The show of Army’s might is not to “Calm Down” emotionally charged people but rather to cow them down!
Sometime
back it was announced that one full division of the Army is being inducted into
South Kashmir. This additional deployment was given the name of “Operation Calm
Down”. Keeping in view the objective which was to prevent and control the
freedom marches emanating from every village in Kashmir, the operation should
have been named as the “Operation Cow Down” rather than the “Operation Calm
Down”! How can armoured cars and soldiers in full battle dress calm down a
highly emotionally charged population except by over awing them by the might of
the force! While declaring the initiation of this operation it was given out
that the Army will only be in the background and the crowds would be handled by
the local police and paramilitary. It was also mentioned that the local police
and the paramilitary had been completely exhausted and the Army was meant to
give them some moral support. Moreover, it was also stated that due to public
marches and gatherings, the counter insurgency operations in South Kashmir had
come to a virtual halt, notwithstanding the fact that the official sources put
the number of militants not more than a hundred!
For
almost three months now, the entire Kashmir has been on the boil. Entire Valley
has been under continuous curfew or shut down. Now the curfew is getting
extended to the Chenab valley also. Markets are closed, offices are closed,
educational institutions are closed and public transport is off the roads. Both
the police and the paramilitary have failed to curb the uprising in spite of
the most brutal and harsh use of force. Nowhere in India or for that matter nowhere
in the world are peoples’ peaceful marches and assemblies put down by the use
of such harsh means. The pellet guns and bullets against stones! Stone
pelleting is indulged in only once the forces try to prevent the marches or try
to forcibly disperse peaceful assemblies of people. As per latest reports, more
than 88 persons especially teenagers have been killed. Thousands have been
injured. Over 500 are suffering pallet injuries in the eyes due to which many
have lost eyesight permanently. Over 3,000 have been arrested. Some have been
detained under the black law called the Public Safety Act. The paramilitary has
gone berserk in different areas breaking into peoples’ homes, destroying their
household goods and beating the inmates. There are also reports of taking away
of valuables. Normally, Army is called out for aid to civil authorities in time
of natural calamities. Nowhere Army is given the task of declaring a war
against one’s own citizens!
The
mass uprising was spontaneous and without notice immediately after the killing
of Burhan Wani. However, the resentment had been building over a period of time
by the harsh and oppressive actions of the security forces including the
special operations group of the state police known as the notorious Task Force.
The betrayal of the PDP in first fighting the elections against the BJP and then
joining it for government formation was the peak of resentment which can be
said to have been the last straw. The Burhan incident was the prick which blew
out the inflated balloon of resentment and alienation. For all these years, the
Government of India with the help of its local collaborators has been trying to
avoid the solution of the basic problem. They have always preferred problem
management than the problem resolution. The uprising may be cowed down by show
of force but that is not a permanent solution. After some lull, we may again
have another volcanic eruption.
The
present role of the Army is ironically a total contrast to its earlier role of
the Sadbhavana programs. After the turmoil of the decade of the nineties of the
last century there was a huge gulf between the civilian population and the
Army. To bridge the gulf the Army had started a number of civilian friendly
programs. To some extent these were successful in bridging the gulf. It was
probably in the light of this that the Army Commander Lt. General Hooda had
been very reluctant to take the role of peace keeping on behalf of the Army
alone. Addressing media-persons in Srinagar, General Officer
Commanding-in-Chief (GoC-in-C) of Army’s Udhampur-based Northern Headquarters,
Lt General D S Hooda, had said “it’s been over 40 days (of uprising) and everybody
is suffering due to stone-pelting and clashes.” “Everybody is suffering.
Government employees, traders, school children, teachers, mainstream leaders
and even police and forces have suffered over the past more than a month of
cycle of conflict,” Hooda said. “So my appeal to everyone, including the
separatists, is (let’s) join hands to restore peace as a single party can’t do
it alone.” He said everybody must sit together to find a solution. “I
know the situation is difficult, but we need to put our heads together and find
a way out,” he said. The present approach of operation “Calm Down” appears
contradictory to these views. It appears that the “Operation Calm Down” had
been ordered by the Political bosses in New Delhi as the Union Home Minister
had declared that he had asked the Security Forces to restore normalcy within a
week! Well, many weeks have passed and the situation continues to be the same.
Recently, the Prime Minister while speaking in Maan ki Baat programme, offered
Kashmiris to talk out the problem! Of course, dialogue is the best solution for
any problem. However, one cannot talk to a person when a gun is held to his
temple! Dialogue can be only in a peaceful atmosphere. An unconditional
dialogue in an absolutely free and peaceful atmosphere with all stakeholders
can be a possible way to address the basic issue which has been plaguing
Kashmir for last 70 years or so. But the foremost and the most urgent need is
to stop the so called “Operation Calm Down”, end all repressive measures and
restore complete freedom of expression.
