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| Mufti Sayeed's PDP is divided | | J&K CM receives Army Chief's full support | | NEW DELHI, MAR 21
The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad, has stolen a march over his predecessor and former Union Home Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, in Delhi's power corridors. Azad's opposition to the demand for the troop withdrawal from Kashmir Valley has been fully endorsed by the top echelons--Prime Minister, Defence Minister, Home Minister and Chief of Army Staff.
The demand has come from the People's Democratic Party (PDP), which is a constituent of the present Congres-led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir. Ghulam Nabi Azad's predecessor, Mufti Sayeed, has, for political reasons, deemed it necessary to reiterate the demand. Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, Defence Minister, AK Antony, and Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, have conveyed their suport to Azad for the stand taken by him against the demand.
Highly-placed official sources told EARLY TIMES that the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. JJ Singh, in his strong defence of the arguments put forward by Ghulam Nabi Azad against the troop withdrawal, has conveyed to the Union government that troop reduction at this stage could revive militant violence in Kashmir. Also, doubts have been expressed about the capability of the state government to handle even routine governance without Army help.
Azad, currently in the Indian capital, reiterated on Wednesday that any cutdown in the level of trop deployment "at this stage" would seriously jeopardise the campaign against terrorism in the border State of Jammu and Kashmir. He made it clear that as Chief Minister of the State, he would "never recommend any reduction of trops or demilitarization". Azad's statement is a reiteration of the Prime Minister's argument in defence of retaining the forces in a letter to Mufti Sayeed last week.
The letter was delivered to the Mufti at a time when the PDP's threat to pull out of the coalition government in J&K had become real than apparent. More importantly, by the time the letter's contents became an open secret, the PDP itself appeared divided over the issue, with some Ministers and a few MLAs not willing to wreck the coalition.
Will Army pullout from J&K be in the national interest? That was the question asked on CNN-IBN's show Face the Nation. On the panel of experts were PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti, and former Chief of Army Staff, General V P Malik. Many believe that with spring approaching and the snow melting, infiltration from Pakistan – a traditional Indian fear--is going to be on the rise. When Mehbooba was asked if the PDP is going against the commonsensical logic, she denied the charge.
She said: “We the people of J&K are asking that our public and private places which belong to us before 1990 should be returned to us because there is much more peace and tranquillity in the State. No doubt that the security people have done a job very well. But the people of the State have played greater role in restoring normalcy. They need to be complimented for that". She added: “Once you connect this to national security, it talks about the mindset that politicians have vis-à-vis Kashmir and we want to change. This is not about coalition or alliance".
But is she not worried that a withdrawal of troops at this point in time, no matter how secure Kashmir seems as of now, would encourage infiltration across the border? Mehbooba Mufti said: “I don’t think that is going to happen. They have said mobile phones should not be used, but ask the security forces how helpful they have been. Also for that matter are the opening of tunnels that have proved helpful". Mehbooba did not seem to be buying the security argument.
Gen. Malik's statement ran thus: “As deployment along the Line of Control is concerned, there is no question of pulling out troops on account of infiltration that is likely to increase in the coming months. If the governance is not capable in looking after the security of the people and militants' activities continue to flourish, you require security forces". Mehbooba Mufti said that by raising the "bogey of national security", the government and Army are taking away from the people what they rightly deserve.
While Kashmir-watchers wait anxiously for talks between Mufti Sayeed and Prime Minister scheduled for Thursday, the real attack on the PDP’s argument is that they are politicising what is essentially a national security issue that must be decided by professionals. What is the harm if the government wants to wait for another six months? Fielding this question, Mehbooba Mufti said: "Let there be a committee which decides some kind of mechanism". She clarified that there be a deadline for March 25 for taking a decision because they want an assurance and a timeline laid out for a troops withdrawal situation in the near future.
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