Only 2 Families Protected In Kashmir, Yet They Can’t Call A Spade A Spade’: Junaid Mattu

Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu took an uncompromising stance on Thursday amid a red 72 hours in the Kashmir Valley, with terrorists targeting innocent civilians and killing 4 people in horrific circumstances. Speaking to Republic Media Network’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, Mattu stated that there was no defence of terrorism, nor was there a way to euphemise it by calling it ‘militancy’ and then, lashed out at those who for their own political purposes refuse to be unequivocal in condemning terrorism, going on to name and shame the two ‘mainstream’ political parties and families in the UT – the PDP run by the Muftis and the NC run by the Abdullahs.

“Only 2 families are adequately protected in Kashmir & yet they can’t call a spade a spade. I’m not adequately protected but I will. Police are busy protecting Muftis & Abdullahs for reasons best known to them, but I won’t stop,” Mattu said.

Junaid Azim Mattu speaks to Republic on abominable Srinagar killings 

The biggest city in the Kashmir valley has been engulfed in a wave of fear, following the murders of four innocent civilians by terrorists. Makhan Lal Bindroo, a Kashmiri Pandit and the owner of a popular and old Srinagar pharmacy was shot dead by Pakistani-backed terrorists in J&K. Within minutes, terrorists had shot dead a street vendor from Bihar’s Bhagalpur, Virender, who sold bhelpuri. With the country still grappling with the cold-blooded murders, the terrorists then shot and killed two teachers who for having saluted India’s Tricolour.

Stating that he paid a visit to the bereaved families of the victims, an anguished Srinagar Mayor asked to stop referring to the barbaric acts as militancy and deem them as terrorism. He said that the terrorists and militants are granted a ‘social sanction’ to operate under the aegis of not only cross border reinforcements but a boost from the insiders of J&K too. 

“Sometimes they cannot achieve their nefarious desires, but unfortunately, in the past two days (referring to killings) they were able to do that,” Mattu added. 

Implying that Mehbooba Mufti and the Abdullahs have not outrightly stood up against violence in Jammu & Kashmir, or that their ambiguous stand further cements social sanctity to barbarism and terrorism, Mattu said, “Anybody from National Conference or the Peoples Democratic Republic (PDP) who says ‘this (killing of innocents) was wrong but…’, that ‘but’ is not unequivocal.”

“Mehbooba Mufti went to Makhan Lal Bindroo’s house and her condemnation there was not unequivocal too. Even there, she had to make a demand for talks with Pakistan. So, obviously, I am very clear about the fact, I do not need to take names to prove that. Everybody knows that,” Mattu asserted. 

Are minorities (Sikhs/ Hindus) targeted in Jammu & Kashmir?

Upon being asked if minorities were being targeted in the recent spate of killings in Jammu & Kashmir, the Srinagar Mayor voiced that one should not ‘shy away’ from admitting the same. He further explained why Makhan Lal Bindroo, a Kashmiri Pandit who stayed back and Dinesh Chand (one of the murdered teachers) were picked out by terrorists.

“If you shy away from that…Why was Makhan Lal Bindroo killed? Why was Deepak Chand taken out of the line? There were eight to ten other teachers present in the school celebrating August 15 and who saluted to the flag, why was he singled out?” Mattu replied.

Further, he said that the question itself was contemptuous because ‘of course, they were targeted based on religion and because they were minorities.’

Civilians’ broad-daylight shootout in J&K ‘was targetted killing’ with aim to intimidate minorities’: Srinagar Mayor

Mattu brought to attention that insurgents and terrorists are intolerant of sections of society participating in the mainstream political apparatus, of ethnicity and for that matter even ‘Kashmiri Muslims are targetted for espousing the idea of mainstream politics within India’. 

“We’ve been losing Kashmiri civilians, mainly political activists. But these killings, the pharmacist, the teachers and the golgappa-seller were targeted to spread fear among the minorities,” Mattu said. 

Furthermore, the Srinagar Mayor added, “Makhan Lal Bindroo, Deepak Chand and Virendra Paswan, the golgappe street vendor who was killed in Laal Bazaar – they were targetted killings with a specific mindset, with a specific aim and a specific goal to intimidate the minorities and drive a wedge between different communities in Kashmir.”

‘Only two families adequately protected in Kashmir, and yet they can’t find the courage’

Furthermore, calling out the silence and equivocal stances of Mufti and Omar Abdullah, Mattu said that he has never been scared and he ‘will never be.” Mattu had been asked directly whether he fears for his own safety, given the stance he was taking against the terrorists and their supporters. To that, he made clear that there were only two families who were ‘adequately protected’ in the Kashmir Valley – a clear reference to the Muftis and Abdullahs.

“Despite me being the Mayor, only two political families are adequately protected by Police and they are the Abdullahs and Muftis and they still cannot gather the courage to call spade a spade. I am not adequately protected, if anything I am only cosmetically protected but that will never stop me from calling spade a spade,” Mattu said unflinchingly.

He proceeded, “Why are we in politics if we cannot rise up to the occasion, or can’t demonstrate leadership and conviction in tragic instances like this? When our daughters, brothers are executed while they have gone to teach in school. Yeah, I do live under constant threat to my life, even my family. Because the police is busy protecting Muftis and Abdullah, for reasons best known to them. The cost of ambiguity has been borne by my generation, we have lost one generation, we cannot lose another generation.”