Dispirited by a government that seems soft on the intifada in Kashmir, Madhav Nalapat says trouble is brewing in the military.
During the 63 years that India has been a free country, only once has an army chief ever veered close to planning a coup along the lines of the Pakistan model. That was Joyanto Nath Choudhuri, who was better at writing than at war, having conceded a stalemate to a vastly inferior Pakistan force in 1965.
Before him and since, the military has remained loyal to its civilian masters, even during the many periods when they’ve indulged in favouritism or in procurement scams. But there are signs now that a revolt may be brewing within the uniformed services over what they see as the United Progressive Front government's unwillingness to back them in their often bloody battle against Maoists, insurgents and jihadists across the country.
The resentment is greatest in Kashmir, a consequence of Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi's ‘Look the other way’ policy towards the well-organized intifada now taking place in that state. The movement is designed to attract international intervention in the state—preferably of a military nature—similar to that which occurred in Kosovo. This might seem like an outlandish idea, but the separatist leaders in Kashmir (who preach their venom openly while living in opulence) have been made to believe by their handlers in Pakistan that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defence Secretary Robert Gates and CIA chief Leon Panetta are in favour of robust US mediation in Kashmir. Such intervention, they believe, would ultimately ensure that the state would, in effect, become independent from India.
They claim that Pakistan's army chief of staff, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, has made it clear to the US trio that his military's support for NATO operations in the Af-Pak Pashtun belt is conditional on such an outcome in Kashmir.
Certainly, US and other Western diplomats have ensured there’s a steady diet of reports on the intifada in Western media, almost none of which point out that the movement is confined to just a section of the Sunni population in the Kashmir Valley and is opposed by the majority of the population in the region comprising Shias, Gujjars, Bakkerwals, Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists. Indeed, the Western media reports also ignore the reality that what the Valley Sunni separatists seek is a religious state where the Saudi version of Sharia law would form the basis of jurisprudence.
Whatever the compulsions of Clinton, Gates and Panetta, the fact remains that the Sonia-led UPA has followed the Western press and diplomatic corps in ignoring the ‘silent majority’ in Kashmir, refusing to factor in the views of the non-Valley Sunni elements in the state.
Photo Credit: Uniphoto Press
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kk
This article is totally devoid of facts. I am looking for factual knowledge. With such articles, I am loosing confidence about the reliability of other articles on this website.
PS Randhawa
Time and again Indian Army has represented against getting sucked into conter insurgency operations. Unfortunately Army has to be brought in as a last resort. But this is not the solution. Army is helpless if their efforts are not backed by political leadership. In fact so are police organisations. Innocents do get killed in all such operations. It is discouraging to soldiers if they face the flak when innocents are victims of crossfire. But it totally wrong to assume that army will ‘revolt’. God knows if author has some resources to back up his story.
Rahul
What a completely asinine perspective. What are this author’s sources? Idiotic and irresponsible commentary.
Sanket
In dealing with an insurgency one needs to eighter go the full distance or not go at all. What India tends to do is send the military when their is a crisis only to stop it from gaining decisive victory so that a so called peace process be initiated in order to satisfy some peaceloving idealists in the country.Once the peace process fails the army is sent again to control the insurgency ,that got the chance to regroup during the peace process,only to be stoopped short again of achieving completel victory and the whole process is reversed again and again.This consistent back and forth way of doing things completely demoralises the army. On top of that some peaceniks in India accuses the army of human rights abuses against the people thus turninig the popular opinion against the army.This is the shortest route to failure while dealing with an insurgency and it is no wonder that India is still grappling with so many insurgencies for decades.Naxalism was given a serious blow in 1970s but we allowed it to regroup owing to our indifference towards the tribal welfare and our favourite pastime ie. corruption.Same is happening now with ULFA in Assam where we captured almost all the top leadership of ULFA only to let them go for another of our favourite pastime ie. Peace talks.We are committing the same mistake in Kashmir. We are forgetting our own examples of successful counter insurgency operations in Punjab and Mizoram where we allowed our army to ruthlessly wipe out the insurgents and establish law and order.This was achieved due to strong leadership of the state government and the Prime minister in power. Now we are facing a leadership crisis both at centre as well as state level owing to a corrupt state and a hesitant Primeminister.We need to follow the Srilankan example of dealing with LTTE in tackling our own insurgencies. But do we have a Rajapaksa?
sundar
What a Fascist Comment…. RAJAPAKSA Killed 1,40,000 civilian tamils in his war…. I really dont know whcih part of the world this Inhuman civilaian SANKET Belongs to.. Look at people first…look into their demands… then take a call…Govts are not GOD…. they cant act on their own… they are here to serve people not geography…. RAJAPAKSA will be punished in the international criminal court for once along with his Indian masters… How ULFA< JKLF< LTTE were born… they born becos the govts were arrogant and inhuman like this opinion maker…. Dear SANKET go to Grevyard to get the silence… Silenece is never a peace… Valley was silenet becos it mourned…. becos it bled by govt violence…. One day govt violance will knock your door..
Rahul Patil
You seems to link two completely different ideas here..Sanket pointed out india should go all the way and finish the kashmir dispute once and for all,just like rajpaksha did,i dont think any civilian of india will ever suppourt rajpaksha..Its completely idiotic of you to think so.We india dont give a damn about lankans,tamil or sinhalese..I do have sympathy and concern for suffering tamil civilians but since i heard what names they call for indian tamils,i dont have any respect for them whatsoevver..
Sudeep
I completely agree with Sanket we must go the full distance
Simon
Well, the Indians organised a fake election involving only one maharajah and keep kashmir by deceit. the rest is history. why should an occupied muslim people bow to hindu people who have no right been there. they(muslim) will never accept indian rule… of course, the indians can nuke the place bare.. hahaha
Ravi
Ignorance is bliss, isn’t? Mr Simon?