Flashpoint Kashmir

Indian security forces have clamped a 24-hour curfew since August 23, in all the ten districts of the occupied territory to curb the rage of the Kashmiris. The curfew was not relaxed even for Friday prayers. The ethnic divide between the Hindus of Jammu and Muslims of IHK has reached a stage that Delhi-based Human Rights activist Praful Bidwai, in his Op-Ed titled Playing with fire in Jammu & Kashmir is forced to comment that "In less than two months, the BJP has succeeded in driving an emotional and political wedge between Jammu and Kashmir - something that jihadi separatists working with Pakistani agencies couldn't achieve in the nearly 20 years of the azadi movement."

On the other hand, another alarmed civil liberties campaigner, Kuldip Nayar, in his Op-Ed Kashmir on edge, surmises that "The ISI may want to fish in its troubled waters. Some well-meaning persons are suggesting that India should quit Kashmir. They do not realise that the Yasin Maliks and Umar Farooqs will be pushed out in no time and the Valley will be taken over by the Taliban or terrorists."