Sunday 19 July 2015

[www.keralites.net] Kashmir: Modi must turn challenges into opportunity

 

Kashmir: Modi must turn challenges into opportunity

 By Lt Gen Kamal Davar

In the holy month of Ramzan, when the faithful should be reciting sacred verses, undertaking 'rozas' (fasts) and carrying out other pious activities, some in the beautiful yet restive Kashmir Valley have, once again, committed most unholy acts -- brandishing Pakistani and the Islamic State (IS) flags at the Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar. The most shameful and utterly unacceptable act of treason has been enacted there with the burning of the Indian flag after the Friday prayers. The sacred tri-colour represents everything India stands for ---- how this most heinous, unpardonable act can ever take place in our land defies comprehension.

That tons of money ---- all illegal funds transferred along the 'hawala' route --- would have been paid to these masked enemy flag-brandishing mercenaries is a well-established fact since years. That the Indian state has hardly shown much urgency or firmness in dealing with these Pakistani paid and their masters across, is a cause of much regret to millions of Indians and, especially now when a strong government supposedly is in power in New Delhi.  A fair number of people in India today have that eerie feeling that rhetoric and optics seem to have become the fashion of times even transcending the sacred task of upholding national sovereignty.

Indian political leaders, of whichever political hue, need to rise above their self-perpetuating motivations, and for a change, rise unitedly ---- to defeat the forces, both within and without, who dare to question the Idea of India. Time is slipping away much faster than we can even fathom. We cannot afford to resurrect Nero's legacy in India.  It is time to act speedily and to deliver the right message to all those who, since years, have been attempting to disintegrate India. 

That the frequency of Pakistani, lately IS, flags and stone pelting in the Valley has multiplied in the past few weeks should not come as a surprise. Pakistan's deep state, namely the Pakistan Army and its notorious Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), has, after a long interval, been administered generous volumes of much required' oxygen' from diverse sources recently, which has sufficiently emboldened them to pursue their nefarious agendas inside Jammu and Kashmir with greater vigour.  

The visit of Pakistan's mentor-in-chief, China's President Xi Jingping to Islamabad in April and his overly generous grants announcements of  $56 billion to Pakistan for the so-called economic corridor and various other projects, military aid has resurrected Pakistan's economy and military might. That, for both China and Pakistan, the common adversary is India hardly requires any analyses notwithstanding pious declarations of intent by China. The, once again, renewal of military and economic largesse by the US, which for incomprehensible reasons continues to, off and on, keep Pakistan in good humour, with liberal doses of dollars and arms, has made the Pakistan military additionally provocative along the Line of Control and the International border in J&K. That the Pakistani Army continues to think tactical and not strategic will surely, one day, again be their downfall! It conveniently underplays the fact that their nation is being corroded from within.

All "the cobras" they have been rearing in their backyard, as famously stated by former US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, are swarming all over, now biting all and sundry in Pakistan. In addition, the new Ashraf Ghani administration in Kabul warming up to Islamabad, at the expense of India, has given the Pakistani establishment an additional reason to gloat about. It goes without saying that as and when possible with the reducing US troops presence in Afghanistan, some out of work terrorists may be diverted by the ISI to J&K from Afghanistan to reinforce terror-driven activities there.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to pull out all stops from his armoury to put J&K back on the road to normalcy. If the present uneasy coalition of the state of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state government cannot deliver, President's Rule should be unhesitatingly considered. Importantly, the J&K Police and the other central police forces should be strictly ordered that, whether it is inside or outside any place of worship, no hoisting of foreign flags will be permitted. Let the major separatist leaders be dealt under the national law and be incarcerated immediately and imprisoned outside J&K ----- comfortable house arrests have no meaning.  The Indian government must not allow any cavorting between separatist leaders and the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. 

The 'Hawala routes' of separatist funding from Pakistan and abroad which fuel terror inside J&K must be plugged, once for all.  Importantly, Pakistan has to be reminded of its various fault lines which India too can exploit and has not done so far, in order to promote good neighbourliness.

For the time being India must synergise a slew of diplomatic, economic  and military measures to drive home an adequate lesson to Pakistan that it should not traverse on the path to self-destruct. The Valley too requires a comprehensive "healing touch", political confabulations with locals including the Kashmiri Pandits must be encouraged. The Indian Army and our intelligence agencies must identify potential IS recruits and trouble makers and firmly nip their activities in the bud.

Prime Minister Modi has a historical chance now to implement his pre-national poll promises for a state which must become a beacon for India's inclusive, multi-religious and multi-cultural society. Let the current challenges in J&K become an opportunity to address the old problems plaguing its complete emotional integration with the rest of the nation. It can be done.

((Lt. General Kamal Davar was India's first Chief of Defence Intelligence Agency.. He can be reached at editor@spsindia.in)

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Posted by: Pramod Agrawal <pka_ur@yahoo.com>
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