[Reader-list] Army retreat from J&K will be suicidal

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

*Army retreat from J&K will be suicidal

Ramesh Khazanchi <http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hard-copy>
**Sunday June 14, 2009
The Times of India*

*Link* -
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hard-copy/entry/it-s-a-war-keep

Kashmir, I admit, is my fixation, for I am a victim of its two-decade-long
dalliance with death and destruction. The latest spark adding insult to
injury is the reported acceptance by the Union home minister, P Chidambaram,
of a proposal from the J&K state leadership seeking the suspension or
revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA). However,
even talk of its revocation could spell doom for the return of normalcy to
the violence-ridden valley. Pakistan's ruinous internecine battle within may
have its ramifications across the LoC, not by chance but by design.

It was Chidambaram's first visit to the valley after he became home
minister. Let him lead by example. If he looks soft by the exterior, let it
not be mistaken as a sign of weakness. Flexing the iron hand in the velvet
glove, I believe, is the need of the hour. If financial wizardry is his
forte, strategic planning ought to be his bible in his new role. It is far
too pre-mature at this stage to even think of putting on hold the AFSPA let
alone its revocation. In any case, the unified Command - which comprises the
Army brass, the governor, the chief minister and the Cabinet Committee on
Security - has to deliberate the issue before a decision in this regard is
made.

Legend has it that Kashmir is the land of Kashyap rishi (seer), the
eponymous saint who lent the 'vahr' (bowl-shaped) valley its name and
identity, exterminated the 'asuras' (demons) who would devour the
God-fearing aborigines. Mark, the first syllable is common to both -
Kash-yap and Kash-mir. Born and brought up in the paradise-turned-cauldron,
like tens of thousands of other Kashmiri Hindus - to be precise Kashmiri
Pandits - I have been driven out of my motherland for no fault of mine by
none other than the jihadis, brainwashed at a tender age by the
scourge-on-earth - the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's
supra-constitutional 'international-sabotage institution'.

Americans have realised it post 9/11 - much, much after we Indians fell
victim to Pakistan's machinations and the gory violence it unleashed in a
bid to wrest control of the land which never was theirs. For 20 years we
suffered at their hands in Punjab, and for the last two decades in Jammu &
Kashmir in what is euphemistically termed a low-intensity conflict (LIC).
What they failed to attain by outright aggression in 1947, '65 and '71, has
been attempted by sowing the seeds of internal strife and secession.

Only the Cowboy has gone the whole hog after them as he has the wherewithal
and the will to exterminate the scourge.

The grand old American democracy has introduced a plethora of
all-encompassing legislation, including the Homeland Security Act and US
Patriot Act, which permit the DNA profiling of people suspected of terrorist
activity against the US or its interests and subjects abroad. That's what
nations are legitimately supposed to do to protect their territorial
integrity and national sovereignty aimed at securing the life, liberty,
business and property of its citizens and allies.

Alas, the weak-kneed Indian government has, unlike Americans, failed to stem
the tide of home-grown militancy and Pakistan-sponsored insurgency in the
state. India, under whichever political dispensation at the Centre, has
abysmally failed to turn the adversity into opportunity on many an occasion.
The high point being Pakistan's Kargil misadventure, although a godsend for
us, we missed the bus again for we failed the nation by not declaring a
full-fledged war on all fronts, including the western front and the Karachi
harbour. What do we maintain for the Naval behemoth in the Arabian sea? Are
we content in letting it be an augmentation of the Coast Guard? There we
failed, too, in the wake of the enemy's cloak-and-dagger operation when
so-called non-state actors surreptitiously sailed across the high seas to
carry out the 26/11 terrorist mission in Mumbai under explicit directions
and logistic support by their agent-provocateur across the Radcliffe Line.

On November 27, 1997, then Chief Justice of India J S Verma and four other
judges of the Supreme Court on a review petition of the AFSPA (in the
context of the north-east) observed, "The power to make a law providing for
deployment of the armed forces of the Union in aid of the civil power of a
State does not include within its ambit the power to enact a law which would
enable the armed forces of the Union to supplant or act as a substitute for
the civil power in the State. The armed forces of the Union would operate in
the State concerned in cooperation with the civil administration so that the
situation which has necessitated the deployment of armed forces is
effectively dealt with and normalcy is restored."

It is explicit in the judgment that the Army will act "in aid of the civil
administration of the state"... until "normalcy is restored." Keeping in
view the recent successful bids by the battle-hardened militants to
infiltrate into the valley under heavy arms fire-cover provided by the
Pakistan army coupled with the melting snow at the high mountain passes, the
situation does not warrant any lowering of guard by the armed forces which
alone are trained and equipped to fight the Talibanized insurgents. However,
Rashtriya Rifles, which has borne the brunt of militant attacks and in turn
broken the backbone of the insurgency in J&K, does act hand in hand with the
state police and the paramilitary forces. In any case, it is the local
police and the paramilitary forces which maintain security in Srinagar and
its outskirts. The Army, to all intents and purposes, has since been ordered
to the barracks. But any inference that the situation is fast returning to
normal and warrants the revocation of the AFSPA would indeed be a retrograde
step fraught with dire consequences.

The grand old American democracy has introduced a plethora of
all-encompassing legislation, including the Homeland Security Act and US
Patriot Act, which permit the DNA profiling of people suspected of terrorist
activity against the US or its interests and subjects abroad. That's what
nations are legitimately supposed to do to protect their territorial
integrity and national sovereignty aimed at securing the life, liberty,
business and property of its citizens and allies.

Kashmir, I admit, is my fixation, for I am a victim of its two-decade-long
dalliance with death and destruction. The latest spark adding insult to
injury is the reported acceptance by the Union home minister, P Chidambaram,
of a proposal from the J&K state leadership seeking the suspension or
revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA). However,
even talk of its revocation could spell doom for the return of normalcy to
the violence-ridden valley. Pakistan's ruinous internecine battle within may
have its ramifications across the LoC, not by chance but by design.

It was Chidambaram's first visit to the valley after he became home
minister. Let him lead by example. If he looks soft by the exterior, let it
not be mistaken as a sign of weakness. Flexing the iron hand in the velvet
glove, I believe, is the need of the hour. If financial wizardry is his
forte, strategic planning ought to be his bible in his new role. It is far
too pre-mature at this stage to even think of putting on hold the AFSPA let
alone its revocation. In any case, the unified Command - which comprises the
Army brass, the governor, the chief minister and the Cabinet Committee on
Security - has to deliberate the issue before a decision in this regard is
made.

Legend has it that Kashmir is the land of Kashyap rishi (seer), the
eponymous saint who lent the 'vahr' (bowl-shaped) valley its name and
identity, exterminated the 'asuras' (demons) who would devour the
God-fearing aborigines. Mark, the first syllable is common to both -
Kash-yap and Kash-mir. Born and brought up in the paradise-turned-cauldron,
like tens of thousands of other Kashmiri Hindus - to be precise Kashmiri
Pandits - I have been driven out of my motherland for no fault of mine by
none other than the jihadis, brainwashed at a tender age by the
scourge-on-earth - the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's
supra-constitutional 'international-sabotage institution'.

Americans have realised it post 9/11 - much, much after we Indians fell
victim to Pakistan's machinations and the gory violence it unleashed in a
bid to wrest control of the land which never was theirs. For 20 years we
suffered at their hands in Punjab, and for the last two decades in Jammu &
Kashmir in what is euphemistically termed a low-intensity conflict (LIC).
What they failed to attain by outright aggression in 1947, '65 and '71, has
been attempted by sowing the seeds of internal strife and secession.

Only the Cowboy has gone the whole hog after them as he has the wherewithal
and the will to exterminate the scourge.


Alas, the weak-kneed Indian government has, unlike Americans, failed to stem
the tide of home-grown militancy and Pakistan-sponsored insurgency in the
state. India, under whichever political dispensation at the Centre, has
abysmally failed to turn the adversity into opportunity on many an occasion.
The high point being Pakistan's Kargil misadventure, although a godsend for
us, we missed the bus again for we failed the nation by not declaring a
full-fledged war on all fronts, including the western front and the Karachi
harbour. What do we maintain for the Naval behemoth in the Arabian sea? Are
we content in letting it be an augmentation of the Coast Guard? There we
failed, too, in the wake of the enemy's cloak-and-dagger operation when
so-called non-state actors surreptitiously sailed across the high seas to
carry out the 26/11 terrorist mission in Mumbai under explicit directions
and logistic support by their agent-provocateur across the Radcliffe Line.

On November 27, 1997, then Chief Justice of India J S Verma and four other
judges of the Supreme Court on a review petition of the AFSPA (in the
context of the north-east) observed, "The power to make a law providing for
deployment of the armed forces of the Union in aid of the civil power of a
State does not include within its ambit the power to enact a law which would
enable the armed forces of the Union to supplant or act as a substitute for
the civil power in the State. The armed forces of the Union would operate in
the State concerned in cooperation with the civil administration so that the
situation which has necessitated the deployment of armed forces is
effectively dealt with and normalcy is restored."

It is explicit in the judgment that the Army will act "in aid of the civil
administration of the state"... until "normalcy is restored." Keeping in
view the recent successful bids by the battle-hardened militants to
infiltrate into the valley under heavy arms fire-cover provided by the
Pakistan army coupled with the melting snow at the high mountain passes, the
situation does not warrant any lowering of guard by the armed forces which
alone are trained and equipped to fight the Talibanized insurgents. However,
Rashtriya Rifles, which has borne the brunt of militant attacks and in turn
broken the backbone of the insurgency in J&K, does act hand in hand with the
state police and the paramilitary forces. In any case, it is the local
police and the paramilitary forces which maintain security in Srinagar and
its outskirts. The Army, to all intents and purposes, has since been ordered
to the barracks. But any inference that the situation is fast returning to
normal and warrants the revocation of the AFSPA would indeed be a retrograde
step fraught with dire consequences.