them to avenge the Pulwama tragedy. In view of the attacks the union home minister Rajnath Singh issued the strict directions to all the state governments to ensure safety of Kashmiris.
However, it did not stop people fleeing for their lives and many are reported to have been injured in mob violence. Jammu witnessed the large scale disturbance and authorities were forced to impose curfew for a week to thwart situation from worsening. Dozens of vehicles in the city were torched and the Kashmirs were systematically harassed by fringe elements under the garb of nationalism.
The twin words of Patriotism and Nationalism which is sacred for every Indian was highly misused by the fringe elements while holding the tri colour into their hands and attacking innocents.  Amid the patriotic slogans police even was pushed on the back foot initially due to which hundreds of Kashmiris ran helter skelter after fearing attacks.
The move by so called ultra nationalists did not only trigger the chaos, however, posed a potential threat for a religious divide. The majority population, however, maintained the calm in the city and defeated these nefarious designs. After strict curfew for a week now city is back to normalcy.
And the life moves on. However, what has been achieved in this chaos is a million dollar question. Those who tried to exploit the human tragedy of Pulwama and worked behind the scenes to split the people in the name of religion must be questioned. Jammu is predominantly a city of tourism and it has huge population of Kashmiris staying over there in winters.
This doesn’t only help the two regions to come closer to each other, however, also boost the economy of Jammu. After the insurgency broke out in Kashmir, the economy in Kashmir has started falling and the Jammu on the other side witnessed a steady economic growth.
The standard market spaces have been built up, shopping malls, international brands and the manufacturing units have witnessed a mushroom growth. However, it is largely depending on Kashmir for its product consumption. So the economic ties have been strongly growing between the two regions besides thousands of Kashmiris making Jammu a first destination for shopping.
In the last two months of winters and before shifting of Darbar to Srinagar, people of Kashmir spend crores over shopping and prefer to buy everything they can before moving home. However, this winter after this panic due to these fringe elements the Jammu was bereft of this economic opportunity and people returned home in a complete dismay.
Forget about shopping, they left their own belongings after ran in the dark of night under security protection. The city which is a second home to almost every Kashmiri turned so hostile for them was never imagined. The people in Kashmir were keenly observing the developments unfolding in Jammu especially the trader’s fraternity.
They even threatened to boycott the trade with Jammuites in case the harassment didn’t stop. Punjab, Haryana and other northern states would enjoy this split between the two regions and may seize this opportunity to establish strong business relations with the potential Kashmir based consumer market.
In that context Jammu would be in a great loss. So it is evidentially becoming more important for Jammu based traders, business units and civil society groups to keep these fringe elements at bay and continue to strengthen their economic ties with Kashmir. The economy and trade is the only thing that can surpass all hostilities and differences between the two sects and set the dawn of brotherhood, tolerance and bonhomie between the regions.