The Indian Army has had its say wherever it has been deployed in times of crisis. The armed forces special powers act (AFSP) has enabled them to squeeze out the last bit of problems wherever it has been supported by the government. The problem arises when the same political class that granted them these powers thinks of selectively granting powers to them among all those stated in the AFSP because it affects their political agenda. Although annoying to the army , the fact is , this is the very reason why our country cannot be called an army controlled one like some of our neighbours. But of what use is a force if you cripple their efforts when they are just making break throughs or are in the middle of a problem and have thought out their plan of action especially after losing some of its officers as part of its operations? I am referring to the ongoing crisis in Kashmir today.
The situation in our northern most state today is not because the army faultered , it is because of political neglect. The violence which is ongoing in Kashmir is just a result of the political class being least bothered about the needs of the people belonging to the parts where the mass protests and subsequent violence erupted. The other day Omar Abdullah stated that these are the parts where the turn out during voting is less than 20% of the population. this figure makes it abvious that the majority are not coming out to select a poloitical candidate of their choice or are simply confused as to whom to vote for. Omar also categorically stated that his party is not the ruling party in these parts. Due to a politically dicy situation he avoided further questions regarding the reason why violence broke out but what i reckon is, who ever is the elected representative from these parts is not going to be a person India can rely on to solve the problems in the valley.
The reason i say this because these crooks ask for funds from the state and central governments for development, at the same time they are also aware that there exists social unrest and negetive support for the ruling government only due to lack of developement which leads the youth there nothing to keep themselves occupied with. If there were to be development then it would amount to getting people busy in their own lifes, being satisfied with the efforts being made to improve their living conditions . But THIS IS NOT WHAT THE ELECTED CLASS OF THESE PARTS WANT. If things were to go this way then who would support the separatist movement, who would form the face of the protests when they needed to demonstrate the need to form a separate autonomous state. With these hidden agenda's in place developement never takes place. Where do the funds from the governments go ? Let's not talk about it.
This is where the army comes in. The Armed forces have experience in dealing with hostile environments like these and chalk out plans to tackle the situation . Just when they seem to be making inroads into finding the root cause of the problem and the situation seems to be more under control, they are asked by the ruling political class (who are under pressure because they are ruling the state and the pressure of the opposition parties seems to be mounting on them due to the worsening situation in affected areas) to back off and reduce the powers of the Army in these areas so that the opposition is happy(the separatist opposition).
Now we all know that fire has to be dealth with fire, firing with back firing or else one side is going to be bull dozed over. If the belligerent crowd comes with stones and knives our army can definitely not stop them with cheese balls, can they ? Casualties had to happen and did. The roudy boys who thought fighting the Army would be more exciting than going to school got injured and some even perished. Who bore the brunt of the blame, The Indian Army stationed there to bring the situation under control.
When it comes to how the Army handles suspected female terrorists and women in general in the violence prone zones of the country we cannot blame every male in the force. All of them are away from their families for 10 months/year, fighting loneliness and people whom they dont know and have never met because they are a threat to us, civillians. While the efforts of the Army to keep all its men occupied manages to prevent most officers from losing their sanity , some of them fail to control themselves and resort to anti- social behaviour against women, others kill their commanding officers. You carry out a research and you will find that these barbaric acts are carried out by a minutely small percentage of the force and yet, the entire Armed forces is put in the criminal box of court to explain why its officers did so. The reasons are not too hard to fathom. They are desparate to be with their loved ones (officers who kill superiors) , loney and psychologically disturbed (officers who resort to anti-social behaviour).
To make matters worse the enitire Force is heavily scrutinised by the media ,subjected to criticism from all corners and have to fight demands for them to be put to task in civil courts for crimes a very small percentage of the force have commited, which is derogatory for the Force. I am not saying the giulty should not be punished because the loss suffered by the families that got victimised by the rogue officers has to be accounted for and the army takes measures to make sure those guilty are put to task , but the integrity of the entire force should not be questioned. What about all those who gave up their lives so that the situation gets better and we have a better tomorrow ?
I hope the political class understands that they should not cripple the Army's efforts once they have been stationed at sentitive locations that need their service because they are trained in handling such situations and pulling them out just when they are on the verge of cracking open the issue will only demoralise them and the next time they are called upon to serve us and they are not living upto it due to the lack of respect for their work , they will be blamed again. Our belief in the Army is what fuels their operations more than the arms they use to put things in place. I also urge the media not to whitewash the achievements of the Indian Army for they have saved the pride of the nation way more number of times than any single body of the country ever has.
The Armed Forces have been left alone when they need support but they were always there when we needed them. They deserve a lot more respect and reverence that what is meeted out to them at present. If that happens the Army will not need a Sachin Tendulkar to come as brand ambassador of an Army Wing to lure the youth in. It will fire up the youth to put on uniform and serve the nation for nothing else but pride. The Army yields GUNS to get its job done but needs respect & ROSES to keep moving on in the rough and dicy terrains of Politics and National Defence.
