The Kashmir Valley, particular Srinagar, is burning over a social issue - prostitution, which started with the Indian Express publishing a news report revealing that the J&K police is investigating a sex racket that included top politicians, police and security force officers. According to the news story, girls, including minors, were coerced into prostitution, blackmailed and supplied to top police officials, bureaucrats, politicians, and surrendered militants. Ever since there have been hartals, processions and demonstrations by various social, and political groups, with even some militant groups lending their support.

Clearly three issues are involved in this crisis. First, the social dimension relating to prostitution and why girls are being forced into it in J&K; seconds - the governance issue, relating to failure of administrative machinery to realise the urgency of the matter; and third - a political issue relating to various groups politicising the scandal for narrow gains. An analysis of these issues is needed.

There are several viewpoints relating to the societal angle. A section of lawyers feels that the issue is being blown out of proportion since prostitution is not unique to Kashmir, but some student protestors allege that the young girls were lured with promises of a job or under sedation. A section of the media feels that there is an attempt to malign the girls as the victims are being named, while the alleged perpetrators are not. Another section is concerned with the disproportionate sex ratio in J&K over the past 17 years of insurgency and the preference for an employed wife, which pushes many young marriageable women to meet bureaucrats and politicians who then exploit them. One cannot overlook the economic aspect of this issue since J&K has been affected in economic terms since insurgency began here.

There have been violent protests by various political, religious and student groups. Sensing the seriousness of the issue and the chord it has struck with the people, the state government handed over this case to the CBI due to influential figures allegedly being involved in the scandal. The J&K High Court agreed to consider the petition by the High Court Bar Association as a PIL. The bench refused, however, to disclose the names of persons allegedly involved so as to ensure that this does not influence the investigation. The failure of the administrative set up to address the matter when it surfaced in October 2004 and belated realisation of the seriousness of the matter has led to a state of anarchy in the state, making people take the law into their own hands and destroying the residence of Sabeena, the 'kingpin (sic) of the scandal'.

Various political groups who do not agree on any other matter have jointly raised their voices. The Dukhtaraan-e-Millat has come to the forefront to undertake moral policing; BJP state president, Dr Nirmal Singh; Samajwadi Party President, Sheikh Abdul Rehman; JKFM general secretary, Muhammad Sharief Sartaz; Hashim Qureshi of the Democratic Liberation Party and the Hurriyat have lauded its action. Cable operators, Internet cafes, PCOs, beauty parlours and restaurants are on the DeM's hit list. It has alleged that the state administration is 'patronising' prostitution, pornography and other vulgar activities to counter insurgency. Syed Ali Shah Geelani summed up the whole episode as "merely a crime of war and a part of the chain of war crimes committed by forces in Kashmir." Another vocal section is the student bodies, which are demanding the identification of those involved in the flesh trade and their arrest and a transparent investigation into the whole scandal.

The issue, it seems, has gone off-track. There is no talk of the girls involved in terms of redressing their grievances or the matter of their education, rehabilitation and so on. Instead, the whole issue has assumed a political shape, with each political party trying to further its own agenda and point their finger at the government. A recent development is the disappearance of the girls 'mysteriously from their houses' reported by a local daily whereas, in a recent interview, a Kashmiri woman claiming to be part of the racket herself has claimed that the participation of the girls was voluntary. One cannot ignore that there is a serious social issue involved here with obvious political linkages and economic implications, which needs urgent attention. However, trying to resolve it at only the political level may only provide political gratification, but leave the serious issue unaddressed at the social level.