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| Anatomy and tragedy of Uni-lateral Cease -Fires | | | M.M. Khajooria | 6/25/2018 11:04:55 PM |
| The inevitable has happened. The immoral and unprincipled alliance between BJP and PDP who had nothing in common except the lust for power has come un-struck. For a change, Mehbooba got a surprise. The Banias of Delhi have out smarted the Peers of Kashmir. She has been cheated of the hallow of martyrdom and reduced, to put it mildly to the state of embarrassing cluelessness. It may, however be conceded that she handled PM Modi far better than her father, Mufti Mohd Syed, a seasoned politician Mufti, in fact spent the last days of his life fretting and fuming as Modi would not give him even the time of the day. She, on the other hand literally made Delhi dance on her tune to the extent that a secret NSA meet with his Pak counterpart was set up in a foreign country while. "GOLI AND BOLI CANNOT GO TOGETHER" was the official Mantra. To boost her position in the home constituency, information regarding the Secret meeting was leaked out.
And then arrived the holy month of Ramadan and her demand for unilateral Cease-fire The Chief of Army Staff rejected the demand and for very good reasons. Ops "All out" was badly hurting the Terrorists who had begun to panic. The casualties of their commanders / cadres were becoming unacceptable. Halting ops would give them desperately needed breathing respite and opportunity to get re-enforcements and regroup. They would also inflict casualties on the Security Forces and eliminate" civilian collaborators" and other critical contacts. The Defence Minster also publically rejected the demand which position was supported by the BJP J&K leadership and the party ministers in the coalition cabinet. Unmindful of all this, Mehbooba went to Delhi, met Modi and behold the Uni-lateral Cease Fire by the security forces was declared. What magic worked on Modi is any body’s guess. As expected it was an unmitigated disaster. We lost boys, our precious Sources cultivated after years of effort were eliminated and terrorists' morale boomed. The GOI hastily called of the blunder. But Mehbooba was not to be deterred. She demanded extension of the Uni-lateral ceasefire arguing that during its enforcement "People felt at ease". This is neither the time or place go into the twisted and macabre reasoning offered by her. Delhi is believed to have been given feelers that if her demand was not accepted, the Coalition may collapse.
Confronted with a storm of national protest and censor, theBJP was compelled to undertake both damage assessment and damage control The feed back was alarming. So when Mehbooba planned her visit to Delhi to meet PM Modi, the party preempted and Amit Shah the Party President authorized its J&K Points Man Ram Madhav to pull the plug from the coalition leaving Mehbooba in utter shock and confusion.
It may be interesting to recall that Mehbooba had cited the "2000 cease-fire" declated by PM Vajpayee as the precedent. The only mildly sympathetic voice was that of HM Rajnath Singh. Some J&K observers feel that apart from any other consideration, PM Modi was also influenced by this argument. It is therefore pertinent to bringo ut the truth behind "2000 episode" before consigning the current issue into the dust-bin of history.
For the first time unilateral cease fire for three months was declared by none other than Hizbul-Mujahideen Abdul Majid Dar in a Press conference in Srinagar on 24th of July 2000. In a rare show of strength and solidarity, he was flanked by his Deputy Chief, Majid Masood, Field commanders, Abu Abdullah, Abu Fateh, Abbas Rah, Farooq Ahmed and Dr. Assad Zazdani. "The cease-fire" he declared is conditional and will be extended if there was positive response from Delhi. "The decision in fact was taken in a meeting of Hizbul command council in Islamabad after it became clear that the PAK ISI had decided to dump th Hizb in favour of Lashkar-i-Toiba and Harkatul jehad. In fact Majid Dar defied the ISI and Salah-u-din and sneaked away from Pakistan via Dubai, in which endeavor he had help from "outside agencies." Even though Salah-u-din later withdraw the Cease-fire, Majid stuck to his position and became persona non-grana for Pakistan. The Hizbul young commanders, darlings of large segment of Kashmiris had revolted against Pakistan ISI and were inclined to be one with India on the isues of end of blood shed and peace.
The Ramazan 2000 to hold back Agressive action by Security Forces in J&K during the holy monrh of Ramadan was declared by PM Atal Behari Vajpayee after lot of Leg work by GOI and its agencies. This was born by the overwhelming response from the international community, Kashmir Diaspora and within Kashmir. A Conference of Kashmiris organized by lord Averbury, a longtime critic of India welcomed the step. The chairman of House Committee on Human Rights went to the extent of saying that cross -border violence and indigenous violence must come to an end." The Pen for Peace conference of writers, poets, academics and journalists held in Karachi on 27-28 Nov, 200 endorsed the Cease-fire and jolted Pakistan establishment by demanding "Don't' try to colonise Kashmir valley. Jehadis arms race and, propaganda will not solve the Kashmir problem"/Pro. Abdul Gani, chairman of Hurriyat described it as "Purposeful" " "The Government of India had declared cease fire with courage and conviction" he said. The over seas Kshmiri leadership also endorsed the cease-fire Amongst them were Dr. Ayub Thakur of London based World Kashmir Movement, and Shabir Chowdhary of JKLF. UK and Europe.
Now whether it was intended or not, the dynamics of the situation and inter-play of competing interests threw up a win-win situation for India, If the "Cease-fire" were to hold there would be welcome easing of terrorist situation to the determent of Pakistan and advantage of India. It will further enable the Peace- constituency in Kashmir to take center stage. If it did not, the ISI will eliminate Majid Dar and his associates who were darlings of large segment of Kashmiris cutting across ideological lines thereby alienating majority of Kashmiris and providing a severe set-back to Pakistans' strategic plans. This would also open up a window of opportunity for India to reclaim its constituency in Kashmir and weed out the terrorists. We would have obviously preferred the first alternative but unfortunately, the situation took the alternative turn. but we failed to take its full advantage.
Comparing the two narratives("Cease-fires of 2000 and 2018) we find how, whimsical and casual almost bordering on the irresponsible was the handling at the highest levels of decision-making in Delhi in year 2018 on an issue of vital national security. The PM owes it to the nation to identify the delinquents, take suitable action against them what ever their Political position or rank in Establishment and have crafted a sensitive, responsible efficient mechanism to handle such vital issues.. Ideally, he should take initiative to bring major national parties on Board to build consensus on the national policy on Kashmir and constitute an All Parties Consultative Committee for the purpose. This is the need of the hour. |
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