Shiban Khaibri
Indian armed forces known for their skills and feats of unprecedented bravery in the battlefield are as equally kind, humane, benevolent and all helpful to save and succour their fellow countrymen in distress and difficult times, no matter what the magnitude and the extent is. For them, which region or which part of the country, language, faith, colour, creed etc; does not matter, not even in the least, but only India and Indians. This has of late been aptly proven in the horrifying tragedy in Uttrakhand and now in Jammu and Kashmir, in particular in the Valley of Kashmir. Here, let the famous words of Capt. Manoj Kumar Pandey (PVC) be remembered, “If death strikes before I prove my blood, I swear I will kill death.” After 1947 Pakistani army led treacherous Qabayali attack, it is the second biggest saviour exercise undertaken by our armed forces to save their marooned Kashmiri brethren in the worst ever deluge which Kashmir has never witnessed in living memory. Their resolve that, “we won’t go back to our respective positions till the last one in distress in Kashmir is rescued” is getting proven by their undaunted and non stop efforts on ground which by every mean is nothing short of a yeoman’s service. While people across the country are sleeping during the night, these ambassadors of compassion and humanitarian virtues are busy non- stop through boats on the waters as well as from skies through aircraft, to reach each and every corner of the valley where their fellow countrymen are in distress. The personnel of NDRF too have done and are continuing to do a commendable job in the rescue operations. Till the writing of these lines, as many as 1.53 lac people have been rescued and taken to safer places. A dedicated army personnel numbering over 45000, Eighty Air Force choppers, world’s biggest chopper MI -26, Eighty medical teams, boats, trucks and huge quantity of relief material are helping the people. We are proud of the spirit of our armed forces. Whole of the country is deeply affected with the sufferings of the people in Kashmir and required help is assured from all sides.
The magnitude and the extent of the colossal loss of property and the death toll of the victims of the unprecedented floods has thrown open challenges of rescuing, retrieving and assuring the affected tens of thousands which has been taken up by the central Government under the dynamic leadership of Narindra Modi who immediately ordered all pronged action in rescuing operations, thus arranging inducting of the units of army, navy, air force and the NDRF personnel assuring “funds to be no constraint”, sanctioning immediately Rs.1000 crore as relief .The question, however, is as to where was the huge administrative set up, the Ministerial groups and the vast retinue usually accompanying them immediately before, during and above all after the worst deluge which struck the Valley. In the words of the Chief Minister himself, “Ministers were untraced for 3 days, my government was totally inundated” etc; may hold water to some extent but even after seven eight days into the catastrophe, why has seemingly the collapse of the State Government been so vivid and apparent? It was felt as if the NC – Congress Government had virtually evaporated in the air.
A Government that prioritizes in playing to the gallery by stressing upon the centre to go cajoling Pakistan to have talks was found utterly folded and paralyzed by the fury of River Veth, commonly called Jehlum to the extent that the entire state machinery run with huge funds from the public coffers should virtually vanish from the scene. The fact, though it may sound bitter to many, is that Kashmir rulers traditionally are wont to flee from the valley when the people, wholly or partly, have been in utter distress and trouble. Some of the agitated sufferers were seen complaining on the television channels that could the State Government not have purchased a few boats annually all these years so as to have sufficient numbers of them to be utilized in hours of crisis like the one experienced by the people? Is the state Police not trained to deal with the exigencies like the one under reference, having enough swimmers and divers in a topography like Kashmir which was initially Satisar or a valley with seven lakes and is having rivers, rivulets, lakes, etc; where trained Police personnel should have been there to deal with the situation initially till the army would have been moved in?
Worry only of elections, political bashing inter-se the ruling and the opposition parties coupled with stereo type politics on accession, talks with Pakistan, high pitched rhetoric of protecting Article 370 etc; indulged in by the political leadership especially the ruling NC and the Congress parties can only be pooh – poohed. The test of accountability to be faced by these two parties in particular is going to be very tough in the ensuing Assembly elections hopefully going to be deferred by a few months.
The public would be eagerly asking the establishment to spell the contingency plans the Government had to deal with the deluge to mitigate, if not fully overcome, the sufferings of the people. On the other hand, the propensity to hide behind the opaque curtains by the separatist leaders, Pakistan supporters, elusive Aazadi mongers and India bashers in the valley and not volunteering to help the marooned is reprehensible. They must see with their eyes wide open, how the “Occupied Indian Forces” rescued on a non stop exercise, day in and day out the people in utter distress , children, women, the aged and in particular the sick for the treatment of whom 9 base hospitals were set up. They could only succeed at least in instigating some of the deluge sufferers to throw stones on some army jawans who were saving and rescuing them and pelt stones on rescuing helicopters that were winching the marooned people. Perennial army critics and bashers have been proved utterly wrong and also stand fairly exposed before the entire world.
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