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Kashmir : No troop cut at present, Army Chief

	October 08, 2007

The new Army Chief, Gen. Deepak Kapoor, on his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir after taking over at the beginning of this month, has said that conditions in the Valley are not conducive for any troop cut. Addressing mediapersons in Srinagar on Oct. 6, he said he does not think troop reduction is possible till normalcy returns to the state. He said the Army would work on the directions of the political leadership with whom the final decision lay.



About the recent spurt in encounters, Gen. Kapoor said it is an old tactic of the militants to step up violence to break any spell of peace which is the case in the valley at present.



Gen. Kapoor met State Governor S.K. Sinha at Raj Bhavan on Oct. 6.



On allegations of human rights violations by the Army, he said, “The Prime Minister’s zero tolerance is a direction for us. I will not allow any human rights violations.”



On Oct. 5, Gen. Kapoor visited the Northern Command HQ at Udhampur where he was briefed about the security scenario in the state.



The Army Chief also paid obeisance at the holy cave of Mata Vaishno Devi.





Defence Minister to decide on redeployment of troops



In the meantime, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in New Delhi on Oct. 4 that the government is reviewing a report submit¬ted by a panel headed by the Defence Secretary on the issue of reducing and redeploying troops in Jammu and Kashmir. He said the overall security situation in the state had improved in the last few years, adding that violent incidents like the one in which two Majors and nine militants were killed last week were confined to certain pockets.





Security forces needed in view of elections : Governor



State Governor S.K. Sinha has ruled out demilitarisation in Kashmir and said that the presence of security forces is required in view of the elections in the state after some months. He was speaking after releasing a book written by the father of former Army Chief Gen. J.J. Singh in New Delhi. Sinha said even after full normalcy is restored in the state, demilitarisation would not be possible as Jammu and Kashmir is a border state.



The People’s Democratic Party, a partner in the Congress-led coalition government in the state, on the other hand, has again demanded early action on the party’s demand for troop withdrawal.





Two Majors among 11 killed in gun-battle with militants



Two Majors and nine militants were killed in a fierce gun-battle between a newly arrived group of militants from across the border and a contingent of Rashtriya Rifles in a village near Tangmarg on Oct. 3. The encounter continued for nearly 32 hours. Some soldiers were injured and five houses, where the militants had been hiding, destroyed in what the Army authorities described as the biggest encounter in Kashmir in the last five years.



Briefing reporters, Brig. Kuldip Singh, Commander of 12 Sector Rashtriya Rifles, said the militants were most probably associated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba “as they seemed to be well trained.” The trapped militants tried to break the cordon, thrown round the village by the troops, at least four times. “But we did not let them go.”



On Tuesday, the troops of 34 Rashtriya Rifles, on specific information, had intercepted a group of militants. The operation was targeted at not just the freshly trained militants but also three top militants of the area, including Bilal Afghani, who had received them near the border.



As the troops encircled them, the militants opened heavy fire, killing Major K.P. Vinay and injuring three others. The injured were airlifted to the Army Base hospital in Srinagar, where Major Raman died. His marriage had been fixed for October 28.



Reinforcements were called from the 12 sector of the Rash¬triya Rifles and the fire-fight continued through the night on Tuesday and during day on Wednesday. The Rashtriya Rifles author¬ities tried to persuade the militants to surrender and sent the village headman for negotiations but they refused. The headman himself was hit by a bullet in the hand. The bodies of the militants were recovered later.



The residents whose houses were damaged complained of huge losses: “They [the militants] came in the morning and occupied our houses. Two of us were asked to remain in the houses, but the women pleaded with them and we were let off,” said a house owner.



In another incident, two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, holed up in a mosque in Budgam district, were killed by the security forces on Sept. 30. Police said there was minor damage to the mosque.



A JCO and two hardcore militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit were killed in an encounter in Bandipora district on Oct. 3.





Over 50,000 students take part in contests on Gandhian philosophy



Despite pressure from militants, more than 51,000 students took part in contests on Gandhian philosophy across schools and colleges in the state last week. They also took the peace pledge issued by the Central Government and modified by the State gov¬ernment, ignoring the boycott call by the Hurriyat Conference and the Dukhtaran-e-Millat.



In the run-up to Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on Oct. 2, Kashmir debated the relevance of his philosophy and work ethics and the state government approved cash rewards for school and college students who produced the most eloquent speeches on “Gandhian philosophy of truth and non-violence and its relevance in the 21st century”. Both factions of the Hurriyat Conference, besides some other separatists debunked the idea and asked people to boycott the ceremonies, but did not succeed.



Students flocked to the Sher-e-Kashmir International Conven¬tion Centre (SKICC) on Oct. 2 and some of the selected youth made such speeches on Gandhi that the audience burst into long, spon¬taneous applause.



As student after student invoked Gandhi’s struggle and how great social and political leaders like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela won their battles against much stronger establish¬ments following his philosophy, the audience rose in applause. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said his life took a turn during his participation in a similar debate on Gandhi in 1969, and his political career never looked back after that.



There was adverse reaction, especially from separatists. “Gandhian philosophy enjoins on the oppressed to demonstrate patience while it has no prescription to stop the oppressor from perpetrating oppression,” said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, while asking students to boycott the functions. “India has practical¬ly rejected the Gandhian philosophy,” he said.



A spokesman of Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said the objective behind preaching and promoting the Gandhian philosophy in J & K is to damage the religious and cultural identity of Muslims of the state. Dukthtaran-e-Millat’s Asiya Andrabi said Muslims do not need any Gandhi as the Prophet continues to be the ultimate role model.



Students in a university seminar were near unanimous in suggesting that Gandhian philosophy has failed in Gujarat, his birth place. Many said instead of civilians, the philosophy needs to be taught to Kashmir’s counter-insurgency grid.



However, what disturbed most - even in the education depart¬ment - was the pledge, sources in the government said, they had got from the Centre titled “India of my dreams”, basically an excerpt from Gandhi’s autobiography. This was not found suit¬able for Kashmir and was changed to “Pledge for peace and non-violence.”





Ladakh Hill Councils demand constitutional status



Following the Manmohan Singh Government’s decision to give constitutional validity to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in West Bengal, there is a demand from the two Hill Councils in Ladakh for similar status.



“This status will make the council very effective,” said Tsering Dorjey, chairman, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh.



He said the LAHDC had so far not raised such a demand as the Centre said more hill councils would not be included in the 6th Schedule. Dorjey said they would soon meet to review the situa¬tion.



Ladakh’s twin councils - in Buddhist dominated Leh and in Kargil, - were set up in 1995 and 2003, respectively after a prolonged political agitation. Hill councils that are put under the 6th Schedule control law and order and collect taxes in their areas. “We want to promote tourism, but have no powers to do so as the law and order authorities kill all such proposals in the name of security,” said Dorjey.