news details |
|
|
| After ‘Quiet Diplomacy’ ambassador's IB visit, ultras make two intrusion bids | | |
EARLY TIMES ANALYSIS
Jammu, Dec 15: Even as the Centre has coined a new term - Quiet Diplomacy - for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir imbroglio, people in the twin capital cities of the state seem to beliterally unconcerned. In fact, such peace overtures meant a sudden rise in violence, or infiltration bids in a state where living under the fear of gun has become a way of life.
Since Saturday last when the Union Home Secretary Gopal Krishan Pillay spent time with field sepoys and officers at some forward border outposts in Jammu sector to have firsthand account of the situation on borders neighbouring Pakistan, two infiltration bids have been made by the Pak-based militants to enter the Indian territory.
First, on Sunday morning from Ballar in Ramgarh sub-sector, and second, from Paharpur in Kathua on Monday morning. The bids were, however, foiled both the times. If intelligence inputs are to be relied upon, dozens of militants are camping in the forward border outposts of the Pak Rangers to infiltrate at an opportune moment. After the 26/11 Mumbai carnage, the ISI had plans to strike in Jammu in a big way, according to a top police officer.
On November 26, BSF DIG O P Tanwar was killed at Ballar in an IED blast triggered by militants with a remote control device from across the International Border (IB).
After peace initiatives between New Delhi and Islamabad, ordinary people take the brunt of any change. In 2003, when Mufti Mohammad Syed-led government floated the idea of confidence building measures (CBMs) between India and Pakistan, militants had killed PDP activists -- Gul Mohammad Bhat and Abdul Ghani Sheikh at Nowbug Veeri, looking for soft targets.
Indo-Pak thaw was a street gossip after Prime Minister A B Vajpayee had extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan during a public rally in April, 2003.
Public euphoria was at its peak when Vajpayee took a bus to Lahore, then there was Kargil. People don't expect anything substantial to come out of this latest "Quiet Diplomacy" in terms of any change in their day-to-day lives.
There is a general feeling that whenever there is a movement on the Indo-Pak dialogue front, there is a sudden increase in violence here. Militant groups want to make their presence felt.
People's mistrust is rooted in the belief that these processes won't be result-oriented. Commoners are not expected to understand the niceties, they want concrete results.
People feel that foreign militants cannot survive in Jammu and Kashmir without the Pak support or some vested interests in the state who want to sabotage any peace process.
An army officer said Pakistan had a tacit understanding with militants active anywhere in India and its unflinching support to militants continues unabatedly.
But what is good for India is that after the US, Britain has also come openly, asking Pakistan to get firm on militants. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in a statement last week, mounted pressure on Pakistan to do more to break al-Qaeda and find Osama bin Laden.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
