{"id":231,"date":"2019-04-15T10:02:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T10:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/?p=231"},"modified":"2019-04-20T10:30:19","modified_gmt":"2019-04-20T10:30:19","slug":"jammu-kashmir-new-approach-terrorism-will-remain-key-political-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/jammu-kashmir-new-approach-terrorism-will-remain-key-political-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Jammu and Kashmir, and New Approach to Terrorism will Remain a Key Political Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arun Jaitley<\/strong><\/p>\n

D<\/strong>uring the course of election campaign, whenever issues relating to the terror attack at Pulwama and the Air Strikes at Balakot are raised, India\u2019s Opposition is on the back-foot.\u00a0\u00a0 Why are national security and terrorism related issues being made into subject matters of electoral debate?\u00a0 This is a question they raise.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s opposition argues that elections have to be fought on the \u2018real issues\u2019 and not on the issues of national security.\u00a0 It is my endeavour to argue that national security and terrorism are the most important issues which concern India in the long run.\u00a0 All other challenges are capable of early resolution.<\/p>\n

The conventional election issues<\/strong><\/p>\n

Conventional election issues in India related to poverty alleviation, employment generation, improving growth rates, the quality of life of Indians, provision for quality healthcare and education, besides creating a world class infrastructure, and improving the quality of rural infrastructure.\u00a0 There are also additional areas which related to the quality of leadership and probity in public life and preservation and strengthening of democratic institutions.\u00a0 With India, for the past five years, maintaining the global \u2018bright spot\u2019 position as the fastest growing major economy, there is a lot more revenue available to the State year after year, to complete these unfinished tasks.<\/p>\n

Compared to a very slow poverty depletion till 1991, the period subsequent to that has seen faster depletion of poverty.\u00a0 The 2011 Census mentioned the BPL figure of 21.9 per cent.\u00a0 By 2021, this figure should be comfortably below 15 per cent and in the decade thereafter we will probably see poverty substantially depleted to negligible levels.\u00a0 Urbanisation will increase, the size of the middle-class will grow and the economy will expand manifolds.\u00a0 These will add to the number of jobs and as the experience of past three decades have shown in the liberalised economy, every section of citizens will benefit.\u00a0 These are all challenges that India is capable of capturing and resolving over the next decade or two.\u00a0 The India of 2030 and the India of 2040 will present a completely different look with the socio-economic profile of the population having substantially changed.\u00a0 In this changed India, there will be a lesser role of caste in politics, the quality of elected representatives will improve and obviously the standards of probity will be much tighter.<\/p>\n

Terrorism and national security<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the other above mentioned issues are all capable of resolution, where does India stand on the issue of national security and terror?\u00a0 Punjab, North-East and in the South, peace has been established.\u00a0 There is Maoist terror in the central parts of India.\u00a0 The region where it operates is restricted, its appeal is narrow.\u00a0 As the economic profile of India move upwards, it will become extremely difficult for the Maoists to sustain their violent movement to overthrow democracy.\u00a0 The security \u2018might\u2019 of the State is far superior to handle this movement.<\/p>\n

The same, however, can\u2019t be said of what is happening in the State of Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism emanating from region.<\/p>\n

Kashmir and terrorism<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most important issue which, thus, confronts India in the short, medium and even the long terms, is how do we handle the State of Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism emanating from Pakistan and from within?<\/p>\n

The Congress Party is identified with the creation of the problem itself.\u00a0 When Pakistan did not reconcile to Kashmir being a part of India, the Congress Party wished the issue away.\u00a0 It was its historical blunder on account of which we lost one-third of our territory.\u00a0 Instead of working for total integration, the party wanted a loose and liberal constitutional connect between rest of the nation and the State under an erroneous impression that such an arrangement would further the cause of integration.\u00a0 Article 370 was disastrously thought out as a constitutional connect between rest of the country and the State.\u00a0 Article 35A was surreptitiously introduced in 1954.\u00a0 It catered to a separatist psyche and legitimised discrimination.\u00a0 The NC-Congress relationship was a paradox.\u00a0 From total trust in Sheikh Sahab to his arrest in 1953, from his reinstallation in 1976 to the dismissal of the Farooq Government in 1984 and installing a Government headed by Ghulam Mohammad Shah were amongst the many pitfalls.\u00a0 The 1957, 1962 and 1967 and even 1988 were rigged elections thereby leading to further alienation of the people.<\/p>\n

All warnings were ignored and the separatists virtually took-over the State in 1989-90 leading to a violent civil disobedience.\u00a0 Atrocities were practiced on the minorities, including the Kashmiri Pandits, the Sikhs and others and an ethnic cleansing of the minorities was undertaken.\u00a0 The UPA wasted its 10 years with a set of sham policies while the Jamaat-e-Islami and other fundamentalist organisations were busy transforming the liberal Islam of \u2018Sufism\u2019 in the Valley to a more fundamentalist form of \u2018Wahhabism\u2019.\u00a0 The NDA experimented supporting a regime of the regional mainstream party in the State.\u00a0 Obviously, the experiment did not succeed since the PDP could not come out of the clutches of the Jamaat-e-Islami agenda.\u00a0 Thereafter, Central Government, for the last few months, has sent a clear message that terrorism will not be acceptable in the valley.\u00a0 Terrorists in large numbers are being liquidated by our security forces.\u00a0 Their modules are being cracked up.\u00a0 The rule of law is effectively being imposed.\u00a0 The activities of the separatists have been curtailed.\u00a0 Terrorism from across the border is attacked at the point of origin.\u00a0 Our historical view on Article 370 and Article 35A continues to guide our vision.<\/p>\n

Who is best suited to eliminate terror?<\/strong><\/p>\n

To an emerging economy the cost of fighting terror and its perpetrators across the border is huge.\u00a0 Civilian lives are lost.\u00a0 Our security personnel are martyred.\u00a0\u00a0 The security apparatus interferes in the lives of ordinary citizens.\u00a0 The aftermath of terror and all preventive action creates social tensions and even a strife.\u00a0 Development in the State of Jammu and Kashmir has suffered due to terror.\u00a0 Tourism has been adversely impacted.\u00a0 Both democracy and secularism have been a casualty in the Valley.\u00a0 The cost of maintaining a large security force and equipment amounts to money meant for development and poverty alleviation is spent on fighting terror or its handlers.<\/p>\n

How can Jammu and Kashmir, the attitude of Pakistan and terrorism not be important issues in India?<\/p>\n

An important question before the country is \u2013 who is best suited to handle the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism?\u00a0 It obviously can\u2019t be solved by those whose policies created the problem and are no longer willing to change their track.\u00a0 It can\u2019t be solved by those who linked battle against terror with the vote bank politics of their political parties.\u00a0 It can\u2019t be solved by those who believe that a loose constitutional connect will lead to integration even though the experience of seven decades is to the contrary.\u00a0 This failed obsolete thought has to be rejected.\u00a0 The people of Jammu and Kashmir have to be at the centre point in our strategy.\u00a0 They deserve a special relationship with India; they deserve opportunities, peace and security of life; they need freedom from terror.\u00a0 A State free from terror itself will imply much lessor security presence.<\/p>\n

Terror supported from across the border can\u2019t be fought either with velvet gloves or a policy of appeasement.\u00a0 The two regional parties have played a disappointing role.\u00a0 Of late, they are more strident in advocating secession of the State if firm measures are taken.\u00a0 The soft measures have not worked.\u00a0 The current leadership of the Opposition parties has hardly a roadmap except to tread on the path to disaster.<\/p>\n

This challenge can obviously be resolved with a fresh approach which is uncompromising on terror, uncompromising in its determination to enforce the rule of law and committed to total integration.\u00a0 A strong Government and a leader with clarity alone is capable of resolving the Kashmir issue.\u00a0 This will necessarily require reversal of the historical blunders of the past.<\/p>\n

The issue of Jammu and Kashmir and terror continues to remain the biggest challenge before India.\u00a0 It relates to our sovereignty, integrity and security.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arun Jaitley During the course of election campaign, whenever issues relating to the terror attack at Pulwama and the Air Strikes at Balakot are raised, India\u2019s Opposition is on the back-foot.\u00a0\u00a0 Why are national security and terrorism related issues being made into subject matters of electoral debate?\u00a0 This is a question they raise. India\u2019s opposition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":707,"featured_media":141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[209,232,230,231,229],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political","tag-kashmir","tag-key-political","tag-new-approach","tag-terrorism","tag-why-jammu"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/707"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269,"href":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions\/269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamalsandesh.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}