I received a message from a well-read middle-aged Kashmiri. Verbatim, it read, "Good Day, Sir. our agencies are hellbent upon to destroy what we have achieved in the recent past. They have provided a readymade platform to these JEI men to propagate their ideology and play the so-called victimhood. Where is Dovalian Doctrine. For petty electoral gains they are again making a mess over here."
That view, blaming security providers for prospective breaches of security, may seem exaggerated, but it only underlines the extent of frustration and distress among analytical Kashmiris. Their frustration with the state apparatus is, in a sense, a call for action—action in pursuit of peace and security.
One disgusted message reads, "We have been again pushed to live in a banana republic"—conjuring images of renegade mercenaries, violence, and political instability. In several towns and villages, groups of men have been unhappily discussing what’s happening, questioning what the state apparatus is up to, clucking their tongues, and expressing deep disappointment.
Several thinking Kashmiris are very upset at the electoral space that has been provided to erstwhile separatists during the ongoing assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir — even till midnight, and at bus-stands, without permissions. People at large do not want a return to violence and mayhem, hartals or agitations—which they suspect it might lead to.