BJP’S CHALLENGE OF MANAGING J&K

BJP’S CHALLENGE OF MANAGING  J&K

Anil Bhat

A series of events from 01 March 2015 played out like the theatre of the absurd and the BJP’s responses raises some questions. 

When Mufti Mohammad Sayeed finally got sworn in as  Chief Minister Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on 01 March following long hectic negotiations between the BJP and PDP, while he sounded ecstatic, he displayed amnesia. Praising Pakistan, its terrorists and the Hurriyat/separatists, for allowing successful elections in J&K, shocking the non PDP in the gathering  and the rest of India who heard him on tv channels, in hindsight, does not seem surprising.

Release of Hurriyat hardliner and organizer of the 2010 stone-pelting campaign, Masarat Alam and reports of J&K government planning to release 800 more separatists evoked further uproar. While Alam’s release turned out to be of the making of the previous National Conference government, the present government eventually announced that there would be no more releases of prisoners.

Addressing the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on 20 March, Mufti said that his government would  initiate the process of scrapping the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state. "I can't promise as there is involvement of the Ministry of Defence but we will start the gradual process of scrapping of the AFSPA," he said.

Obviously, Mufti ‘forgot’, or chose to forget Pakistan’s desperate but concerted escalation of terrorist violence to disrupt the J&K poll process. According to South Asia Terrorism Portal during the voting period between November 25 and December 20, 2014, a total of 46 persons, including 11 civilians, 16 security forces personnel, and 19 terrorists were killed in terrorist attacks  across J&K.

On 27 November 2014, terrorists launched a cross-border suicide attack on the Army in Arnia sector of Jammu District, killing five civilians and three SF personnel. The four attackers were also killed. On December 5 itself, there were five terrorist attacks including one on the Army. Further, Kashmiri terrorists directed by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had again called for a boycott of the polls, along with threats from Pakistani terrorist groups and those in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

On 08 March, when Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar visited Pakistan for the SAARC Summit, advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on national security and foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said that his country wants to resolve all outstanding issues with India, including Kashmir, through dialogue. 

However, only 12 days later on 20 March  terrorists and/or Pak army soldiers wearing Indian Army uniforms intercepted a jeep going from Jammu to  Pathankot on the pretext of checking the vehicle. They then hijacked the jeep which had three passengers and fled towards the Rajbagh police station, Kathua where they shot dead the sentry, hurled grenades at the police station and opened indiscriminate fire injuring seven CRPF personnel, a policeman and a civilian.
On 21 March, the Hindu and Parsi new year, two terrorists opened fire at the entrance of 81 Armoured Regiment on Jammu-Pathankot highway in Samba, fired under-slung grenades and escaped into the wooded area nearby, where they were chased and killed.

Both these attacks were an almost exact repetition of those in September 2013.
“The two back to back terror attacks in Jammu is an attempt by the militants to boost their morale which has come down due to the Army operations”, said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said. While  J&K Assembly became a wrestling pad, Mufti reportedly “condemned” these attacks.

On 23 and 24 March reportedly about two dozen , Kashmiri separatists, including their leaders-some of who openly say they are not Indians and some of who have been on Pak’s payroll for organizing terrorist activities in India-were partying at the Pakistan High Commission. They also had detailed discussions with Pak High Commissioner Abdul Basit on “further plans for J&K”. In Srinagar and all Kashmir valley districts, Dukhtaran e Millat celebrated Pakiatan Day by raising its flags, passionately singing its national anthem and extolling on “our responsibilities towards Pakistan”,while spewing venom against India. These acts amount to treachery. J&K government’s BJP component pressed hard  for arresting Andarabi, some days later she was booked, but not arrested.

BJP’s reaction to the Pak-Day partying separatists was a tremendous comedown from August 2014, when New Delhi suspended Indo-Pak talks because of separatists meeting Basit.

Not arresting Andarabi, not taking any action against separatists partying with Pak diplomats and nominating former Army Chief and MoS External Affairs Gen V.K.Singh were definite indicators that BJP had stepped down on its Pak policy, which so far, apart from rhetoric of zero tolerance to Pak terror, remains unformulated and maybe even confused.

The mayhem begun by separatists in March only got further stepped up in April, the high point being Masarat Alam’s rally to welcome back Syed Ai Shah Gilani, returning from Delhi. Alam led the sloganeering by lustily shouting “Meri Jaan Meri Jaan, Pakistan, Pakistan….Kashmir banega Pakistan.” The statements/explanations of some separatists and PDP spokesperson/leaders were that such pro-Pak agitations in the Valley were nothing new and that they are by only a fringe or by very few elements. It took 48 hours at least to have Alam re-arrested. Even that did not help as Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, the so-called milder separatist took over and continued holding rallies and calling for ‘bandhs’. House arrest of separatists makes no dent in their plans as they keep scheming and directing anti-India activities, The only effective measure will be if they are put in prisons out of J&K. And if the PDP-BJP government really want development,  return of Kashmiri Pandits and a modicum of peace in the Valley, then the separatists and lackeys of Pak/ ISI will have to be rounded up and rendered ineffective. The recent spurt in whipping up anti-India fervor is a direct reaction to these aims of the PDP-BJP government’s common minimum programme (CMP).

The Army, BSF  and all central and state police forces as well as intelligence agencies will have to maintain a high state of alert Pak army/ISI and menaces like Hafiz Saeed are already in overdrive  to bring back J&K to square one as in late 1980s  and also target other parts of India.     

While the Centre has been soft on separatists colluding with Pak High Commission, another fact that got exposed was the largesse of facilities that separatists have been enjoying by J&K government with taxpayers money. Thanks to the efforts of Jammu East BJP MLA Rajesh Gupta, it came to be known that in 2014-15, the J&K government spent over Rs 120 crore on vehicles, hotel bills and security of separatists/ activists, which is more than the state’s budget of Rs 100 crore to provide succour to widows and destitute women under welfare schemes and three times more than the Rs 40 crore allocated for integrated child development schemes and the creation of additional 1,000 anganwari centres.   

One cannot but help recalling Praveen Swami’s article titled  ‘A man of many parts - and parties’ (Frontline magazine, November 09 – 22, 2002)- an excerpt:“On December 11, 1989, five days after he (Mufti) was sworn in, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front kidnapped one of his three daughters, Rubaiya Sayeed. While both the N.C. and Central intelligence officials were convinced that the JKLF would release her in the face of public outrage, the Home Minister (Mufti)  ensured that the jailed terrorists for whose release the kidnapping had been committed were released. Most experts agree that the release set the tenor for an inchoate security response to an insurgency, which has by now claimed over 33,000 lives...Many experts believe that Sayeed's well-known mismanagement of the crisis in Jammu and Kashmir was just part of a larger inability to comprehend, and to engage with, the multiple problems of terrorism India was confronted with at the time.”

It may also be recalled how during PDP’s previous rule, then J&K Governor, Lt Gen S.K. Sinha was maligned  by Mufti for promoting Kashmiriyat,for his efforts to establish some universities, pursue rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits and some other public welfare moves in J&K. Interacting with this writer, General Sinha recounted how as Chancellor of Kashmir University, he established an Institute of Kashmir Studies. On 25 May 2008, a highly successful international seminar on Kashmiriyat was organized at Srinagar by the Institute with participation of scholars from Pakistan and Central Asian Republics. High level delegations from all the eight South Asian countries attended this function, presided over by former President of India., Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam The following day the famous Junoon band from Pakistan was invited to play Sufi pop music. Despite the boycott calls given by the separatists and fundamentalists, there was a record turn out of several thousands for these functions. The leading English daily of Pakistan, Dawn, in its editorial on 28 May 2008 titled Breaking Barriers wrote, "Music knows no boundaries .... The people of Kashmir expressed their anger against religious militants and their violence." Dr Kalam wrote about General Sinha, "his approach to win the hearts of the people through Kasmiriyat was definitely making an impact.... General Sinha declared that he would do his best to promote Kashmiriyat which stood for amity and brotherhood cutting across religious divide. I could see this spirit in General Sinha during my visits to Jammu and Kashmir.". The separatists, very rattled at the success achieved in promoting Kashmiriyat and fearful of losing popular support, were on the look out for an opportunity for a counter offensive. Ironically on the same day as the Dawn wrote its editorial, the State Government sanctioned diversion/transfer of forest land to six different agencies. This was a routine affair. Among these six diversions/transfers was also the diversion of 100 acres of land at Baltal, traditionally used as base camp for pilgrims going to Amarnath. The separatists chose to pick on this for starting a communal agitation. They spread the canard that the Shrine Board was setting up a Hindu township to bring in Hindus and change the demography of the Valley like Israel had done in Palestine. It was part of a deep rooted conspiracy to arouse communal passion. A large amount of money was reportedly pumped from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to sustain this propaganda in the Valley media.”The canard also included that I was trying to exert Hindu cultural influence in Kashmir Valley”, said General Sinha.

Is the BJP’s current step-down on J&K a subtle “wait and watch” kind? Does the BJP believe in allowing Mufti’s indulgence of separatists to “let off steam” and expect to be able to retrieve its aims of the CMP gradually? Will the BJP walk the tightrope for long or will it come down with a heavy hand and straighten out matters? Or is the BJP actually confused about its JK-Pak policy, as some ‘experts’ are conveying? Options recommended for India’s security are not going to be easy, but if BJP means business, as promised in pre-election campaigning, some steps will have to be taken and soon, to nip in the bud any further possible midsummer madness in the Valley and on the borders.

Relating to border security there is an emergent requirement. the Line of Control (LoC) from Akhnur northwards, held by the army, has in addition to the fencing, an effective surveillance grid. The stretch of the International Boundary (IB) beginning from Akhnur southwards till Kathua, held by Border Security Force (BSF), has a series of lateral “chos” (rivulets), which adversely affect the border fencing. As such, what is required is to install a network of state of art surveillance devices for effective 24x7 surveillance. It is this stretch of the IB, which has been breached by Pak army/rangers, by digging tunnels, only some of which have been detected. Besides, the force level of BSF needs to be raised to reduce the gaps between its units and sub-units. That is how attempts by Pak army/battle action teams (combo of Pak army special forces and terrorists) have succeeded in crossing over and launching attacks on Indian Army and police units at Kalu Chak, Samba and Hiranagar.

For BJP, its alliance with PDP is an unprecedented opportunity and an acid test which it must pass for ensuring India’s territorial integrity.