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

Sun Jun 14 17:59:21 IST 2009

Dear all,

Presence of the armed forces in “troubled areas” is probably not the
solution for bringing peace to any region. Under the garb of security, state
governments receive funds. It is quite a well-known fact the state profits
from having an armed presence in the state, so that whenever the
administration wants it can flex its muscles and attack whomever it wants.

We have had several examples of such violations in which state governments
of these so-called troubled areas have taken the advantage of the “troubled
status” used it as means to quell actual dissent. Just imagine, having a
policemen right in front of your house all the time. It may give you a sense
of security from the possible incursions, but it also serves as signifier
for an occasional visitor that such and such area is troubled, therefore it
must be avoided.

Trade stops flourishing under the shadow of the gun even if the gun is meant
to protect its own people. For example: the case of Stillwell Road in Assam
and Arunachal border. For a long time, authorities, central and state wanted
to revive the trade route that flourished during the British and Ahom period
in Assam. Presence of a large number security agencies on that road has been
one of the reasons ascertained by several reports that locals do not want to
participate. They are so-called of the men with guns, be it militants or
policemen or army that they cannot differentiate between them.

Presence of a large number of paramilitary and military forces costs a lot
to the respective state governments. Funds that could have been either spent
on development are marked for the security forces. In some cases, for
example in Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council in Assam, politicians, militants
cause violence so that more security forces come to the district. This way,
more funds are marked towards the council for security purpose, which could
be easily rigged, the budget could be inflated to suit the demands of the
politicians and their nexus with the militants.

On the same lines, lives of the men falling prey to the guerrilla warfare
can be saved because our armed personnel cannot combat those who are a bunch
of cowards. Political solutions to such conflicts are more long term than
the security solution. Essentially, the security enhancement is not meant to
protect the interests of the people but the interest of the state
administration especially when it comes to trouble torn areas because in
such areas, after say 10 or 15 years of conflict, every body is out there to
save themselves from the conflict. It is in this point of time, a political
solution could be suggested. By bringing in democratic values among the
people, by encouraging debates at a grassroot level these conflicts can be
solved.

Terming the removal of AFSPA as suicidal serves the interest of those who
are not seeking a solution but who want temporary succour. This is a perfect
recipe of disaster. Reported acceptance by the home minister is a welcome
move. For the beleaguered Kashmiri Pandits, for trouble torn North Eastern
states and its tribes, for the migrants from Bangladeshis, for the
protesting women from Manipur, for displaced Chakmas in Arunachal Pradesh,
for the landless in Chattisgarh, for the families of the security personnel
who lost their lives, and mostly for this “troubled” regions, it is the time
to do away with that “conflict-prone” tag that has been foisted upon by the
successive (and oppressive) governments and militant outfits.

-Thanks Anupam

On 6/14/09, Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> *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.
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