Chemo for ‘Kashmir cancer’

On September 25, home minister P. Chidambaram made an announcement about an “eight-point solution” to deal with the Kashmir crisis. It would appear to be a reasonable first step, but most Indians have serious doubts about its credibility, especially since India has just suffered its worst international humiliation (after the 1962 Indo-Chinese war) over the disgusting state of readiness to host the Commonwealth Games (CWG).
It is time we recognise that the biggest threat to India is a corrupt, incompetent, unaccountable and indecisive leadership that lacks strategic vision. This lethal combination is responsible for the growth of the “Kashmir cancer” since January 1949, when India, requiring just a few weeks to clear the Pakistani raiders from what is now Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), voluntarily halted military operations and approached the United Nations Organisation. After the 1965 Indo-Pak war, the strategic Haji Pir pass was returned, and the decisive 1971 victory was not exploited to resolve the Kashmir problem. So is it any surprise that the Kashmiri separatists seem to have nothing in common with the other 150 million patriotic and secular Indian Muslims?
In 2009, the Sri Lankan military cornered the entire Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leadership in a small enclave, and despite the international outcry, wiped them out. Look at how Russia and China have dealt with insurgencies in Chechnya and Xinjiang respectively. The Chinese do not allow any literature or newspaper or even signboards with Arabic script to enter Xinjiang province, nor do they permit any “uncensored” religious sermons in mosques.
Jammu and Kashmir has a population of about 10 million, of which 67 per cent are Muslims, 30 per cent Hindus, two per cent Sikhs and one per cent Buddhists. The Kashmir Valley has a Muslim majority of 97 per cent, while Jammu and Ladakh, respectively, are Hindu and Buddhist-majority regions. In the 1990s, some three lakh Kashmiri Pandits were forced to flee the Valley in a systematic “ethnic cleansing” which was strangely identical to how Sunni-majority Pakistan reduced its 16 per cent minority population (in 1947) to below two per cent today. The same fate awaits the other minorities of J&K should the separatists ever succeed in getting an “independent J&K”. Recent media reports indicate that post-September 11 and Id violence, over a 100 Muslim families from the Valley have migrated to Jammu to avoid harassment from the separatists.
The Indian government must avoid taking any hasty populist measures, which could have serious long-term implications. It needs to:
l Recognise that the separatists and their Pakistani handlers are keen to embarrass India — CWG and the visit of US President Barack Obama in November are, therefore, especially vulnerable times.
l Recognise that Kashmir is only one of the major internal threats to India, and take a holistic view keeping in mind external threats from China and Pakistan.
l Recognise that since 1947, the Indian military has maintained the territorial integrity of India at great sacrifice. Do not demoralise the security forces when you need them the most. Learn lessons from the 1962 disastrous war with China. Use the Army in “very rare cases”, but do not dilute the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
l Create jobs in J&K by raising units of “Kashmir Scouts” and “Jammu Scouts”, on the lines of Ladakh Scouts, for paramilitary duties in the state. Also, increase J&K police strength so that they can take over most security duties in towns and villages. The stone-throwing Kashmiri teenagers will give up intifada only when given gainful employment.
l Grant maximum possible autonomy to Kashmir, but only when the Hurriyat is disbanded and ceases to exist.
l Rehabilitate the displaced Kashmiri Pandits at the earliest by giving them free accommodation and jobs in well-protected settlements in the Kashmir Valley.
l Recognise that at four per cent, the J&K poverty levels are amongst the lowest in India, and that all the Five Year Plans of J&K are funded by Indian taxpayers (who cannot settle in Kashmir, while Kashmiris can settle anywhere in India), and, that the Central government allocates over 10 times per capita per year for Kashmir as compared to about `900 for Bihar. Kashmir is one of the most corrupt states in India and this “appeasement” funding benefits only a few who have a vested interest in keeping Kashmir on the boil.
l Any discussion with Pakistan should be limited to return of PoK and the “Northern territories”.

The Indian government has belatedly recognised the possibility of India simultaneously fighting a two-front war against China and Pakistan, while coping with internal insurgency. Though an Indo-Pak conflict may occur at short notice due to a repeat of the 26/11 attacks, or another “raider” invasion of Kashmir, China may want to avoid war with India till it “resolves” its territorial claims on Taiwan, and in the South and East China seas. Nonetheless, the possibility of a short, brutal, Indo-Chinese encounter at sea to demoralise India with a “no-war risk incident” is highly likely, especially after China gets a new People’s Liberation Army-endorsed hardline President and Prime Minister in 2012.
Can India emulate the ruthless Homeland Security of the United States, China’s economic growth, and fight to win the war against the “three evils of extremism, terrorism and separatism”?
To deter external threats and extinguish internal threats, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would do well to concentrate on national security, “modify” his nine per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth obsession, increase our defence budget from 2.3 per cent of GDP to four per cent, change our “no first strike” nuclear policy, and double the Homeland Security budget. Above all, he must get “authentic” strategic advisers, weed out corruption, introduce accountability, lock-up the separatists, terrorists and extremists while ensuring a clean administration. Failure is not an option.

Vice-Admiral Arun Kumar Singh retired as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval
Command, Visakhapatnam