Rising Terrorist Violence- Tight Rope Walking For Mufti

KS Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 8: Rising terrorist violence and growing factionalism among coalition partners are threatening to undermine the stability of the five-month old PDP-led State government. Until the beginning of the last month, everything appeared to be going on smoothly.

When the present government assumed reins of power in November last, there was tacit endorsement, both at the state and the national level. The rampant misgovernance had created a situation of hopelessness. The resulting political vacuum in Kashmir valley was filled by PDP. It had canvassed on the plank of disbanding SOG, non-implementation of POTA, release of detenues and a 'healing touch policy' in handling terrorism. Dialogue with separatists was a part of this agenda.

SOG Disbanding

Right from the beginning, the NDA government and the security forces harboured serious reservations on these security-related issues, particularly on the disbanding of SOG. Experts and the senior officials joined the issue. Even the State Governor, Girish Chander Saxsena hoped that the new government would not take a hasty decision on this issue.

Experts said dismantling the Special Operations Group was easy considering the limited personnel involved but warned that its after-effects could be too hot to handle. India's supercop, KPS Gill observed, "It will send dangerous signals and will be a recipe for disaster. The SOG is an anti-terrorist force, whereas a police station is meant for multifarious activities. If the SOG is merged with the local police, which works on the principle of minimum force, it will weaken the anti-terrorist operations. The government must decide on its priorities. It will only increase militancy".

The SOG was directly  or indirectly involved in 80 percent of anti-terrorist operations in the state. It was the weakness of the local police in tackling terrorism that led to the creation of the SOG. Mr Gurbachan Jagat, the former DGP, J&K Police, under whose tenure SOG notched up major successes commented, "the SOG is a combination of the Army's muscle and intelligence gathered by the local set-up. By dismantling it the government would not only deprive itself of credible operational intelligence but also put a lot of lives in danger. Instead of launching inquiries and merging the SOG with the local set-up, the government should make it accountable". The Home Ministry officials too concurred with this view and suggested that the new government at the most could rename the SOG but warned that the core group dealing with the terrorists cannot be done away with".

With the available expert opinion, Congress-I, a partner in the coalition government was initially reluctant to back the controversial security decisions of PDP government. The centre too, to consolidate the gains of a credible election in J&K, went extra mile to accommodate PDP’s main demand to hold dialogue with separatists and other sections. A former Union Home Secretary, Mr NN Vohra was entrusted this task.

The new government went ahead with its agenda. It released 85 detenues, put POTA implementation on hold and also went slow in seeking conviction against terrorists. There were also complaints from the security forces that they were not getting full support from the new dispensation in combating terrorism. The centre kept under wraps all these complaints, as it did not want to sent wrong signals.

On February 25, soon after the elections to the four state assemblies were over, the state government announced that SOG, the elite counter-insurgency force of state police has been merged with J&K Police. SP operations were re-designated as Additional SPs. It also ordered that in future all the new operations would be planned and executed under supervision of DSPs.

SOG had been raised in 1994. During the past nine years it had killed more than a thousand terrorists. This belt force had lost nearly four hundred of its men in the process. In 2002 alone SOG lost 91 officers and other ranks, while fighting militants.

On March 11, the state Chief Minister declared that those SOG personnel who had committed acts of omission would face stern action. In this context, he disclosed 49 complaints had been filed against 53 officers, while 25 officials were terminated.

Terrorist Violence

For a while, PDP government felt lull in the terrorist violence was a vindication of its "healing touch" policy. Centre also did not interfere. With the launching of the "Joint Command Council" by nine Jehadi outfits recently, ISI unfolded its gameplan. Pakistan began exploiting  US vulnerability, to up the ante in Kashmir. Musharraf wanted to convey to the domestic Jehadi audience at home that cross-border terrorism was still a live issue so far as Kashmir was concerned. He has also been telling Jehadis that closer co-operation with US on Iraq and other issues was in Pakistan's interests so as to continue cross-border terrorism in Kashmir. Intelligence reports warned the state government that the 'Joint Command Council' had asked terrorists to engineer sustained violence and target the minority community through massacres.

In the stepped-up violence, these were attacks on telephone exchanges in Srinagar and Anantnag. A suicide attack on Poonch town claimed the life of a DSP. The house of BSP legislator in Vijaypur was attacked through grenades. There was a spate of bomb explosions and burning of houses of the minority community in Rajouri to force the ethnic-cleansing of the minority community. In Panhad, Rajouri, the terrorists chopped off noses of seven civilians and are forcing young girls of the area to marry the terrorists. In many cases the terrorists, have wiped out brutally the families of informers.

In Ind, Gool, nearly two hundred terrorists, belonging to four Jehadi outfits, overpowered the police post and ran away with the arms and ammunition. Subsequently, there was attack on Kashmiri Pandits in Nadimarg.

Criticism

The stepped-up violence and the inefficient handling by the state government has drawn sharp criticism from its opponents. A few days before Nadimarg massacre, the state BJP delegation had met the Governor and submitted a memorandum. It said, "the terrorists have become so bold that they are attacking the police posts and other vital installations and killing police personnel and others dealing with law and order and burning houses of minority community in the area like Rajouri and the state government is releasing the terrorists in the state". The delegation also alleged that it was the policy of the state government to create a Kashmir-like situation in the Jammu region.

Former Union Minister Omar Abdullah blamed disbanding of SOG for the massacre at Nadimarg and increase in terrorist violence. He said the SOG was the main source of information about the militant activities and its disbanding had created loop-holes in the security system in the state. He also berated Mufti government for bungling the issue of return of Pandits. He said, "you cannot bring any Kashmiri migrant here by force or against his or her will. You have to completely wipe out terrorism to give them a feel of security so that they return on their own. Yesterday's massacre is a clear message to migrants that the situation is not conducive for their return".

The criticism of the opposition on government's handling of the security aspect is not entirely misplaced. In Nadimarg as well as Ind the government took not pre-emptive measures despite enough warnings. The deployment of police at both places reflected extremely casual approach. In Ind, only a fortnight back, the police had killed top Hizb activist of the area.  There were reports that terrorists would retaliate. The State CID had officially conveyed to the police higher-ups that the attack in the area was expected anytime. The vital post was headed by a selection grade constable who too was sleeping at the time of the attack. He had  locked the ammunition room and kept the keys with himself.

An alarming development seen in recent acts of violence is that the police personnel have, remained either passive or simply connived with the terrorists. In Ind as well as Nadimarg, the ill-trained, inadequate police force surrendered themselves along with ammunition, without firing even a single shot. A policeman was recently caught in the border town of Rajouri. He was accused of hurling a grenade on people in the main bazaar.

Centre's Role

The Central government is alarmed over the role of police and poor management of police posts in the terrorist-infested areas of the state. There are also reports that 3500 highly-trained Jehadis were waiting on the borders to cross into J&K. It has decided to constitute a special group, headed by a special secretary in Home Ministry, to recommend effective strategies against terrorism in J&K. The Centre has also asked the J&K Chief Minister, to put on hold the meeting of the screening committee for release of detenues.

The recent measures have created lot of friction between the Central government and the State Government. Though the Chief Minister has assured the Centre that he will inform Centre before taking a final decision on any vital security related issue, he asserted that the State government had sovereign authority to decide release of detenues. The Centre is also irked that non-implementation of POTA has relaxed action against hawala operators linked with terrorism. The state government has said it will come out with a financial law of its own to tackle this menace.

On the security issue, the State Government has been forced to do tight-rope walking. If terrorist violence increases and the government deals inadequately with it, the Central intervention will increase. Even Congress-I will also not like to be seen backing a policy, that is seen as detrimental to the national interests. Pressure from PDP's other partners will also increase. There has apparently been about a 20 percent drop in the number of militants killed in previous two months compared to the same period last year. The impact of disbanding of SOG's  is being felt now.

Political Dissidence

Political dissidence has marred the stability of the coalition. Panthers Party has been locked in a bitter conflict with Congress, to project itself as the real representative voice of Jammu. It recently moved three bills in the state assembly to embarrass the PDP and the Congress. CPM and a group of nine MLAs have also formed a group, PDF, headed by Mr MY Tarigami. PDF has been resenting the role of Panthers Party. This group, which maintains close links with the opposition NC, has its own ambitions. It wants to emerge as a strong regional party counter to PDP. The two ministers of this group, Hakim Yasin and Mr Gh. Mohiudin Sofi have declared that they are going to float a new regional party soon. The group has also been in touch with other political groups like ANC of GM Shah and People's Conference of late Ghani Lone. Members of PDF recently asserted that they would stay with the coalition only as long as the things run smooth.

The exiled Pandit community is annoyed with the chief minister and the state government, over Nadimarg massacre and alleged indifference to its problems. This alongwith other problems on the security front and factional tussles in the coalition, has forced the state chief minister to do a tight-rope walking.

Previous

Index

Next