Karan
Kharb
Pakistan
proxies and the separatists in Kashmir suddenly seem encouraged and emboldened
as was evident recently from the drama enacted by Masrat Alam. These noises must
be rasping hard on the BJP ears because its partnership in the state government
had generated optimism for peace and progress. The Hurriyat leaders whose
diktats to boycott the elections was spurned by the Kashmiri electorate had
once seemed to have been consigned into oblivion – but only until the release
of Masrat Alam. He started spewing
anti-India venom right from the moment he stepped out of the jail early last
month. Flagrantly misleading and provoking the Kashmiri Muslims against India,
he sang eulogies in praise of Pakistan and, surrounded by the Pakistani flags,
declared. "I am not a citizen of India. Nor do I believe Kashmir to be
part of India." Now, put behind
the bars once again, hopefully he will be tried for his audacious anti-India
activities including treason.
Ironically, the
opposite of what was expected from the new BJP-PDP dispensation is happening in
Jammu and Kashmir. The election of 2014, which recorded unprecedented voter turnout
despite vigorous boycott campaign mounted by the separatists, was held in a
peaceful atmosphere attracting worldwide acclaim as a democratic exercise in
the trouble-torn state. Interestingly, however, the poll mandate threw up two arch-rivals
in the state politics – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the People's
Democratic Party (PDP) – as leading contenders for power with 25 and 28 seats in
a hung Legislative Assembly of 87 effective seats. That such political adversaries would become
allies and form the government, was largely viewed as impossible. But it
happened. Perhaps inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ethos of 'Sabka
sath, Sabka vikas', the BJP went ahead and forged an alliance with the PDP
after two months of sustained negotiations steered by Ram Madhav and the PDP
supremo Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Understandably,
it raised public expectations but scared the separatist lobbies.
Unlike
other states of the Union, governance in the state of Jammu and Kashmir is uniquely
complex. Firstly, being a border state it acquires special geo-political significance,
which is heightened even more with Pakistan having ceded Shaksgam Valley to
China and the latter launching massive infrastructure development including multi-lane
roads in the area. Secondly, besides its mountainous terrain remains covered
either by dense forest or by snow, the state is also demographically divided with
Jammu-Udhampur having predominantly Hindu population, the Kashmir Valley predominantly
Muslim and Ladakh having a mix of sparsely populated by Budhists and Muslims. Thirdly,
India's relations with Pakistan and China directly influence politics and happenings
in these areas. Fourthly, Article 370 of
the Indian Constitution bestows 'special status' on the state of Jammu and Kashmir,
which distinguishes it from the rest of the states of the Union. This weird
constitutional proviso makes the state look like a 'nation' within a nation.
Thanks
to these outlandish physiognomies of the state of Jammu and Kashmir,
governments have been consistently smug in running affairs of the state in a
status-quoist manner engendering a privileged class of self-righteous
politicians and protected elite of bureaucracy insulated from the people. The proxy war unleashed by Pakistan against India
in this region has been fuelling chaos in the state. More lives – military as well as civil – have
been lost in the last quarter century of violence here than the combined total
death toll of last three Indo-Pak wars. Development
has been another serious casualty while official corruption has thrived reducing
civil administration to a self-serving mechanism largely denied to the people. The
carrot dangling approach of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to placate and
win over the Hurriyat and hard core separatists has already flopped. Masrat Alam has very effectively utilised his
brief release from captivity to reignite the fizzling voices of separatism in
Srinagar. The brief drama he so diligently enacted with Hafiz Sayeed from
Pakistan assuring Jehadis (proxies) in Jammu and Kashmir every kind of support
– "Government, Military and moral" – has once again opened up the wound
that has festered for over a quarter century now.
Azadi from the Bondage of Article 370
For
the first time in the history of J&K, BJP has partnership in the state
government. It has a strong full majority government at the Centre. There is
ample evidence for the government to understand that placating tactics and
dithering have only led to worsening the situation rather than solving the
problems. Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and the J&K government are today faced with a serious challenge, which they
can convert into a grand opportunity to usher in new era of peace, prosperity
and genuine azadi by integrating the state of Jammu and Kashmir into the
mainstream of sovereign India. The so-called 'special status' under Article 370
has actually promotes 'separatism', inter-se rivalry and mistrust because the
distinguishing constitutional provisions treat the state of J&K differently
vis-à-vis the rest. It also kills the
fundamental principle of 'EQUALITY' enshrined in the Preamble of the
Constitution of India. No public interest has been served by it so far. On the contrary, those in power use it from
time to time for personal gains by blackmailing the Central Government under
its shadow.
To
the international community too, continuance of 'special status' for J&K
gives an impression of 'some final decision about J&K's still hanging in
the air' – an impression Pakistan and the Kashmiri separatists have been
cashing on to bolster their claims. Viewed from any angle, the provisions of
this Article have proved to be a silky noose in the J&K neck. The principle of equality entitles the people
of J&K to be liberated from this royal bondage, which has only hampered
their development. It has deterred the
Indian investors and multi-national corporates from investing in J&K.
Permanent
solution to a problem as ticklish as this cannot be easy but how long shall we
allow this wound to fester in search of easy solutions? Time is now ripe to
administer the bitter pill. Article 370
must be repealed and the state of Jammu and Kashmir integrated into the
national mainstream without further delay.
Fighting the Proxy War
India
has been telling the world what Hafiz Sayeed has audaciously owned up now. In an interview to a media channel he
recently admitted that he and his apparatus including Jamat-ud-Dawa has been
"aiding the jehadis in Kashmir with full support from the Pakistan
Government and the Army". India has information about a number of
terrorist training camps running in Pakistan under the aegis of ISI, Hafiz
Sayed and his associates. The Indian
Army hunting and fighting terrorists in the hinterland has been troublesome for
the civil population who are frequently subjected to frisking besides facing a
host of other hardships in the endemic violence in the region.
The
Indian Army should change its tactics for fighting this war. The Army should
mind only the areas of its war time responsibility along the border/Line of
Control (LC). Violence in the interior should be handled by the state police
and paramilitary forces. The local
government authorities must assume responsibility for peace and intelligence in
their area of responsibility. As a strategic shift, the war should be carried
to the enemy territory. The Indian Army
has the capability to carry out special commando missions against designated
targets deep inside Pakistan with a fair degree of success. It is disappointing to see that we have
unwittingly neglected the offensive initiatives and developed a more defensive
and over protective mind-set over the past few years. Pakistan, on the
contrary, has always been proactively offensive and innovative from Kargil
onward.
Despite being
aware of India's higher nuclear potential, Pakistan has never felt deterred
from hurting India anywhere anytime whereas India has been visibly deterred not
only from proactive offensive strikes but even from delivering punitive strokes
as reprisal against audacious terror attacks like Mumbai 26/11, Parliament
attack, Red Fort attack or beheading of our soldiers at the LC. This stance must
change to bolder and devastating punitive actions unless we are preparing to be
beaten and defeated in the next war.
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