Sanjha Morcha

Back of militancy broken, time ripe for political initiative: Army

Back of militancy broken, time ripe for political initiative: Army
Maj. Gen. B S Raju

Awantipora, September 27

The back of armed militandcy in Kashmir is virtually broken, and now a great deal of “political sagacity” is needed to ensure that a lasting solution to the decades-long separatist problem is found, the Army commander of the key South Kashmir area has said.“There is no semblance of any space where militants or separatists are in control. Militants are in self-preservation mode,” Maj Gen BS Raju, head of Victor Force that performs counter-insurgency operations in five districts of south Kashmir, said in an interview on Tuesday.He said his focus now was on ensuring that there were no new recruitments in the militant cadres and reaching out to the people to convince them that the Army was there to help, for which his troops had already embarked on a series of projects in schools and colleges.“Overall, most people want a solution. They want to get out of this cycle of violence,” said Major General Raju, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Victor Force, based in Awantipora, 33 km south of Srinagar.South Kashmir was known as the Ground Zero of J&K militancy with the highest number of attacks on security forces recorded here last year. As many as 73 militants have been killed this year in the region alone, more than twice the average number in previous years. It is believed that about 120 armed militants remain, possibly 150.“These days they are not targeting the Army directly, but are looking at softer targets. They are sometimes hitting civilians on the plea of neutralising informants,” said the GOC, who took over in March this year. “The situation has been brought to a level where political initiative can be started. It is good to see political engagement has started,” he said, referring to a flurry of comments by the Centre on holding talks with all stakeholders in Kashmir.“It depends on the political sagacity of the Central government. It will depend a great deal on the Central government. You can’t police out militancy from here,” he said.But he noted that “a great deal of straight-talking” with Kashmiris was needed to tell them “what can be given and what’s not on the table”.“We need to tell people here that ‘azadi’ under no circumstances is possible. And anything is possible under the Constitution. If you keep harping on ‘azadi’ you will be in a state of misery for a long time,” he said.Because of the success against home-grown militants, the Army expects cross-border infiltration to increase in the next few weeks to make up for the dead militants. “I anticipate more and more attempts to replenish the depleting cadres… (but) the window for infiltration is narrowing as winter is approaching.,” said Major General Raju, who headed the Uri brigade in 2012.One of the biggest problems that security forces and the government are facing is the radicalisation and alienation of the younger generation, said the GOC. He noted that most of the militants, pro-independence activists or even the stone-throwers had little grasp of the meaning of ‘azadi’. — PTI