Former Jammu and Kashmir governor Lt. Gen. S.K. Sinha (Retd) says that the recent disturbances in the Valley should not be viewed in isolation. The distinguished soldier is also of the view that India has no roadmap for Kashmir:
Excerpts from an interview:
Q. What do you feel about what is happening in the Valley?
A. The situation in J&K must not be viewed in isolation. It is part of a continuing pattern. Since Pakistan is hell bent on trying to grab Kashmir at all costs, it has used different tactics including uprising, cross-border terrorism and direct invasion which took place in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999.
The whipping up of a mass movement and the pelting of stones is a third of a series of events in the last three years. In 2008, there was the controversy over the Amarnath Yatra, 2009 followed with the Shopian “rape” case, and this year we are witnessing prolonged instigated disorder.
India has no roadmap or policy for resolving the Kashmir situation, apart from knee-jerk reactions or a policy of appeasement. Appeasement only whets the appetite of the separatists who will ask for more concession and facilities.
Q. Are you referring to the lost opportunities in the past?
A. We have already lost so many opportunities. For example, on November 14, 1947, the Indian Army had reached Uri and were 20 odd miles from Muzzafarabad. The Army wanted to go ahead but Sheikh Abdullah was not interested because Muzzafarabad comprised a population of Punjabi, not Kashmiri Muslims to which he belonged.
The government has made no effort to take advantage of the demographic complexion of Kashmir. Separatists are confined to a small geographical area which is one tenth the size of J&K. Population-wise, they remain in a minority. Kashmiri Muslims comprise 45 per cent of the state population while Gujjars and Bakarwals, who are also Muslims, comprise 25 per cent. The Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhsits make up another 35 per cent. The Gujjars and Bakarwals are economically deprived and hold a strong grudge against the Valley Muslims. Stone-throwing too is confined to a very small area, even in the Valley, leave alone Poonch, Rajouri or Kargil, also Muslim-dominated regions.
In 2002, opinion polls carried by the UK-based MORI group in the Kashmir Valley showed that 61 per cent of the local population wanted to remain with India, 6 per cent with Pakistan, and 33 per cent remained undecided. A more recent survey by King’s College, London (2009-10), showed that only two per cent of the state’s population wanted to be with Pakistan. But the Indian government remains confused as ever.
Q. What went wrong with chief minister Omar Abdullah’s handling of the situation?
A. To go into the past, Omar blundered in the way he handled the Shopian case by first saying it was a case of drowning, then he said it was rape, but later it was found that the doctors had concocted the evidence and that it was indeed a case of drowning.
The CRPF cannot be blamed completely for the stone-pelting, especially when one sees the scale of what is happening there. The administration should have nipped the demonstrations in the bud and should have used water cannon and rubber bullets. Soldiers cannot be allowed to be attacked in this fashion, and if they are they are not going to turn around and garland the offenders.
Q. Much is being said about human rights violations by the Army in Kashmir?
A. The fact is that the record of the Indian Army is far superior to that of any other Army in counter-insurgency operations, like the Pakistan Army in Baluchistan, Waziristan or erstwhile East Pakistan, and the US Army in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Both the Pakistan and the US Army have been using area weapons like artillery, aerial bombing and strafing in such operations. The Indian Army has never used weapons which cause indiscriminate damage, inflicting heavy casualties on innocent civilians.
At the time of the 2005 earthquake in the northern regions of the Kashmir Valley adjoining PoK, it was the Army which went out of its way to help the victims. Across the border, Pakistan Army did nothing and it was Hafiz Sayeed who was distributing essential items.
Recently, however, the Army could have handled the whole situation differently. In Kupwara, a Major and his men were involved in a fake encounter, according to prime facie evidence. Two months have passed and they have still to come to a conclusion on this issue. In 2005, a Major was found in a compromising position with a woman in Handwara. He was subsequently suspended and dismissed from service.
About the same time, a Pakistani Major was accused of raping a woman doctor in a hospital ward in Quetta. No action was taken by the authorities against him. There were widespread disturbances on this account in Baluchistan which was ruthlessly quelled by the Army. When former President Musharraf, during his tour of the US, was questioned about this incident, he replied: “It is simple. Get raped, get money and get visa to go to Canada.”
If human rights violation by the Army takes place in Kashmir, the matter is investigated and the guilty duly punished. There have been a few instances in which dismissal and prison sentence of up to 14 years have been awarded. But human rights violations of civilians by the terrorists have been totally ignored by both the local and the national media.
Q. What do you think of the recent India-Pakistan talks ?
A. Let me point out that there is a major agitation going on in Gilgit and Baltistan against Pakistan. When Pakistani leaders come to India, they make it a point to meet Hurriyat leaders. When our leaders visit Pakistan, why is it that they never make any attempts to meet dissidents from either Gilgit or Baltistan? Our present policy of appeasement is abetted by a policy of subservience to the US. This is what is deciding our foreign policy today.