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| 'Troop cut, AFSPA revocation imperative measures' | | Karra addresses AI Roundtable on human rights | | New Delhi | June 26
Senior Peoples Democratic Party PDP) leader and Minister for Finance, Housing & Urban Development Tariq Hameed Karra has called for rolling back the laws that give security forces the special powers to deal with the situation in Jammu & Kashmir.
Speaking at a Round Table Conference on "Counter Terror with Justice, Not Torture" organized by the human rights watchdog Amnesty International here today, Karra said with the substantial improvement in the security scenario, concrete steps need to be taken in Jammu & Kashmir to completely end confrontation, and encourage the civil society and the instruments of the administration in the State to assert fully and serve as effective weapon against the violence of all kinds. "This would necessarily presuppose measures like reduction of troops and revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)," he said and added that the pain of Kashmiris has reached a level where the measures for dignified peace are sure to gain substantial support.
Karra said the fact that the most effective security system to Jammu & Kashmir would be provided by its people, has to be recognized and respected and their supremacy established. "Security forces have to, and can help in managing a situation, but they can't be the solution," he said and added that the "Healing Touch" philosophy conceptualized and pioneered by PDP was aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the people to replace the atmosphere of armed confrontation with trust and slowly remove the dependence on the security forces for maintaining law and order in the State by entrusting greater responsibility to the civil society.
Healing Touch, Karra said meant a multi-dimensional process aimed to deliver the people from atrocities of all nature. "It meant holding back the power of the state to enforce its writ through military means," he said and added that it also meant sending out a signal to those who had taken up the gun in their belief to resolve a political problem through it.
Emphasizing that healing touch does not have a mere nursing connotation, Karra said it was not restricted to a package of relief or just a set of measures to affect the daily lives of a people who were engulfed in a vortex of problems because of the conflict in the State. "When we talk of healing touch, it connotes both reconciliation and conflict resolution," he said and added that after assuming power in 2002, PDP pursued with vigor the policy of political reconciliation and dialogue and the result was there for all to behold. He said the party took various measures to repair the damaged psyche of the people, salvage their bruised dignity, rekindle hope in their hearts and motivate them to mould their own destiny through participatory political process.
Karra said some of the major initiatives taken by the PDP include, grand reconciliation in Jammu & Kashmir, both on internal and bilateral fronts between India and Pakistan resulting in a slew of confidence building measures having a discernible positive impact on the situation, facilitation o dialogue between the Center and the separatists, release of political prisoners, non implementation of POTA, curbing the activities of the dreaded counter-insurgency wing of the State police, making the actions of the security forces more transparent and accountable, curbing human rights violations and formulating a rehabilitation policy for all the victims of violence - irrespective of their affiliation.
Karra pointed out that if the climate of violence is to end, if the cycle of revenge is to end and if suspicion is to give way to trust, it is always the more powerful who must restrain themselves and initiate sincere dialogue for the resolution of the problems. He said the concepts of "preemptive strikes", "regime change" and "hot pursuit" have introduced a vocabulary in strategic thinking that seems to finally give centre-stage to the slogan "might is right".
Karra said India needs to disengage the resources that are presently being channeled towards maintaining domestic peace and order. "Coordination between states affected by armed political dissent, dialogue via civil society, reconciliation and undertaking developmental and remedial human rights action will all go a long way to address legitimate and/or perceived grievances that result in the rise of non-state armed groups," he said and added that violence is no way out. It cannot resolve our problems, it will not set right the injustices and it will not allow us to participate in decisions about our future. We will have to find other way out, he said.
He said the conflict in Jammu & Kashmir has traumatized the lives of the men, women and children, irrespective of age, status or political affiliation and we have to work towards ending this conflict by finding a workable solution to the problems confronting the State. |
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