Are the security forces and AFSPA the only villains in
Kashmir?
If we don’t need the law, we should stop wasting trained
soldiers in counter insurgency tasks
POLITICS
| 4-minute read | 31-07-2016
After over six decades of using security forces to fight
insurgency, it does not improve my confidence in the nation when the Union
defence minister Manohar Parikkar has to come out to defend the security forces
for the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The killing of Burhan Wani, an armed extremist, who is
wanted for killing scores of innocent people let alone the men in uniform
destined to die ( as a learned MP once put it) has touched off a “controversy”
as usual.
Perhaps this is the only country where more tears are shed
for terrorists, militants and extremists, while thousands of families are doomed
to mourn in private their losses at the hands of terrorists.
I have nearly two decades of experience as MI officer in dealing with over 25 insurgencies in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram,
Nagaland, Tripura and Sri Lanka.
Fortunately my exposure to Jammu and Kashmir was only for the
weeks at the height of trouble in 1990. So it distresses me even more to see
brilliant minds singling out the security forces
and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) as the villains in “informed
discussions” in our media.
Is the AFSPA the only villain in Kashmir? If
so, why did not we think of abolishing rather than
using it?
I wish resolving Kashmir issue were as simple
as that.
I am opposed to the use of AFSPA as a panacea for State’s inability to overcome internal threats to its existence. We cannot expect the state to impose AFSPA for 50 years, as in
Manipur, and get away with it by blaming the security forces every time
the public gets agitated. We have been doing it
even before the AFSPA was conceived.
If I were a Manipuri,
I would also protest against the State because people have been victims of both extremists and
government for nearly two generations.
It is dishonesty in politics and corruption in governance that
perpetuates problems in states. And in the Northeast, politicians have been riding piggy back on the issue of fighting
extremism; for some in the garb of politicians, it is
a lucrative business too. I suppose it is true in Jammu and Kashmir as
well. Otherwise who will bother about the Hurriyat leaders? I remember a telling instance when a Manipur Opposition leader
known to me contested the state polls thundering against the AFSPA issue and got elected.
When he became the chief minister the Army wanted to withdraw the perpetual military security guard it
had been providing to the chief minister, as it expected the state to revoke
the AFSPA.
I am told the CM got panicky and stopped it. When I went to congratulate him, he touched upon the issue. He said with a poker face "Colonel sab,
we say so many things during election to win votes. But I have to be realistic
when I become CM."
This political double speak is harsh reality of our
"democracy". For our
troubled states like Jammu and Kashmir, time for band aid solutions have long
run out and you cannot con the people, repeating the 'abolish AFSPA' slogan any
more.
Probably, even Irom Sharmila who had been on hunger strike over
the issue of abolishing the AFSPA for 16 years had realised this. She has at last
decided to give up her fast and enter the political fray. It is a welcome decision because it
is politics that sustains misuse of AFSPA. There is no quick fix solution for Jammu
and Kashmir. It has become more complex because successive national leadership
at the state and Centre have dithered in finding a solution. The leadership at
the state and Centre have to bite the bullet and take some hard decisions and
build a national consensus to implement them.
Till they do it, let us not talk of the AFSPA and advise the
security forces on how to conduct their operations. I am against using the Army
against civilians; it is a self defeating proposition like using a sword for
the morning shave. So if we don't need
AFSPA, stop wasting trained soldiers on counter -insurgency tasks. They are
meant for a better purpose – national security. It is getting a little
tiring to hear armchair discussions on the AFSPA “dispassionately” when I see
thousands of my fellow soldiers continuing to die, in spite of the AFSPA,
because of our incompetence in ending the "problem."
It is tragic to see our security forces and youth in Jammu and Kashmir
dying in vain as there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.
Both New Delhi and Srinagar seem to be indulging in traditional political
gamesmanship to buy time to heal the issue. I doubt whether they are even looking
for a Bodhi tree to sit under to gain some wisdom on resolving the issue.
Courtesy: India Today
opinion portal DailyO.in http://www.dailyo.in/politics/kashmir-afspa-burhan-wani-manipur-irom-sharmila-indian-army-insurgency-manohar-parrikar-hurriyat/story/1/12102.html
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