To tackle terror and desperation in the Valley, Modi needs to think about bullet for stone
In democracy, the ballot and not the bullet is the wonder weapon
best suited to resolve conflicts and replace governments. When those
rejected by ballots resort to murder and mayhem to destabilise an
elected establishment, the bullet becomes the most preferred means to
erase the threat. The Narendra Modi government has to stand firm on
a-bullet-for-a-stone policy to save Kashmir from dangerous demons
disrupting democracy. Last week, the Supreme Court decided to step in
where successive governments at the Centre and the state have failed in
27 years. It directed all stakeholders to visualise the roadmap for a
meaningfully inclusive dialogue. It also asked the government to refrain
from the pellet policy if the agitators stopped hurling stones at the
security forces.
Numerous dialogues, both formal and informal, have happened in the
past to restore normalcy in Kashmir. Many free-and-fair elections have
been held with record turnouts. European Parliament, a symbol of
pluralism and liberalism, sang paeans to Indian elections. Soon after
the last J&K election, it issued a statement: “The high voter
turnout figure proves that democracy is firmly rooted in India. The EU
would like to congratulate India and its democratic system for conduct
of fair elections, unmarred by violence, in the state of Jammu and
Kashmir. The European Parliament also takes cognisance of the fact that a
large number of Kashmiri voters turned out despite calls for the
boycott of elections by certain separatist forces”.
Perhaps, stung by this endorsement and the rise of a first-time
government with nationalist participation in J&K, saboteurs of the
democratic process with lucrative side benefits are running amok in the
state. Stone pelting is their bloody, money-spinning sport, where the
prize is defeating the collective will of the people. In 2016, there
were 2,690 incidents of stone pelting as against 1,157 in 2015—a rise of
almost 250 per cent. Almost half of these occurred in North Kashmir,
followed by 875 in South Kashmir and 567 in Central Kashmir. The year
2016 was also the bloodiest for the security forces since 2008—87
uniformed personnel martyred until last December compared to 51 in 2014.
More than 20 have been killed since January. Last year, 165 terrorist
scalps were taken—also the highest count in the past eight years.
Local factors have less to do with the ominous surge in violence than
the liberal financial and ideological support to separatists and their
agent provocateurs from across the border. Ironically, New Delhi has
given J&K the status of a most preferred state. According to
official sources, between 2006 and 2016 it received per capita Central
assistance of Rs 91,300 as against Rs 43,000 for Uttar Pradesh. This
mega munificence has forced the percentage of people living below the
poverty line in J&K to drop to a minimum of 3.48 per cent as against
25 per cent in 1980. Over 26 per cent live above the poverty line in
the rest of India. Kashmir’s per capita income has been growing at about
12 per cent. Recently, the Centre allotted Rs 19,000 crore of the Rs
80,000 crore development packages announced by PM Narendra Modi to
J&K. But Kashmir is also the valley of illusion. The unrestricted
river of rupees flowing from Delhi to Srinagar has only helped fatten
the assets of the double dealers who have made terrorism and extortion
Kashmir’s cottage industry.
Their scruples are shallower than the Dal Lake in a summer of
discontent. Since containing terror and protecting unarmed civilians
pose a threat to economics, politics and crossborder detente, the sharks
of separatism spread fear by attacking peacekeeping forces by using
women as human shields and stones as weapons. For the past three years,
Modi has kept his mantra for Kashmir close to his chest. He has
maintained a significant silence on the Valley’s precarious state of
affairs. With his predilection for springing surprises, he is expected
to make a move, which will make or mar his image of leader with a
mission and vision. Some of the proposals on his table are:
• Act on a second surgical strike to destroy all training camps. Modi is unlikely to face international hostility as most of the Western world is fighting terror.
• Act on a second surgical strike to destroy all training camps. Modi is unlikely to face international hostility as most of the Western world is fighting terror.
• Appoint a strong governor to keep a check on the state government.
The sell-by-date of current incumbent N N Vohra (81) is past. This
member of the pro-dialogue cabal is instrumental in adopting a soft
line. Modi is under pressure to send a younger person with an Army
background to the Raj Bhavan.
• Treat unrest in the Valley as treason and a law and order issue.
Use force to contain it at any cost by deploying the BSF in large
numbers. Security experts are peeved with the state government for
removing Army bunkers from strategic points. Militants and terrorists
are scared of the power of India’s military, if it is given operational
freedom and modern weapons.
• Create fully-trained armed women battalions to deal with misguided female stone pelters.
• Break the nexus of local cops, separatists and terrorists
responsible for the spurt in attacks on uniformed forces by insulating
the state police from ISI infiltration.
• Move all the terrorists and stone pelters in Kashmir’s jails to faraway states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat etc. This prevents them from establishing contact with their local masters. Terrorists and their supporters in local prisons have access to modern communication equipment.
• Withdraw or downsize the security cover of Hurriyat leaders who
attend prayers with youngsters waving IS flags and raising pro-Pakistan
slogans.
• Create special jobs for Kashmiri youth in BJP-ruled states to stop them from joining the burgeoning brigade of stone pelters.
To be the Samson of Srinagar, Modi has to flex his muscles against
the devious doves who have infiltrated his system and are pushing for
dialogue with Pakistan in private and in public. Even those retired
officials, rewarded with insignificant sinecures, are writing articles
pleading for engagement with Pakistan—the fount of terror. Modi can win
the Kashmir war only if he takes the less-trodden path ignored by his
predecessors. He has junked the old style politics and politicians. The
time has come for him to also dump professional peaceniks, free
junketers and Pak-friendly chatteratti and adopt disruptive diplomacy
and a determined defence strategy to bring Kashmir back on track.
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