Mail today Article today Don’t mess with the Fail safe: OMAR ABDULLAH’S CALLTO SCRAP AFSPA WOULD GIVE ‘ INFILS’AFREE HAND IN THE VALLEY OMAR ABDULLAH believes that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is draconian and needs to be scrapped. That is his stated position. At least a partial rollback of AFSPA was what he wanted till recently. On the other side of the vector is Gen. Bikram Singh who was and, I presume, still is principally opposed to the withdrawal of the Army from even some of the districts. Nearly a year and a half of peace and tranquility in the Valley probably convinced Omar that a relaxation in the vigil was in order. His thinking predicated on the fact that tourists had virtually swamped the Valley last year and the summer of 2012 was probably even better than pre- 1989 in terms of sentiment. Even as recently as June 5 this year, Omar highlighted the improving situation in the state, saying that 2012 was by far the best in the past 25 years in terms of all parameters and all indices of violence have shown a constant and continuous decline. IMPROVEMENT ‘ THE percentage of terrorist related incidents [ has] decreased by 35 percent during the year 2012 as compared to the year 2011. During the year there has been a significant decline in all types of causalities, 54 per cent of security forces and 40 per cent of the civilians,” Omar said in his speech at the CM’s Conference on Internal Security as recently as June this year. Adding, “ People will share my optimism that the overall security situation in the state of Jammu and Kashmir has improved significantly, and as of now, there are many districts of the state which have not witnessed militancy- related incidents for quite some time. Some of the special laws like AFSPA need to be revisited.” “ Keeping in view the improved security scenario, I would strongly urge the government of India to set in motion a mechanism which can guide us for the removal of AFPSA,” he said. Omar’s concerns over the Army’s continued presence is driven by the alleged excesses — some true, some imaginary — which have muddied the waters and created an aversion to the men in olive fatigues. Several instances of these ‘ excesses’ have resulted in bad blood amongst the populace. NECESSITY Over the last two months the situation has turned dramatically on its head in the Kashmir Valley. It is the watchful and alert vigil of the Indian Army that has prevented ‘ infils’ from making inroads. A furious Pakistan has responded by upping the ante all along the LOC from Samba to Poonch right upto Drass and Kargil. In the main, the killing of 18 dreaded terrorists by the Army has hurt the Pakistan terror factory and their response to this was the slaying of five Indian jawans in Saral, Poonch sector. The case for not withdrawing Army personnel has once again been thrown into stark relief with the recent non- stop activity along the border. As Gen. Bikram Singh once explained the import of keeping the Army presence in Kashmir Valley: this is a necessity and not a luxury. The Army has a grid that functions like a concentric circle right across the Valley starting from the LOC right into the innards of Srinagar city. There are over 300,000 Army soldiers both along the border and for counter insurgency operations in the Kashmir Valley. While the Northern army command is based in Udhampur, there are three Corps — 14 ( Leh), 15 ( Srinagar), 16 ( Nagrota), with around 60,000 troops each. They are on the outer periphery of the concentric circle as it winds inwards. Add to this the counter terrorist force — Rashtriya Rifles, drawn from the ‘ ghatak’ platoons of the Army which has 62 batallions ( all told around 70,000 soldiers). This is the dangerous element of the Army, which is involved in combing and search- anddestroy operations against insurgents. The Rashtriya Rifles itself has five division- like headquarters — Delta force: Doda, Kilo force: Kupwara and Baramulla, Romeo force: Rajouri and Poonch, Victor force: Anantnag, Pulwama, Badgam and Uniform force: Udhampur. Over and above this the 26 Infantry division ( approx. strength 20,000) is based in Jammu which comes under the Western army command headquarters in Chandimandir. It is the Indian Army which is playing sentinel on the borders. A high price has been extracted from these jawans who have fought hard to keep Kashmir safe from Pakistani designs for close to 25 years. Their presence these last three months has meant that terrorists wanting to sneak in have met with a deathly end. More than that, their very presence as a deterrent force is vital and the removal of AFSPA could have resulted in disaster. In any fight against guerrillas, there will be ‘ excesses’ of some kind, but when you hold on to your turf in the ground of tactical warfare, this is par for the course. Over time, the Army has managed to crush local militancy completely and it is only after Afzal Guru’s hanging and Nawaz Sharif’s return that the calm has been shattered with Pakistan pushing ‘ infils’ aggressively. In the first eight months of this year, 103 casualties in militantrelated violence were recorded in Kashmir, compared to 57 in the same period of 2012, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a think tank. Ceasefire violations are up 80 per cent year on year. GREAT GAME 2.0 The retreat of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989 brought a wave of guerrillas into Kashmir to fight India. Next year’s Afghan drawdown by US forces is expected to ratchet up the level once again. Equally Pakistan is uncomfortable with India’s growing military and economic presence in Afghanistan and the easy alignment with Hamid Karzai, hence the targeting of Indian establishments at regular intervals. A new version 2.0 of the Great Game is under way in Afghanistan and India is a potent player in it. Pakistan is practicing what it calls the strategic depth doctrine against India where control of Afghanistan is paramount. The Brookings Institute reckons that in the eventuality of a nuclear war against India, the Pakistan establishment believes it can recoup by pushing deep into Afghanistan to live and fight another day. Brookings says, “ the Pakistani military has relied on “ asymmetric warfare”— using jihadi fighters for its own ends. This strategy goes back over 30 years. Since the early 1980s, the ISI has consciously and consistently funded and incubated a variety of Islamic extremist groups. For the Pakistani military, the existential threat posed by India has taken precedence over all other geopolitical and economic goals.” Its brutal manifestation is a place called Kashmir. In any fight against guerillas there will be ‘ excesses’ of some kind
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:08:48 +0000
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