A General Critique

I saw the updates on almost all news sites last night before I hit the sack.  The press interaction of the Army Chief, Gen. Rawat was the big news everywhere for its hard-hitting content.  I read it with eagerness, even visited multiple sites to see if I'd glean anything more than what was contained in one.  Not much luck there.  

However, the interaction stood out for all the wrong reasons - for me.  The major sore points from my understanding and perspective are these:

a.  Kashmir is no more just an internal conflict

The General defended the act of Major Gogoi to tie up a commoner to the jeep to thwart stone-pelting with the justification that all is well in war (more so because we are fighting a dirty war; didn't know wars could be clean).  Essentially he admitted that it is more than just an internal conflict.  It is possible that this statement could be latched on to by Pakistan (and the separatists) to take the issue to international fora with renewed gusto.  By defending the act, the Chief went against the army ethos observed almost everywhere across the world and even the opinions of erstwhile army generals of India who had expressed dismay in the aftermath of the incident.  

Now that the officer has also been commended for his act, the court of inquiry is reduced to a farce. It also sends signals to the protesters that their stance is right.  Thereby weakening any effort by the government to rein in the violence and usher some peace.  

b.  A scary future 

The general also said that he wished protesters were using weapons and firing at the soldiers instead of pelting stones so that he could retaliate.  This very clearly brings out why army is not the right force to monitor an internal conflict like Kashmir.  If the country (and its government) want to keep the province within the current geopolitical entity, then the government needs to think quickly about the deployment of the armed forces in Kashmir.  With the mindset of the army that force alone can rein in the protests we cannot win the minds of the people or curb the protests.  People who are joining the protests now include women and girl students too (which wasn't earlier the case).  And, the stance of the people is hardening over time and rapidly too.  Along with this, the liberal Sufism that was being practised in the Valley is being replaced by more conservative and rigid Islam (read Salafism).  An eye for an eye in such circumstances is not the right policy to deal with fellow-countrymen.  Be it Maoists or Kashmiris.  An urgent review is needed both of the deployment of the Army and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.  The government can always take heed from the steps that were taken by the previous NDA government headed by Shri Vajpayee.  That however doesn't seem to be happening.

c.  Wrong objectives

The general believes that an Army should not only instill fears in the hearts of the opponents but also in the hearts of the population of the country that it belongs to.  These are dangerous thoughts.  True, army should scare the pants off of the enemy.  But not of its own people.  People should feel proud of the army and respect it - not just because of its bravery and valour but also its conduct as a humane force.  The Indian Army has gained loads of goodwill across the country due to its yeoman services during disasters - be it the Uttarkashi floods or the Chennai floods.  Earthquake here or riots somewhere else.  All these are now sought to be nullified by the statements emanating from its Chief.  Such aspirations for an army do not bode well either for the force or the country.  

Unfortunately the government too endorses the stance and utterances of the Army Chief.  So there lies no hope that someone would advice him to tone down the rhetoric and extend olive branch - at least in words as tokenism.  With the braggadocio that is on display the situation can only get bleaker for Kashmir and its people.  And, for India in general too.

Thief

ನನ್ನೆದೆಗೆ ನುಗ್ಗಿ
ಗುಂಡಿಗೆ ಬಗೆದು
ಚಿತ್ತ ಕದ್ದ ಚೋರ
ನಿನ್ನ ಕತ್ತಿಯನ್ನಾದರೂ
ಅಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಬಿಟ್ಟುಹೋಗು