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Yearender 2016: The year Kashmir suffered

The only silver lining during all this mayhem was that the annual Amarnath yatra to south Kashmir Himalayas went on.

By :  jatin mohanty
Update: 2016-12-26 07:57 GMT
2016 saw Mehbooba Mufti taking over as the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and Army for the first time carrying out surgical strikes on militant camps in PoK while violent protests for months hit hard normal life and resulted in shutdown of schools and death of 86 people.
The frequency of burning of schools prompted the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to take suo moto cognisance and initiate PIL proceedings, directing the state government to take steps for ensuring safety of the school buildings.
While the unrest is dying out, the educational infrastructure suffered massive damage in the Valley as more than 32 schools were gutted in mysterious fire incidents.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited the Valley several times to assess the situation. In the month of September, Singh led an all-party delegation of national parties in an attempt to reach out to all sections of the society to end the street protests. (Photo: Twitter/AIR)
As the Valley was going through its worst unrest in 26 years, there was an increase in hostilities along the LoC between armies of India and Pakistan. Both sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir along the LoC and the international border.
The special forces crossing the LoC into PoK and destroying several militant camps in which over 40 ultras and their sympathisers were killed was a departure from the traditional policy of exercising restraint after every ceasefire violation or an attack on security installation.
The deadly attack at Uri, close to Line of Control, on September 18 prompted perhaps the strongest peacetime reaction from the armed forces against the militants.
Curfew and shutdowns brought life in Kashmir valley to a standstill as schools remained closed, businesses shut and transport off the roads.
Authorities imposed curfew across Kashmir valley, snapped mobile and Internet services, banned newspapers for three days and took several news channels off air in an attempt to end the street violence but protests continued unabated.
For the first time in the past 26 years of turmoil in Kashmir, over 300 people were blinded as security forces fired pellet guns to quell the protests, leading to calls from various quarters to ban its use.
However, violent street protests and clashes between protestors and security forces across the Valley over the next several months left 86 people dead and hundreds including 5000 security forces personnel -- injured.
As the news of his death spread, there was an unprecedented outpour of outrage on the streets of the Valley as rumours were abound that the 21-year-old militant was killed when he was unarmed. The security forces dismissed the allegations.
As it appeared that the worst was over for the PDP-BJP government, Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani -- who had become the poster boy of militancy in Kashmir -- was killed in an encounter with security forces on July 8.
No sooner had she assumed office, Mehbooba faced her first real test. An unrest began at NIT Srinagar where students from outside the Valley were accused of beating local students following a tiff over an India-Pakistan cricket match. The authorities had to shut down the institute for some time to allow the frayed tempers to cool down.
Following Saeed's death, a smooth transition of power was expected to his daughter and political heir Mehbooba Mufti but the PDP president refused to take charge for over two and half months. As the days passed, it seemed increasingly difficult for the two parties to come together again with the PDP setting some conditions like initiation of the confidence building measures by the Centre. Finally, Mehbooba was sworn in as the first woman chief minister of the state on April 4.
The year started with Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad +Sayeed, who had cobbled up an unimaginable coalition government between his PDP and the BJP a year earlier, losing his battle against illness at AIIMS in Delhi on January 7.
The only silver lining during all this mayhem was that the annual Amarnath yatra to south Kashmir Himalayas went on.

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