TALES OF TRAVESTY
DR. JITENDRA SINGH
Even as a teenaged Benazir exuberantly walked down window-shopping at Shimla’s famous Mal Road amidst irrepressible euphoria of the historic accord being signed between her father Zulfikhar Ali Bhutto and his Indian counterpart Indira Gandhi, the Indian Army under Sam Maneckshaw was agog with whispers expressing disappointment at the return of 90,000 PoWs (Prisoners of War) to Pakistan which some saw as a sell-out for which the Indian Army could have to pay dearly in the years to come.
Exactly four decades later today chief of Army Staff Gen Bikram Singh, who is a product of those tumultous times and who, as rightly claimed by him, shed his blood for Kashmir, minces no words to speak out loud and clear much to the reassurance of the ranks and files under him that there is no immediate plan to revoke Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) or withdraw Indian Army from Jammu and Kashmir.
Time and again, it has been reiterated in these columns, sometimes to the discomfiture of political high-ups, that decisions pertaining to sensitive army related matters like AFSPA should primarily be the prerogative of army commanders and not any political leader however highly he or she may be placed. More so also because, AFSPA is a protective mechanism for the army personnel deployed in militancy areas and only when these army personnel are able to protect themselves they will also be able to protect the Hon’ble Ministers and Hon’ble Chief Minister so that the latter can continue unthreatened in the seat of power occupied by them.
The political parties and their leaders who advocate revocation of AFSPA as a ‘‘Confidence Building Measure” (CBM) ostensibly have a noble thought at heart to reassure the common man that peace has atlast returned to terror-struck Kashmir valley. But, would it not be more convincing if the Hon’ble Ministers and Chief Minister chose to drop their Black Cats, NSG Commandos and “Z” category so that their unguarded free movement in Lal Chowk could send out a loud, clear and evident signal of normalcy calling for revocation of AFSPA and withdrawal of Indian Army ?
The most hilarious feature of this whole issue is that Kashmir-centric protagonists who demand withdrawal of Indian constitution provisions extended to Jammu and Kashmir after 1953 have never once demanded withdrawal of their personal security by Indian military, paramilitary and NSG sources under the provisions of the same very Indian constitution which they are never tired of denouncing and which they otherwise donot want to be applicable in Jammu and Kashmir.
To have the cake and eat it too has been a consistent habit with most of the Kashmir Valley politicians…….. whether mainstream or separatist. Unfortunately, these are precisely the worthies who have done maximum damage to the common man in Kashmir valley by consuming his share of resources and thriving at the cost of his survival. Umapathy cryptically cites a poetic simile, ‘‘Aaj Deewar Khaa Gayi Saaya, Aaj Maine Yeh Vaakya Dekha!’’
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