View: Attacks in Poonch-Rajouri strike at the heart of Centre's J&K approach
New Delhi: Dera Ki Gali, where terrorists ambushed an Army convoy killing four soldiers last week, is barely a few kilometres away from Bufliaz, the starting point of the 84-km Mughal Road, a relatively easier access to the Valley than the Banihal Tunnel, whose usage is curbed at times for security reasons.
In many ways, this is the junction where J&K's politics wrestles with its complex security environment. Voting percentages start to dip while security forces begin to dominate along a less-trodden road axis across the Pir Panjal Pass to Shopian in south Kashmir.
In 2019, the voting turnout varied from about 77% in Surankote tehsil at the mouth of Mughal Road to just about 3% towards the end in Shopian.
For this reason, the current trend of increased attacks in the Poonch-Rajouri area is not only a break from the past but also strikes at the heart of GoI's political approach following the Article 370 abrogation. The Muslim population in these areas are largely pahadis and Gurjar-bakarwals.
They have over the years decisively cast their lot with India unlike separatists in the Valley.
The Centre has worked hard to reach out to these communities since J&K was declared a Union Territory. Though the issue of extending reservation benefits to pahadi Muslims has agitated the Gurjar-Bakarwal community, the broader effort remains to assuage, coalesce and empower these groups in J&K politics, which has been dominated by the Valley.
This is also reflected in the delimitation exercise.
The old Anantnag parliamentary constituency is now called the Anantnag-Rajouri seat. Poonch, Rajouri and Surankote areas are now part of this constituency.
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