Early Times Report
Jammu, May 10: Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat, has explained away the Army's stand on the cult of secessionist violence and told the separatists in Kashmir in unambiguous terms that Azadi will not happen, as they can't fight the Army.
"Azadi will not happen, you cannot fight the Army - this is a dictum Kashmiri youth need to know, Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat said on Wednesday in an interview to a leading national daily.
General Rawat's statement came after J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti vouched for a unilateral ceasefire during the month of Ramzan and Amarnath Yatra.
Addressing a press conference after the all-party meeting held at Srinagar, Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday evening said: "It was agreed that there should a be a unilateral ceasefire with during the month of Ramzan and Amarnath Yatra.
Everyone agreed that we must appeal Centre that govt must think about a unilateral ceasefire like Vajpayee ji did in year 2000. Encounters, crack downs is causing trouble to common man. Efforts must be made to maintain environment so that both Eid and Amarnath Yatra are peaceful," said the Chief Minister in the presence of BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta.
It was obvious that what the Chief Minister said had the backing of the BJP. And it should not be surprising considering the track record of the BJP after March 1, 2015, when it came into power in J&K for the first time after surrendering the interests of the people of Jammu.
Explaining away the Army's stand, General Rawat took on those who tell the Kashmiri youth to pick up arms. "Those who tell them (that) this path will bring Azadi…are misleading them," Gen Rawat said, adding that "he wants to tell Kashmiri youth that Azadi isn't possible".
"It won't happen. Don't get carried away unnecessarily. Why are you picking up weapons? We will always fight those who seek Azadi, those who want to secede. (Azadi) is not going to happen, never," the general candidly and plainly said.
"I only want to stress that all this is futile, nothing is going to be achieved by them. You can't fight the Army," he further said.
General Rawat also made it loud and clear that the Army would not allow people to disrupt army operations, come what may. "I don't understand why people are coming out in huge numbers to disrupt our operations. Who is inciting them? If they want that the militants aren't killed, they should go and tell them to come out without their weapons so that nobody is killed,'' he said. "Let anyone of them say - mein le kay aata hun (I will bring him out). We will halt our operation. We can't allow people to disrupt our operations and help terrorists to flee," General Rawat said.
General Rawat also spoke on the suggestion that ongoing military operations in Kashmir be suspended to avoid civilian casualties.
"I am ready to suspend military operations to avoid civilian casualties.
But who will guarantee that there won't be fire at our men, at our vehicles? Who will guarantee that policemen, political workers, our men returning home on leave aren't attacked, aren't killed?'' he asked. He said: "Our men who were unarmed, who had returned home on leave were killed…(consider the case of) Lt Umar Fayaz. We killed his killers but we had to sacrifice four of our men to do so. Policemen are regularly attacked. Political workers are killed,'' he further said, adding that "once a stone is thrown at us…once they fire at us.. then there is no way we will not respond and respond sternly". "Those how want to fight us, we will fight them. We needed to tell people Azadi isn't happening. We had to establish the writ (of the state)," the General said.
General Rawat also uded the opportunity to defend Major Leetul Gogoi, who last year had strapped a "stone-pelter" to a jeep on the polling day in Budgam, Kashmir, saying that he had no other option to do what he did to save the life of civilians and others.
Giving his unstinted support to the Major Leetul Gogoi's move to strap a Kashmiri man to a jeep as a human shield, General Rawat said: "That was the only option other than to open fire at a mob that was pelting stones.
He (the Army officer) could have opened fire and killed people. Instead, he used the best available option with him in those given circumstances.
Besides, we were investigating the issue when an FIR was filed against him. My officer felt that he is being abandoned. I can't let my officer feel that".
General Rawat also had to say something to those in Kashmir who hoist IS flags. "Young people are getting excited by IS flags. Do you know what that means? Do you want to Talibanise Kashmir? Do you want Kashmir to turn into such a society? Do you want to live in such a society?" he asked. "These young people do not understand the meaning of it all. Somebody is inciting these young people," he said.
What General Rawat spoke on the cult of violence, IS flags, military operations and about Major Gogoi must have punctured the balloon of those who urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to go in for a unilateral ceasefire at a time when the stone-pelters are roaming freely in Kashmir, attacking tourists buses, injuring tourists, attacking trains and disrupting army operations against separatists and terrorists.
That the suggestion for a unilateral ceasefire came within hours of the brutal killing of Thirumani, 22, of Tamil Nadu had just dumbfounded the whole nation, which was in a state of mourning. |
