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Image Courtesy: PTI

In the 46th session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), external affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was invited and despite Pakistan’s protest and boycott, the invitation was not retracted. The speech on ‘pluralism’ by Sushma Swaraj was published and BJP’s ministers were quick to jump that this was a big turn around and a successful foreign policy initiative by the Prime Minister. They gave example that never in the history of Independent India, did we get an invitation from the OIC to speak. In fact, Mr Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad’s invitation was withdrawn at the last moment in 1969 at the insistence of Pakistan, thus creating an embarrassing condition for the host country that had invited him and then told him not to attend the summit.
 
Since then, India has not accorded OIC any importance but with the Modi government’s overdrive to score political points, India decided to send Ms Sushma Swaraj while Pakistan boycotted the preliminary session. Now, OIC has passed a resolution presented by Pakistan criticizing India. While it does not matter much, as OIC has been speaking this language for long, but the Indian position was always about ignoring it. Ironically, Pakistan has also been made the permanent member of OIC’s human rights body. The fact of the matter is that pluralism has never been the strength of OIC member countries, neither are they devoted to democracy and human rights. India’s strength was its strong secular credentials despite all its weaknesses of prejudices and biases. As constitutionally, we are not a theocratic country.
 
Today, India has power and the world listens to it and wants to embrace it. All this is not a single day’s work but the result of India’s growth story and the success of its institutions, which are now respected the world over. Globally, the Indian model of coexistence has been appreciated but today there is a worry about India and its secular character.
 
We always believed that political power is based on electoral calculations and institutions are there to balance things and implement rule of law to save us from collapse. These institutions are under tremendous strain at the moment. If we see how our External Affairs Ministry and Defense spokespersons are under tremendous pressure then we have to realise a fact that the Electronic media in India has become the biggest curse to our democracy and a powerful threat to our national integration. It has put enormous pressure on our armed forces and displayed all their actions for the public gaze. All their movements are being reported and discussed from dawn to dusk.
 
It refuses to accept that our ‘Faujis’ too are human beings who have family and children. In the din of their ‘bravery’, it creates an unimaginable strain to ‘succeed’ without understanding the dynamics of regions and tough on ground situations. While all those who join armed forces serve the nation with their head held high, as it is their job profile, they also have a human wish to live and love.
 
In the last few days, we have got a number of messages from the family members, particularly the wives of those who died on duty whether in war or handling local crisis. It is a well-known fact, given the nature of our society, that the biggest victims of war are children and women. Once the ‘josh’ has cooled and calmed, the bitter realities of lives take centre stage. We already know how after the Kargil war, a number of young women lost their husbands. Though the government tried to compensate for it through money to hide its own failure, the family crisis deepened. The crisis of losing a husband and losing a son. Now, it was women who were actually fighting each other. One seeking compensation for her son, while other for her husband. In many places, these issues came to the court.
 
This society is brutal. It does not allow a woman to grieve as the media is present all the time. If she remarries after some days, media jumps on the story and spins it to say that she married and left her ‘parents in law’ in the lurch. If she does not, life is still difficult for her. Many of the parents in law, want her to marry the younger son against her will and we all know keeping the compensation money in the family becomes a big issue.
 
As I said, Indian foreign policy is coming under tremendous strain. So is our social structure, unity and integrity in the country. Not many feel that Imran Khan has become a ‘peacenik’ because the power is still in the hands of the army and the agenda to make India bleed from many cuts remains the top of Pakistan’s military leadership. That is the historical crisis of the Pakistan elite. Though there was a time when many in India felt that military leadership was useful for negotiations with Pakistan and General Parvez Musharraf was the prime example for it, but the Agra summit between him and Vajpayee was foiled by Advani and hawks like him. Otherwise, we would have progressed more, particularly on Kashmir.
 
In the last four and a half years, this government did not act on the ground but through propaganda. It allowed the creation of extremely poor and divisive narratives related to Pakistan which focused on catering the Hindutva constituency and made little impact on Pakistan. The attacks on our security forces increased manifold during these years but the government and BJP leaders focused not on governance but on TV channels, resulting in us became a global laughing stock.
 
More than the government, it is these channels who have become a huge embarrassment for our security as well as foreign policy establishment. They feel that they are glorifying our forces but in fact, they are putting immense mental pressure through this warmongering. Pakistan actually won the perceptional war where hawks there felt that the Modi government was more suitable for their propaganda.
 
The drama played out by Pakistan with the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan was actually to preempt things and not allow the Indian side to score any points. It would still be appreciated if the armed forces dealt with the issue with sobriety and without giving the media much of a chance to convert it into a tamasha. I think it was a good strategy to not allow media access and platform to create another crisis. Since Pulwama, these fake warriors have been trying to create division and crisis for the benefit of their political patrons and TRPs. Like their patrons, they too want to go for a war without thinking of its consequences, as well as without letting our forces take their own decisions. This is dangerous and has to stop. India cannot afford to lose even the perceptional war.
 
Today, you need diplomacy to put pressure on countries which do not follow basic principles. A country like North Korea is now realizing the cost of international isolation and coming to the discussion table. There are numerous other ways. No country would survive if it remains isolated. Further, for India, it would be better to strengthen political movements in Pakistan as well as strengthen its secular constitutional values. If people of India face discrimination on the basis of their religion, caste identities or due to their regional identity, how are we going to counter the propaganda by others? It is a serious concern. If you exclude people and communities from the power structure and political process, you give potential ammunition to your opponents.
 
War takes you nowhere. It only brings destruction and no solution. We had so many of them and we are still fighting. We need to seriously engage with people in the political process and develop a culturally inclusive society.
 
You cannot keep the Kashmiri people out of the process to bring peace in South Asia or between India and Pakistan. Kashmir for Pakistan is its Islamic agenda and Indians want to prove their ‘secular’ and ‘democratic’ credentials. It is important to first bring normalcy in the valley by strengthening institutions of governance and involving political parties and civil society organizations. There is no other way than talks, talks and talks. These are political issues which can be resolved through negotiations and an open heart. Once we have done so, it would be easier to convince the world that Pakistan needs to act against the Islamic terror organizations.
 
It will be equally important for the Indian government to act against the venom spewing channels as well as the organizations campaigning against minorities in general and Muslims in particular. You cannot win the war by deliberately excluding and marginalizing nearly 15% of your population. It is time to put this to an end to this and strengthen the idea of an inclusive India which alone can and will defeat all those forces trying to destabilize us.
 

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Tensions in the Kashmir region were already building after more than 40 Indian troops were recently killed by a suicide bomber. India’s “pre-emptive strike” over the disputed border on Tuesday – the first of its kind by India since it went to war with Pakistan in 1971 – has escalated the situation further. India said it had targeted a terrorist training camp and accused Pakistan of violating a 2003 ceasefire, while Pakistan now claims to have shot down two Indian fighter jets.

The origins of the Kashmir conflict lie in British imperial disengagement from the subcontinent. At independence in 1947, the unpopular Hindu Maharaja of Kashmir was faced with invasion by Pakistani tribesmen. He turned to India for help, signing the treaty of accession that took Kashmir into the Indian Union. India sent troops to Kashmir and so began the first war between India and Pakistan.

The Pakistanis were held off by Indian troops after they occupied one-third of Kashmir in 1948. Today, Pakistan continues to occupy that third and India holds the remaining two-thirds including the Kashmir Valley. The border between these two areas in Kashmir is demarcated by the Line of Control (LoC), established after fighting in 1947-48. This demarcation has changed little in all the conflicts of the subsequent years.

Disputed territory: green is Kashmiri region under Pakistani control; dark-brown is Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir; striped is Aksai Chin under Chinese control. CIA World Factbook/Wikipedia Commons

Maharaja Hari Singh’s move to join India was supported by the popular secular Kashmiri political movement – the National Conference, led by Sheikh Abdullah. Particularly so, as India agreed a special status for Kashmir within the Indian Union – spelled out in Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. A further article in the constitution prohibits people from outside Kashmir from buying land and property in the state, allowing Kashmir to preserve the balance of its ethnic and religiously mixed population (60% Muslim, 35% Hindu and 5% Buddhist).

Ladakh: a mountainous region in the disputed north-west of Jammu and Kashmir in northern India. Phuong D. Nguyen/Shutterstock

Pakistan has always maintained that, in accordance with the logic of partition, Kashmir should have been integrated with it. It attempted to take Kashmir by force in 1947-48 and again in 1965, with no success. The Kargil conflict in 1999 was the last substantial direct confrontation between the two militaries.

Since then there have been regular terrorist attacks on mostly military, paramilitary or government targets in Kashmir – see the full list here. Successive Indian governments have held the Pakistan military and their Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) responsible for training and aiding the terrorists involved, which Pakistan denies.

After this latest suicide attack, claimed by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) terror group, the debate now rests on whether the wider apparatus of the Pakistani state was aware of, and can be held responsible for, the actions of a terrorist group based in their country and with supposed links to the ISI.

Modi operandi

The suicide attack that killed Indian paramilitary personnel takes on added significance because it occurred in the context of the looming general election in India in which the BJP, led by Narendra Modi, is trying to retain its grip on power. Modi and his BJP came to power with a thumping majority in May 2014, promising competent, clean government and economic development.

However, things have not gone well for the government in recent months. The Indian economy is suffering from the long-term effects of the decision to demonetise in 2016 and the inability to generate new jobs. The BJP was also defeated in five state elections in 2018, including key states of the Hindi belt such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

India’s Narendra Modi. Escalation of tensions with Pakistan could play into BJP plans ahead of Indian elections. By Madhuram Paliwal/Shutterstock

With Modi’s supposed record of economic competence and good governance under challenge, he has increasingly relied on his party’s version of extreme nationalism to keep people’s support. The BJP’s Hindutva ideology sees India as a Hindu country and believes all Indian Muslims should have been forced to move to Pakistan in 1947, and now constitute a fifth column in the country. So an attack such as the recent suicide bombing – whether or not it was actually instigated by Pakistan – plays into Modi’s narrative.

That the attack was carried out by a young man from Indian Kashmir also serves to illustrate the failure of the Modi government in dealing with the Kashmir problem. For more than three years the BJP was itself part of the government of Kashmir in alliance with the People’s Democratic Party of Mohammed and Mehbooba Mufti. This alliance fell apart in 2018, mostly over disagreements between the two parties about how to handle the increase in violence in Kashmir and the radicalisation of young Kashmiris, who were once again taking up arms against India.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group, unusually, took immediate responsibility for the attack. Equally, the Indian response to the attack was a first, in that India has never before responded to terrorism within its borders by attacking Pakistan. India’s airstrike is considered the first major use of air power against Pakistan since 1971.

At this stage there are claims and counter claims from both sides about what the Indian bombing raids achieved. Pakistan is threatening an appropriate response, so there is potential for an escalation of this volatile situation between two nuclear armed countries.

Amid an intensifying war of words and action between the two, the only beneficiary will be the BJP. As jingoistic fervour rises in India, they hope they will be swept back to office on the crest of that wave.

Courtesy: The Conversation

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The way India chooses to respond to the Pulwama suicide attack has consequences for its future and for its relationship with Pakistan. In light of the speech made by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan soon after the attack, India perhaps has a chance to consider responding to the offer made in his speech, although many Indians reasonably feel the speech was deficient. Mr. Khan’s speech made an offer of dialogue including talks about addressing terrorism and said that Pakistan is ready to cooperate in investigations and hold people accountable if evidence is found that anyone from his country was involved in the attack. 
 
Responding to the speech, the Indian government stated it was inadequate, lacking in offering condolence for the victims’ families. Given that Jaish e Muhammad has claimed responsibility, it asked what more proof does Pakistan want of its own involvement.  From India’s point of view, this sense of inadequacy in the offer is understandable given the magnitude of loss endured. Based on the words spoken so far, the Indian government seems to be perhaps indicating revenge. No doubt his speech would have come across as more credible if Mr. Khan had acknowledged the suffering caused to Indians with the loss of so many soldiers. He did not do so.
 
Putting aside for a moment the sentiments of sadness, fear, anger and resentment that Indians are justifiably feeling after the attack, the relevant question to ask for India is whether the offer is good enough to get both sides to the table and begin a dialogue. If the Indian government perceives the offer as inadequate, it may end up precluding a chance for peace that both countries badly need.
 
This is a critical moment for the Indian response. To find a response that could possibly be a sustainable solution towards peace, we need to step back and look at the big picture when it comes to the incident. Since partition and independence, the conflict between the two countries has increased, including the three wars that were fought. And so, has the perpetuation of hateful language that is commonly used for the other side in mainstream media as well as by a large number of political leaders on either side. If we ask whether this has helped to bring the two sides closer to a peaceful co-existence or away from it, the answer is clear. 
 
India pays a huge price for the perpetual conflict, just as Pakistan does. Mr. Khan acknowledged in his speech that the conflict has cost Pakistan tens of thousands of lives and economic costs in billions of dollars and that it is in his country’s interest to address the conflict. India also bears costs of high magnitude in lives lost and economic costs. So, it is in India’s interest to move towards a peaceful solution. It does not pay to do more of the same.
 
As hard as it would be, this is an opportune time for both sides to rise above the mindset of right and wrong, judgement and blame, and come together to work to build peace.
 
The media too bears a huge responsibility, in the way it reports stories and plays them over and over, in promoting or de-escalating the conflict.
 
Where must we look to find suggestions for ways to a peaceful solution? It would not help to look at what the two countries have done in the past because that has not worked.  The place to look would be the work of leaders who worked tirelessly to find peaceful solutions in situations of extreme conflict. Mahatma Gandhi’s genius lay in recognizing that violence is subject to a universal law. When used as a means to bring peace, violence always leads to more violence. Nonviolent means to bring peace leads to more peace. So, if we respond to violence with violence, we would never get peace.
 
Looking at historic and contemporary examples in the world, peace leaders have been clear on one principle: the antidote to violence is non-violence. Desmond Tutu, the South African leader and Nobel peace prize winner, defines violence quite simply; words or actions that separate us are violent and those that bring us closer together are non-violent.
 
If we apply this definition to the words Indian leaders are using in reaction to the violent Pulwama incident, it is violent rhetoric that will escalate the conflict. And Pakistan is using similar violent rhetoric. Of course, a tragedy where numerous families have lost members makes us contract in anger, resentment and judgment.  But if we pause and reflect, we can clearly see that to address the problem at its root we would need to seriously consider responding non-violently. This is in India’s self-interest. It may sound a cliché but it is easy to observe from past experiences that if India responds to hate with hate, we will secure more violence for our country in the future.
 
In weighing which way to respond, the question to ask is what are the pros and cons of a retaliatory compared to a non-violent conciliatory response by India? If India retaliates, the pro is we may be able to stem the immediate tide of anger and resentment in the country arising from the loss of lives and derive solace that we have exacted revenge. The con is we would contribute to another cycle of violence in the long run that has huge future costs for us. If India chooses a non-violent conciliatory response, the pro is we may end up shifting the trajectory of the relationship between the two countries to a path towards sustainable peace. The con is such a response may look weak but this is not really so. In Gandhi’s view, non-violence requires much more strength than violence.
 
A non-violent response does not in any way mean condoning the attack or letting go of seeking justice and accountability. Investigating, going after and holding fully accountable to law whoever has done this needs to be part of any long-term solution towards peace. 
 
However, if done carefully such a response holds the possibility of a win-win solution for both sides in the long term. This is the power of a restorative justice approach that holds the potential to shift the conflict from destructive to constructive.
 
On the other hand, a violent punitive response such as military solutions or attacks by either side can provide short term victory for one side but both will lose in the long run. The parents of the suicide bomber in Pulwama have stated that their son went on the route of violence after being beaten up by the Indian army a few years back.  This is one more proof that that violence begets more violence.
 
India has a choice of an empathic response to the seemingly deficient Pakistani offer in order to get the two countries to the table. Any international dispute that has been settled with mediation and resulted in a win-win outcome that is sustainable, has involved responding to the other side with empathy using some form of non-violent communication. 
 
This is at the heart of a restorative option that requires, at the very minimum, empathy because it requires understanding where the other side is coming from and finding common ground. And this does not imply condoning or minimizing the gravity of what has happened.
 
James O’Dea, former director of Amnesty International, writes of his peace work experience, “It is a fundamental basis of conflict resolution that you must give the other party the space to be the very best they can be. If you confine the other to the very limited view you have of them you will never have dialogue or a breakthrough in communication with them. Giving the other a big space to be truly the greatest they can be can feel threatening because you have to allow them out of the box you put them in. And that means you have to be open to possibilities your own experience told to close off. That means you have to be the one prepared to be vulnerable, hurt, slapped down and more. But you create that space for the other because the transformational possibility is too tantalizing—and you also know in your heart that if you don’t we will be confined to separate boxes and miniature versions of each other… or something much worse.”
 
Using a restorative approach would mean we fully denounce the Kashmir incident staying cognizant of the magnitude of suffering caused, and at the same time take up the offer of dialogue without compromising on investigation and accountability. Making peace is by no means easy in the face of such a destructive event, but it is possible and worthwhile because the stakes are very high. 
 
The President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, said in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, “It is much harder to make peace than to wage war”. It can be built in conscious choices that the government, media and people of the two countries make. India can make these choices if we can remind ourselves that it is in the country’s interest to do so. 
 
The writer is an Economist based in the US.
 

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Issued on 26th of February 2019 from Lahore and New Delhi (also Mumbai, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Jammu, Bhubaneshwar & Srinagar):

We, the members of Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD), from India and Pakistan, notes with seriousness and strongly condemns the claims of Indian government of air strikes and bombing in settled districts of Pakistan beyond LoC. It demands both governments of Indian & Pakistan to show restraint and avoid any war like situation. It further demands immediate measures from both sides to de-escalate the situation and de-militarize borders by withdrawing troops to the peace time level. 

PIPFPD, from India and Pakistan unequivocally condemn the massacre of more than 45 CRPF personnel, at Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir. We are also appalled at the large-scale killings of the police, army personnel, civilians and members of non-state armed groups, in diverse instances that followed Pulwama killings. We are shocked and pained at the number of human lives that is lost to guns, IEDs, missiles, bombs, pellet guns, stones, etc. in the Kashmir valley—especially in the increased instances over the last few years, since 2016.

Members of PIPFPD, from both countries, are deeply concerned about the situation arising because of the escalation of violence. Forum takes serious note of the high emotional outpouring and war mongering on both sides further giving rise to fundamentalists and extremists elements. It is perturbed about the increasing incidents of violence and vindictive action against Kashmiris in particular and Muslims in general by state and non-state actors in India. Ironically, despite a very delayed mention by the PM of India, senior members of the Indian government have not shown any meaningful or strong signs of restrain or resolve to discourage such violent elements and occurrences.

The Forum recognizes that failed policies of both India and Pakistan in addressing Kashmir issue is at the core of the problem. It has led to militarized means being prioritized over political dialogue and resolution. This has led to continuous loss of lives and has created war like situation in both civilians’ areas as well as border areas. A large number of lives have already been lost to this. PIPFPD believes in political resolution through dialogue and demands the governments of India and Pakistan to initiate meaningful dialogue involving Kashmiri leadership from both sides, addressing the issue bilaterally. The Forum believes that Kashmir is not a territorial dispute between two states. India and Pakistan must recognise Kashmiri people’s aspirations and must allow Kashmiri people belonging to all ethnic and religious communities and regions to participate in a dialogue to find an honorable and a dignified solution. Till that dialogue happens, a ceasefire based peace process must be initiated to prevent future loss of lives. For this, it is imperative that Kashmir on both sides shall be demilitarised, providing opportunity to Kashmiris from both sides of the border to meet freely and start their life free of fear and subjugation.  

The Forum demands government of Pakistan to move beyond rhetoric of anti-extremism narrative to meaningful and substantive actions against all proscribed groups, terrorist organizations and their handlers. Ironically while those organizations have been taking responsibilities of such acts of terror, including Pulwama suicide attack, Pakistan government has shown no will to take necessary actions against those forces operating from its soil.  The members of PIPFPD demand that all genuine concerns raised by government of India must be taken seriously and investigated at the highest levels. This is the time that both states must move beyond rhetoric and show clear and unfettered resolve against extremism be it the Islamic armed outfits or the Hindutva ones.

It in this backdrop and unfortunate reality that PIPFPD announces the postponement of 9th Joint Convention that was to be held from 15-17th March 2019 in Lahore, Pakistan. We believe holding of this convention is not possible in the current circumstances, where peace activists are threatened and space for people to people dialogue is highly squeezed. Members of PIPFPD are determined to hold the convention in coming months.

[PIPFPD is a 25 year-old membership based peace platform with thousands of members and supporters in India and Pakistan. It has so far held 8 Joint Conventions in India and Pakistan, with hundreds of delegates from both countries participating]
Issued by: Mohammad TahseenConvener, PIPFPD Pakistan
Dr. I. A. Rehman Chairperson, PIPFPD Pakistan
Tapan Bose & Dr. Syeda HameedCo-Chairpersons, PIPFPD India
Vijayan MJGeneral Secretary, PIPFPD India 
Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace & Democracypipfpd@hotmail,.com (Pakistan) pipfpd.india@gmail.com (India)+92 3008480821 / +91 9868165471
 

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Image Courtesy: Rahul Gandhi Twitter / @RahulGandhi
 
New Delhi: Barely a week after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF troopers were murdered by a suicide car bomber, the opposition party Congress and ruling BJP have locked horns and are indulging in a mudslinging match.
 
After promising to exercise restraint and support each other for the benefit of the country, On Thursday, they were seen indulging in a slugfest and in campaign mode for the upcoming elections.
 
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “misplaced priorities” and “not giving the attack its due importance”. “When the entire country was mourning the deaths of the jawans, Prime Minister Modi was shooting for a film at Corbett National Park in Ramnagar and indulging in a boat ride to look at crocodiles,” Congress alleged.
 
Congress also alleged that the shooting went on till 6:30 pm on 14 February and that the PM had tea and snacks at 6:45 pm. The attack had happened in the afternoon on the same day.
 
“It is horrific that till four hours after such an attack, Modi was busy with his own branding, photoshoot and snacks,” Surjewala said.
 
While referring to reports in a section of the media and providing a timeline of events of the day, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the Prime Minister was neglecting his “raj dharma” (duty of governance.)
 
Addressing the media later in the day, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hit back at the Congress saying the opposition party has shown its “true colours” after maintaining the “facade” of standing with the government and security forces following the terror strike.
 
He snapped when he was asked questions about Modi’s presence in the park for long after the attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed. “This is a totally baseless charge,” he said when a journalist asked if the Prime Minister continued with the film’s shooting till the evening, by when everyone knew of the magnitude of the attack. When the journalist continued with his question, a visibly angry Prasad said, “I have answered your question, don’t argue with me”. He added, “I deny it completely.”

Image Courtesy: Rahul Gandhi Twitter / @RahulGandhi
 
Earlier, addressing the media, Prasad said Modi “was in Ramnagar for an official programme related to tiger conservation”.
 
The minister then said, “If the Congress party knew that an attack was going to take place in Pulwama. If their information network is so strong, good. We didn’t know.” He added that Modi had to drive a long way to catch a flight back to Delhi because of bad weather.
 
“The whole country is united. The morale of the armed forces is soaring sky high. Country after country is standing with India. At this critical juncture the Congress party is exposing its true colours,” he said, accusing the Congress of weakening the “resolve of the country” and the “morale of the armed forces”.

 
To questions about how the Pulwama attack had taken place despite the government’s claim that demonetisation would break the back of terrorism, Prasad said no big terror attack had taken place in the rest of the country.

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Image Courtesy: Reuters

But true to the BJP’s sectarian politics, its president Amit Shah breached this united resolve with a wholly partisan speech in Assam, in which he said, “The sacrifices of our jawans will not go in vain since it is not a Congress government at the Centre but that of the BJP.” To seek to make electoral gains from the killing of jawans – as the BJP is doing – gives India’s opponents a handle to promote the theory that all this is part of the electoral strategy of the BJP.

What is worse, the government and the BJP have remained silent in the wake of the most atrocious statements and acts of violence being orchestrated by constituents of the Sangh Parivar in different states against people from Kashmir.

When Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy calls for the boycott of Kashmiris and Kashmiri goods as revenge, is he acting in “defence of the unity and integrity of India” or is he directly helping those who wish to see India disunited? The president should immediately take suo motu notice and initiate action against him. The man should be sacked without delay. A Governor can make such comments and get away with it, but an employee of the LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) in West Bengal’s Asansol, who criticised the government and the role of the armed forces in Kashmir, was suspended and his social media post was termed anti-national. Double standards such as these blow a hole in the government’s pretensions of being concerned about national unity.

Reports of Kashmiris being targeted have emerged from different parts of the country. It is the Bajrang Dal and its cohorts who are organizing mobs against Kashmiri students as in Dehradun. Here in Delhi, too, just yesterday, three young men from Kashmir narrowly escaped death when they were attacked by a group of men on a local train.

Two years ago, a Muslim teenager, Junaid, was similarly attacked on a train by men who picked on him because he was a Muslim, accused him of being a “beef eater,” shouted at him to go to Pakistan, and then beat and stabbed him to death, throwing his bleeding body off the train.

In the current case, the three men from Kashmir were sellers of woollen garments travelling to Sapla in Haryana by train. One of them is an MA with a teaching degree but only has a temporary job, so he travels to Delhi in the winter months to earn an income. He, along with the other two, carried the garments and shawls they were selling in three bundles. On the train, they were accosted by two men in civilian clothes who claimed to be in the armed forces. They started abusing the Kashmiris in filthy language, calling them responsible for the killing of the jawans in Pulwama. They set upon them, shouting loudly for other passengers to join in. 15-20 men from neighbouring compartments rushed in and started beating the three with belts.  As the train slowed down, the Kashmiris were able to escape by jumping off the train. They suffered head and face injuries in the attack. Their bundles of garments worth around two lakh rupees were stolen by their attackers. The police have registered an FIR but the young men remain traumatised.

Apart from the totally inhuman nature of these attacks on innocent people, the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are doing India a great disservice by encouraging and promoting such acts of violence. It will lead to a further alienation of the people of the Kashmir valley. The kind of policy adopted by the BJP in Kashmir has led to this alienation, which plays into the aims and goals of Pakistan. In these five years of BJP rule, the situation in Kashmir has further deteriorated. The large-scale repression of Kashmiri youth, the use of pellet guns against protesters who are then blinded or maimed, the absolute refusal to initiate political dialogue in spite of the Home Minister making repeated assurances to Parliament that the government would initiate such talks, has intensified the alienation.

India requires strong international support to isolate Pakistan on the issue of terrorism, to ensure that Masood Azhar, the head of the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, is placed on the United Nations’ global terrorist list, and to take strong action to punish those responsible. But internal policies must match diplomatic efforts. Policies based on the “Kashmir is an integral part of India, but the people of Kashmir are not” approach can only defeat the bigger goal to successfully meet the challenge posed by terrorism. The BJP and the Sangh Parivar have proved themselves incapable of meeting this challenge.

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“So many jawans have been killed. We seek punishment for the perpetrators, but responsibility for the negligence must also be fixed. There should be an investigation into the incident,” said Banerjee while speaking to reporters at the state Secretariat.

Alleging that last month an American intelligence advisory had warned of communal violence in India in the name of elections, the Chief Minister asked, “Why was action not taken despite this intelligence report?”

“Why was a convoy of 78 vehicles transporting over 2,000 troopers allowed to go together, when the government had information about a possible attack? Why were precautionary measures not taken? Why have so many people died?” asked Banerjee.

Banerjee said following Thursday’s terror attack, the Opposition has stood behind the government without asking any question.

“We have kept quiet, but we have seen Modiji and Amit Shah delivering speeches daily. And the waythey are speaking, it seems as if they are the only patriotic leaders in the country. This is not right,” she said.

“Modiji must tell us what action he has taken between the attacks in Pathankot and Pulwama. What action has he taken in the past five years?” she asked, adding, “If he cannot take control of the political situation in the country, he should resign”.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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In the next few months, about 22,000 new people will be recruited for various ranks in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF,) exams for which begun three days before the Pulwama attack in which about 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives when an SUV containing explosives rammed into their convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.
 
The CRPF is India’s largest paramilitary force and its primary role is assisting Indian states and union territories in police operations to maintain law and order and counter insurgency. It also plays a big role in India’s general election and comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
 
The jawans that were killed on February 14 were underpaid and under-resourced as is with many who join the force. They mostly come from hinterlands to man the frontlines and be the first responders to an insurgency.  
 
Soldier’s Background
The army and the paramilitary forces recruit people who want to commit themselves to protect India’s sovereignty and to do that, they have to pass gruelling physical tests besides having mental fortitude for the most dangerous and stressful job there is. 
 
India gets most of its recruits from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and the Northeast. Most of them come from farming or labour backgrounds.
 
The 40 CRPF jawans that were killed on February 14 belonged to 16 states of India. Majority of them were from Uttar Pradesh. 12 jawans from UP were in that bus besides five from Rajasthan, four from Punjab and a couple from Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and one each from Jharkhand, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and even Jammu & Kashmir.
 
Many came from farming backgrounds while many had fathers who were either auto drivers, truck drivers, priests or daily wage labourers. Before they joined CRPF many were hawkers, folk singers and labourers themselves but joined the force to bring their families out of poverty.
 
Many of them were either recently married or had plans to get married this year. Some had left their pregnant wives to go on duty and most TV channels covered young children crying over their father’s remains wrapped in the tricolour, often clueless about what was happening around them. Many jawans were even planning their children’s marriage this year or were thinking of retirement.
  
Mounting losses
CRPF lost more men in Kashmir in 2019 than the last four years put together. And we are only halfway through February.
 
In 2010, 76 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh. The same year saw a second deadly attack on the paramilitary force in the same state, with at least 26 jawans killed. The next deadly attack would also occur in Chhattisgarh in 2017 when at least 26 Central Reserve Police Force men were killed. Losses dipped to nine in 2015, only to rise again, Scroll reported.
 
CRPF: The poorer cousin of the army
In a report by Reuters, former senior officials from CRPF said that the force is not appreciated as much, poorly paid and under-resourced when compared with the army.
 
CRPF has been tasked to be the first responder in insurgent situations. This is the primary task,” said Pranay Sahay, a former CRPF director general, in the report.
 
They fight alongside the army, yet they are paid less and get fewer benefits and less training, former officials said.
 
A low-ranking army soldier typically receives one-and-a-half times the pay of a CRPF officer of equivalent experience, said Ranbir Singh, general secretary of the Confederation of Ex-Paramilitary Forces Welfare Associations, a difference which is also reflected in their pensions, the report added.
 
Living conditions are poorer, a sensitive issue when so many of the police are so far away from home, former officers said. Suicide rates are much higher than in the army, they added.
 
“The housing satisfaction level in the CRPF is the poorest, probably around 13-14 per cent,” Sahay told Reuters. Many had to pay for private accommodation for their families because the CRPF could not provide a decent alternative, he added.
 
The caste question
The Indian army and paramilitary forces, like others in the west and east that don’t have compulsory conscription, has over the years faced a huge problem in recruitment. The middle classes and upper middle classes of urban India, who dominate the discourse of pseudo and hysterical supra-nationalism, rarely lose their children on the borders.
 
The army and paramilitary forces claim that their recruitment processes are merit-based and believe that the introduction of reservations and quotas in the armed forces will affect the morale of soldiers and it would cease to be a level playing field. Then why is it that the forces continue to induct north Indians in such high numbers?
 
Rajput Regiment, Jat Regiment, Rajputana Rifles, Maratha Light Infantry, Madras Regiment, Mahar and Gurkha Regiments. These are some of the names of Indian Army regiments. They announce the caste hierarchy before introducing patriotism or valour.
 
The reason is that India still follows a colonial method of recruitments which has never been reformed.
 
The British recruited to the Indian Army on the basis of their categorisation of certain ethnicities and castes as supposedly warrior material or “martial” and others as being “non-martial”.
 
In 1933, Lt Gen. Sir George MacMunn reckoned that of the 300 and odd million people of India then, “only 35 million belonged to the martial races and of them, only three million were males between twenty and thirty-five years of age. Recruitment from martial races became the norm since then.
 
At the time of independence, “half of India’s senior-most officers came from one single province, Punjab,” points out Steven I Wilkinson in his book, Army and Nation. Punjab comprised only 5% of the population of newly created India. Wilkinson reminds us that armies with a “high internal cohesion” have a greater capacity to intervene in domestic politics – or stage coups, wrote Dr Menaka Guruswamy who practices law at Supreme Court of India.
 
“It was the mutiny in 1857 which triggered caste-based induction in the Indian Army. It is a well-documented fact that the stated British intent was to divide the army into martial and non-martial races, wherein they defined non-martial as a class who did not have the qualities to make good leaders. Since the mutiny rose from the east and south, it was natural for the British to strike them off from roles in the army. It was the north which got rewarded for its martial heritage and the tradition of contribution to the military service,” News18 documented.
 
Wilkinson wrote that by the beginning of the 1970s, India doubled the number of ‘martial class’ units. “The Punjab Regiment that recruits mainly Sikhs and Dogras, has gone from five to 29 battalions since independence,” Wilkinson wrote. The Rajputana Rifles (mainly Jats and Rajputs) has increased from six to 21 battalions in the same period.
 
The recruitment based on caste and ethnicity was started by the British to divide the society and resultantly quash the repeat of revolts and it is still being practised.
 
The lack of reform of the colonial recruitment policies reflects poorly on the crafting of a professional fighting force. It may contribute to the high vacancy rate that plagues the officer cadre of the Army. It enforces a division of labour in the army that is located in caste when it comes to tasks like cleaning. It reinforces that which the Constitution abhors – the caste system, Guruswamy added in her report.
 
The Central government’s contention at the Supreme Court in 2012 was that this is a natural force multiplier. If this is indeed so, it posits a more dramatic challenge to our basic understanding of “We, the People”. This means that we cannot be bound to each other and we will not stand up for each other unless we are of a common caste or ethnicity. This contradicts the Constitution’s conception of India, she wrote.
 
The system trickled down to recruitments in paramilitary forces after their formation.

Compensation for Pulwama soldiers
Members of the slain jawans’ families have demanded a permanent solution for these issues. Though they have been promised jobs and compensation, they are adamant in claiming that no amount of compensation will bring their loved ones back.
 
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu today announced Rs. 5 lakh to the families of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans.
 
On the other hand, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K Palaniswami announced government jobs to one family member each of the 2 CRPF jawans from the state who lost their lives in the attack. TN govt announced a compensation of Rs. 20 lakh each to the families of the jawans.
 
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh has announced financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh each to the next of kin of the CRPF jawans from Uttarakhand killed in the attack, besides a government job to one member of each family.
 
Odisha government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each for the families of two slain CRPF jawans from the state, who were killed in Thursday’s terrorist attack.
 
The Uttar Pradesh government also announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 25 lakh each to the families of the 12 CRPF jawans of the state killed in the terror attack in Pulwama, an official said. The government will also provide a job for one member of each soldier’s family besides naming the link road in their native village after the martyrs.
 
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the family of a CRPF jawan from the state. The CM also promised a government job to a member of CRPF jawan Vijay Soreng’s family.
 
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has announced Rs 12 lakh compensation and a government job to the next of kin of the four CRPF jawans from the state who died in the Pulwama terror attack.
 
The Madhya Pradesh government announced compensation of Rs 1 crore to the family of Ashwini Kumar Kachhi, a CRPF jawan from the state who was killed in the attack. CM Kamal Nath paid tribute to him and said, “The martyr’s family will receive Rs 1 crore in compensation, a house, and one family member will be offered a government job.”
 
Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh and the Maharashtra government announced Rs 50 lakh for the families.
 
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot revised the compensation and relief package for the family members of the five soldiers who were from Rajasthan. The government will provide either Rs. 50 lakh cash or Rs. 25 lakh cash and 25 bigha land on the Indira Gandhi Canal Project or Rs. 25 lakh with a housing board residence. The state government will also provide a government job to a dependent of the soldier, scholarship for children and Rs. 3 lakh to parents, besides other facilities.
 
Paramilitary forces put themselves in the line of fire every day for the citizens of India. These brave men and women guard the nation and protect us at the cost of their lives and the knowledge that their families will have to live in uncertainty. The sorrow from this tragedy has gripped the nation and tribute to those who lost their lives have been constantly pouring to remind us of our collective loss. What we as citizens can do is honour their memory and what they stood for when they took the oath to protect the country.
 
(Compiled by Preksha Malu)
 

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