Two neighbouring states—Punjab and UT of Jammu and Kashmir—are facing two different challenges as jailed radical preacher Amritpal Singh and Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid kept security forces on their toes during their temporary release from jail for swearing in as members of Parliament in New Delhi on Friday. Their swearing-in comes weeks after they won the Lok Sabha polls.
“The radical space is expanding in Punjab while it is shrinking in J&K“, said a senior security official. “Yet the outcomes are the same.”
The cause of worry is the inability of the twin administrations to fill the gaps that created a space for radical narratives and rise of leaders who tapped these sentiments through violent or illegal means but gathered mass support in the process.
The gaps were not created overnight, said a security official, explaining that successive governments sat over a growing population of youth without jobs becoming victims of drugs and radical narratives that promised to assist them in creating better lives but to no avail.
The silver lining, said a state police official, is that both Amritpal and Rashid have been co-opted in the democratic process as they pledged allegiance to the Constitution .
As police forces of multiple states coordinated the movements of jailed leaders, the security brass also began deliberating on the possibility of jailed associates of the duo entering the fray when next round of elections take place.
Already, three associates of Amritpal lodged in Dibrugarh jail are learnt to have expressed keenness to fight elections .
The assembly byelections from Punjab’s Barnala, Dera Baba Nanak and Gidderbaha are slated to take place soon and Amritpal’s fellow detainees under National Security Act are eyeing an opportunity to rally support. Separately, assembly polls are due in J&K in September .
“It is a double edged sword as their support base will be influenced by their ideology and approach but the outreach will have to be through peaceful means and constitutional methods,” said an official.
What rings a bell of worry is that both are border states where threats from terror groups in Pakistan are alive.
While Punjab felt a sense of neglect, according to security sources, with central government assistance found wanting in pushing infrastructure and improving living conditions for an aspirational generation who was exposed to foreign shores, J&K got attention of the Centre but the youth were yet to become beneficiaries of an alternate system of governance that would address their issues.
Rashid is in Tihar jail in a terror funding case while Amritpal is lodged in Dibrugarh jail in Assam for offences under NSA.