news details |
|
|
| Army chief diagnoses Kashmir's ailment | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Jan 31: The Prime Minister has appointed three interlocutors to diagnose what ails Kashmir and prescribe medicine that could cure it. Earlier also, the Government of India had appointed interlocutors for the same purpose. Besides, the Government of India has been resorting to track-II diplomacy to find out what could ail the Kashmir's ailment. But nothing has emerged out of these initiatives. Nor is there any possibility of the interlocutors and the track-II channels ever diagnosing the Kashmir's ailment because they are incompetent, ill-trained and half-baked doctors. In fact, they are no more than mercenaries. They know the ailment but they do not want to cure it. Because they would like to mint money and enjoy status at the cost of the country as long as they could. They can barter the nation but they cannot afford to prescribe a proper medicine.
However, there are in India well-meaning persons who know what ails Kashmir. One such person is the present Chief of the Army Staff, General VK Singh. He is candid. He is forthright. He is committed and he doesn't fear. His formulations are sound because these are based on the ground situation, as also because his vision is clear. He doesn't mince words and says what is right and what is wrong. He has, like former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Lt Gen (Retd) SK Sinha, diagnosed the Kashmir's ailment. General Sinha as Governor of the state had some four years ago told some highly sophisticated former diplomats, bureaucrats, Army Generals and leading commentators in Delhi that the Kashmir problem was nothing but the fall-out of the Kashmiri leadership's belief in communal politics and two-nation theory and that what was needed was a surgical operation. In other words, he had suggested eradication of such forces operating in Kashmir, in collaboration with their masters across the border. He was perhaps the first person holding a top constitutional position to hit the nail on the head, set the record straight and suggest what the Government must do.
General VK Singh has not used the terminology and language General Sinha used. But he has practically said the same thing and urged the Government of India to rise to the occasion and cure the ailment as early as possible, besides dismissing out-of-hand the demand that the Army be withdrawn from the troubled areas in the restive Kashmir Valley.
What exactly has he said and when and where? He has, among other things, said: "Jammu and Kashmir is a complicated set of things. There has to be a holistic view on what we do there. We have to take a very different view for the long term. Don't take decisions for the sake of expediency for a certain purpose. You have to have focus and resolve, and the Government should put some people on the job. We must look very closely at the ideology being preached. What are we doing to counter this ideology? Are the mainstream political parties doing anything about it?" He made these candid remarks day before yesterday in Delhi during an interview to a news channel.
He didn't talk about the ideology of the Congress or the BJP. Nor did he talk about the ideology of those who stand for national unity and integrity or for the protection and promotion of Indian sovereignty. He talked about the pernicious regressive ideology as is being preached and practiced by the fringe elements in Kashmir, supported by men in power and men holding important positions in and outside the government. Obviously, he talked about the ideology of the separatists and the so-called mainstream parties like the NC and the PDP. His didn't name anyone of them and it was understandable. But his message was loud and clear. His remarks indeed constituted a scathing attack on those responsible for the unity and integrity of India and for the promotion of nationalist, secular and democratic ethos.
It is an irony that the authorities are not prepared to listen to the sane counsels. Enough is enough. It is time for the authorities to consider what General Singh has said and act accordingly. What he has said is clear. He said the bottom-line in Kashmir is secession and it has to be countered and comprehensively defeated. Let's see what impact his sane counsel has on the establishment. Union Home Minister is likely to visit the state in the first week of February and what he would say here would be an indication if the Union Government has rejected the Army chief's prescription or repudiated it outright. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
