Northern Command Chief Lt Gen D S Hooda paying tributes at the Kargil war memorial on Vijay Diwas at Drass on Tuesday. PTI

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 26

As the Valley continues to remain on the boil, Northern Command chief Lt Gen DS Hooda today said Pakistan had a “direct role in whatever was happening in Kashmir”.“There is no doubt in our mind that Pakistan has been sort of interfering in Kashmir and has a direct role in what we are calling the proxy war in Kashmir. We are seeing it every day along the border. We are seeing it from the manner in which support is being given to infiltrating groups. We have seen how sometimes ceasefire violations along the Line of Control are actually in support of people who are infiltrating inside,” the Northern Command chief told reporters at Drass on Kargil Vijay Diwas today.He said Pakistan takes direct advantage of the “internal disturbances” in Kashmir like the ongoing unrest erupted after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.“If there is an internal disturbance, Pakistan will directly take advantage of it. You have heard statements by the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Toiba that they are supporting whatever is happening in Kashmir. The support is not only moral but it is absolutely physical and there is no doubt about that in our minds,” Lt General Hooda said.As the demand for the ban of pellet guns increases, the Northern Command chief said it was “better than using firearms or weapons” for mob control.“There is a requirement of non-lethal weaponry and pellet guns are classified as part of the non-lethal weaponry. Unfortunately, they have caused some casualties. It’s still a better form than using firearms or weapons. There is much better non-lethal weaponry available around the world,” he said. “The government is looking at even more non-lethal options to control a mob. The Home Minister has said that they are going to explore whether we can get some better and more modern non-lethal weaponry,” the Army officer added.The Northern Command chief said the police and the CRPF were handling the law and order situation and they were exercising restraint to handle the unrest in the region.“…the Army is not at the forefront of tackling the civil disturbance. It’s more of the police and the CRPF which is doing it. They are doing it with utmost restraint. We are there on the ground, we are seeing it happening. The police have been dealing with the situation for the last 20-25 years and they know exactly what is to be done. They know that restraint is to be exercised and that is exactly what they are doing,” Lt Gen Hooda added.He, however, said unfortunately one gets into a situation where one is “forced to adopt other measures”.“When police stations are being looted, there is a murderous mob attacking you, weapons are being looted, your own lives are in danger, it’s only in those situations that the police are forced to take some more strict measures,” he said.

Tells him to focus on regional issues instead. PTI file

Islamabad, July 24

Slamming Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for saying that he is waiting for the day Jammu and Kashmir would join Pakistan, a Pakistani daily on Sunday urged him not to indulge in “wishful thinking”.“Such statements are nothing more than rhetoric,” the Daily Times said in an editorial.“Instead of indulging in wishful thinking, the PM needs to sit back and think with a cool mind the ways to resolve the regional issues,” it added.Pakistan’s official stance on Kashmir is that it extends moral support to the Kashmiri struggle for freedom and will continue to raise its voice for their right to self-determination.“This stance is commendable but making statements about the accession of Kashmir without any clear policy seems inappropriate,” the daily said.“By uttering these words, the PM is challenging the authority of India and inviting more trouble not only for Pakistan but Kashmiris also.” The daily said talking about Jammu and Kashmir’s accession with Pakistan was easy but nobody knew how to make it happen.“It could only happen through talks or war. There is no other solution. Kashmiris are already paying a heavy price for this conflict.“What can Pakistan offer to Kashmiris when it is still coping with numerous challenges that are posing a threat to its own stability?” The editorial said that instead of talking about capturing more land, Islamabad needed to make Pakistani-governed Kashmir a model state. Islamabad holds the northern part of the divided state.For the past 67 years, Pakistan had failed to ensure good governance in its own Kashmir, known as ‘Azad Kashmir’, it said.The daily urged India and Pakistan to resolve their bilateral issues amicably.“They need to get engaged in the dialogue process to pave the way for further talks to help find common ground to end differences. Both Pakistani and Indian governments must take pity on their respective people and come to the negotiating table for striking a permanent peace deal,” it said. IANS

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 23

India today vigorously rejected Pakistan’s ‘despicable design’, emphasising that the country would never be able to realise its dream  of taking over Kashmir and labelled Pakistan as a country seeking to destabilise the region.In one of the most hard-hitting statements in recent times, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said behind Pakistan’s unabashed embrace and encouragement to terrorism lay its delusional though dangerous dream that “Kashmir will one day become Pakistan”, as stated by Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif yesterday.“The whole of India would like to tell the Prime Minister of Pakistan that this dream will not be realised even at the end of eternity. The whole of Jammu and Kashmir belongs to India. You will never be able to make this heaven on earth a haven for terrorists.” Swaraj said Pakistan, that used fighter planes and artillery guns against its own people, could not pontificate to India on the brave work being done by its security forces.“The country which has used fighter planes and artillery against millions of its own people has no right whatsoever to point a finger at our brave, professional and disciplined police and security forces. Their restraint and respect for fellow citizens is evident in the unusually high number of injured personnel — more than 1,700 — in the violence unleashed with the support from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)India’s reaction came in the backdrop of the developments in Islamabad after the killing of Hizbul militant Burhan Wani, who carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head. Swaraj said what was even more condemnable was the “deplorable attempts from across our border to incite violence and glorify terrorists. These attempts have been undertaken by Pakistan’s state machinery in active partnership with UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed and other leading terrorists belonging to internationally proscribed organisations.

When passions peak, as in the Kashmir Valley after Burhan Wani’s killing, temperance becomes a casualty. The protesting crowds were unmanageable as the pent-up anger over the status quo erupted in the form of attempts to raze army and police installations. Security officers might appear blasé now but they had struggled to control the outpouring of frustration when the protests were at their peak. And in this, they thought the best option was to clear the streets by firing pellet guns rather than heavy ammunition that claims a much heavier toll. The greater use of pellet guns has led to a lower death toll than during the 2010 protests when they were not as widely deployed.But the Valley’s security managers had not accounted for the powerful impact of the social media. Images of children, barely out of teens with bloodshot eyes that may never see again, have obliged the Union Government to announce a committee to suggest effective but less lethal forms of crowd control. The alternatives such as rubber pellets, tear gas and cattle prod guns, were used but in less perilous situations. Kashmiris might also consider themselves better placed than people of tribal Central India and the North East where unruly crowds are still dispersed by the traditional rifle and august bodies such as the United Nations ignore their travails.Pellets do cause more unintended injuries because they don’t follow a definite path and bounce off rocks and trees. This is what caused injuries to people watching the action unfold from their homes. But can pellet guns be the only alternative? Could Wani have been arrested? Even Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti understands that the alternative forms of crowd control being suggested by human rights advocates won’t work. That is why on becoming Chief Minister, she dropped her opposition on security forces using pellet guns. There seems to be no alternative to this necessary evil unless the political class casts aside its shortsightedness and genuinely attempts a political solution. The only less lethal solution than pellet guns is talks.

BEIJING: India and China could replicate military protocols set up during Sino-Russia border negotiations to minimise conflict as both countries continue protracted talks to resolve their boundary dispute, a top Chinese expert has said.

HT FILETwo military and disarmament protocols implemented by China and Russia could be replicated in the Sino­Indian talks.

There are lessons in avoiding conflict to be learnt from the way China and Russia resolved their boundary issue after negotiating for decades.

“China successfully solved the problem with the Soviet Union despite difficulties such as the collapse of the Soviet Union. All border issues have been solved except the ones with India and Bhutan,” Xing Guangcheng, director general of the Institute of Frontier Science at the influential Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told Hindustan Times.

Two military and disarmament protocols implemented by China and Russia in the mid1990s could be replicated in the Sino-Indian talks to settle boundary differences.

From the negotiations, we built mutual trust with Russia and came out with two important protocols – the Border Area Military Trust Protocol in 1996 and the Border Area Disarmament Protocol. I think the protocols can also be applied to the Sino-India border problem,” Xing said.

The negotiations between the Soviet Union and China were not moving forward, he said, till then President Mikhail Gorbachev came to China in 1989.

“After that, the negotiations became more meaningful as both countries started to work pragmatically to settle the border issues. Soon after that in 1992, the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia joined the three countries of Central Asian and continued the negotiation in the ’4+1 pattern’,” he said.

After several rounds of talks and the two protocols to maintain peace along the border, the problem was finally settled, he said.

Xing – an expert on China’s border history and designated “cultural elite” by the government — was in Lhasa to take part in the recently held Tibet Development Forum.

He said India and China currently have good mechanisms for communication but will have to focus on controlling flare-ups.

For one, the two countries have implemented the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement aimed at controlling incidents along the boundary.

There are three disputed regions along the frontier and tension in one can escalate tensions along the entire boundary, Xing said. “Unless completely resolved, the whole border issue would continue to be a sensitive status.

Infuse fresh blood into Kashmir’s bureaucracy

MISSING IDOL : Kashmiri youth have no real heroes to focus on.

THE deluge of writing in the media on the death of Burhan Wani, the young Kashmiri terrorist from Tral, and the subsequent violence that has spewed into the streets in a near 2010-like situation is actually a phenomenon which often occurs. The unfortunate thing is that it does only when such incidents take place. With so much already written, my approach here is to project the usually unknown facts which can only be gleaned once you are there with the Kashmiri people. Has it ever occurred to people in Delhi that the lofty Pir Panjal range is a psychological barrier to all communication to and from Kashmir? It used to hit me very often as I flew out of Srinagar. In Delhi, my thinking would change, returning to its normal Kashmir orientation the moment I flew past the range. It may sound exaggerated, but is the nearest to the truth of a phenomenon most may never understand. What is perceived in Delhi is perceived differently in Srinagar by whosoever he is. For those in Delhi, there has to be a deliberate attempt to understand what happens in Kashmir. The first of the lessons which must dawn on them is that communication is the key to the issue. That is where we fail miserably because everyone here thinks he knows Kashmir; no one is willing to listen and change his mind. This is why I stated during a TV panel discussion that in the last six months, not once have I attended a round-table discussion, or a seminar, on Kashmir. I attend one on diverse subjects almost every other day. No one feels it is important to understand Kashmir and that is the reason why a strategy has failed to evolve. Communication is the core of the desired strategy and the means to execute this cannot be left to a couple of well-meaning bureaucrats, policemen, or Army men. They can all do their bit, but within limits. Where India has failed is the intellectual application of mind to the sponsored proxy conflict in Kashmir. Burhan Wani is only the symptom which helps attract attention when it is flagging. It is the attention which has been lacking and the strategic and intellectual community is very largely to blame for this.How many would actually know that Kashmir’s youth lacks inspiration because it has no heroes to focus on? That is why a Burhan Wani comes along and captures their attention. This generation has grown under the shadow of the gun, in an environment of checkposts, sometimes five in a distance of 50 km. The ills of a conflict zone on the psyche of a population can only be realised once you are there. Angst and alienation is a natural outcome. No one ever steps back to deliberate upon a curious fact. Tral, the village to which Burhan belonged, and one which carries the most negative perception in the eyes of security practitioners, has sent hundreds into the ranks of terrorists. Not known is that it has also sent hundreds into the ranks of the JAK LI, the Indian Army regiment of which one of the highest profile units does service at Rashtrapati Bhavan today. They are all fiercely loyal and patriotic soldiers. A strange phenomenon, indeed. When I set out to examine this fact in 2011, I interacted frequently with almost 500 young, and mostly educated, Kashmiri youth at different places. Given a chance to vent their angst against the nation, against the system and against me, I absorbed their abuse, but when I met them informally over tea, almost everyone of them had only one enquiry — how they could be enabled to join the Indian Army? I often reflect on this experience and deduced that the psyche of the Kashmiri youth has never been studied and acted upon. Suitably engaged with a communication strategy that understands their limitations and empathises with them, gives them the opportunity to speak instead of talking down to them and listens to it all, may work towards drawing them away from the negativity which is a part of their every day lives.The negative psyche has also provided psychological space to extremist religious ideology to set in, against which we need more refined answers than simply cliched responses of counter-radicalisation measures. We knew all along that Islamic radicalism was finding its place in Kashmiri society, but never really concerned ourselves with finding the counter to it. We need to do it more urgently than ever and it’s even more difficult today.It’s not the youth alone that needs engagement, but every segment of Kashmiri society, and that includes the other major stakeholders — the Kashmiri Pandits. We need all Kashmiris together rather than engaging separately because, ultimately, if normalcy has to return, they have to live together. The separate engagement only encourages each to speak against the other and does no good to either cause.Let us get some fresh blood into Kashmir’s bureaucracy and administration. It will be some time before the outstanding young Kashmiri men and women, who have in recent years joined the Indian  Civil Services, come to occupy positions of prominence. I have all praise for the existing senior members, but they need fresh thinking; the approach is too stilted and needs energy and innovation. My simple advice — give Kashmir two comfortable winters in terms of logistics, administration and daily life and see the mindsets change.Lastly, at different places and times I have repeated ad nauseum that solutions to problems seldom come from within the government. The officials remain too busy, have no continuity and are simply too careful about their careers. Solutions come from independent or even semi-independent institutions and from uncluttered minds. They don’t also come from one-off committees such as interlocutors, but from continuous study and monitoring of the situation and institutional memory. Since it is communication, or the lack of it, that we have identified as the major concern not only in the case of Kashmir, but equally of the Northeast, and of the growing problem of radicalism, all this comes under the scope of strategic communication strategy. There is an urgent need for a multi-discipline body at the highest level to evaluate the current problems, suggest ways and oversee implementation. National problems require national-level solutions and a body akin to the UPSC is what I can suggest over any idea of a body such as the Minorities Commission or the National Integration Council.— The writer is a Senior Fellow with the Delhi Policy Group

Chinese vessels are seen around Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. Reuters file photo

Amsterdam/Beijing, July 12

An arbitration court ruled on Tuesday that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and has breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights with its actions, infuriating Beijing which dismissed the case as a farce.A defiant China, which boycotted the hearings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, vowed again to ignore the ruling and said its armed forces would defend its sovereignty and maritime interests.China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said shortly before the ruling was announced that a Chinese civilian aircraft had successfully tested two new airports in the disputed Spratly Islands. And China’s Defence Ministry said a new guided missile destroyer was formally commissioned at a naval base on the southern island province of Hainan, which has responsibility for South China Sea.The United States, which China has accused of fuelling tensions and militarising the region with patrols and exercises, urged parties to comply with the legally binding ruling and avoid provocations.US officials have previously said they feared China may respond to the ruling by declaring an air defense identification zone in the South China Sea, as it did in the East China Sea in 2013. — Reuters

Ground-breaking ruling

• The ruling is significant as it is the first time that a legal challenge has been brought in the South China Sea dispute
• Reflects shifting balance of power in 3.5 mn sq km sea, where China has been expanding presence by building artificial islands, sending patrol boats that keep Philippine fishing vessels away
• The court has no power of enforcement, but a victory for Philippines could spur Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei to file cases

The killing of Burhan Wani, the acknowledged face of new-generation militancy in Kashmir, has thrown a new set of challenges before the  system: How to  counter his legacy of guns  and its exploitation on social media. Security forces have claimed a major success, but the real achievement will be an atmosphere in which his death closes a chapter once for all. In this third decade  of militancy in Kashmir, Burhan combined multiple images: an angry young man filled with revenge against the forces that mauled the dignity of his brother six years ago, the boy next door, a symbol of “sacrifice”. His brother was killed by the Army last year. He used social media to lure young and educated boys in South Kashmir into militancy. On his death Omar Abdullah has noted: “Burhan’s ability to recruit into militancy from the grave will far outstrip anything he could have done on social media”. Kashmiri anger has erupted after his death. It requires careful handling. Post-Burhan, the road ahead is quite tough for the government and security agencies.  It is tougher for parents who nurture dreams of seeing their wards pursue studies and careers. This is a difficult challenge. It needs a narrative of peace in Kashmir. Many of those who call for peace are being condemned as collaborators. Peace is considered an Indian philosophy and normalcy abnormal by these young activists on social media.The halo of “martyrdom” is being conferred on Burhan for he graduated from a teenaged militant to the awe-inspiring “commander” of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. He mastered his terrain from his birthplace Tral in Pulwama to the encounter site in Kokernag in Anantnag. Guns can be neutralised by guns, but there is no counter to folklore in the making. The real test and challenge for the government in Kashmir is how to get the “boys” turn to the pen from the gun. Burhan was “our boy” in the Kashmiri political lexicon — a son of a teacher who drifted away and took to the gun. The only solution is to treat the common man with dignity — in the street and in the home.

Court agrees to independent inquiry into 1,528 ‘extra-judicial’ killings in Manipur

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court dealt a blow to the army’s immunity under a controversial law on Friday, saying it can’t use “excessive or retaliatory force” even in troubled places, and agreed to an investigation into hundreds of alleged illegal killings by security forces in Manipur.

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (Afspa), which shields troops from prosecution and is in force in parts of the northeast and Kashmir, is blamed by human rights groups for illegal killings and arbitrary detentions by security forces. The military denies misusing the law.

Friday’s verdict came on petitions from rights groups demanding an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or any special team into 1,528 alleged cases of “extra-judicial killings” by the army in Manipur in a dozen years through to 2012.

“If members of our armed forces are deployed and employed to kill citizens of our country on the mere allegation or suspicion that they are ‘enemy’, not only the rule of law but our democracy would be in grave danger,” the top court said. “Society and the courts obviously cannot and do not accept such a death (extra-judicial killings) caused by the State since it is destructive of the rule of law and plainly unconstitutional,” a bench headed by Justice MB Lokur said.

The remarks are the strongest judicial rebuke yet of the army’s special shoot-to-kill powers, which trace their origins to a British-era ordinance used to suppress the Quit India Movement of 1942. It said the situation in Manipur was, at best, an internal disturbance and not a “war-like” threat to national security.

“The army’s internal oversight mechanism is quite robust. Soldiers have been punished with life imprisonment in many cases,” said a senior army officer, who did not wish to be named as the matter is sub-judice.

“But most of the allegations of human rights violations against the army have been found to be false.”

Referring to the “Ten Commandments of the Chief of Army Staff ”, the court said it didn’t matter whether the victim was a common person or a militant or a terrorist, nor did it matter whether the aggressor was a common person or the State.

The law was the same for both and equally applicable to both, it added.

The court agreed to have an independent inquiry into the cases of extra-judicial killings in the northeastern state. It said a decision on who should investigate will be taken after it receives more data on all the cases.

The court said the army was free to initiate a court of inquiry against the accused personnel. Under army rules, court martial proceedings have to be time-bound but in Manipur many cases have dragged for years.

The top court will now take the up the matter after four weeks. By then, advocate Menaka Guruswamy, who is assisting the court in the case, has to gather data on 62 cases earlier investigated by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and a court-appointed panel headed by former SC judge Justice Santosh Hedge.

The human rights watchdog had concluded that 31 of the 62 cases were fake, while the Justice Hedge committee said charges were trumped up in 15.

The Centre defended the killings, arguing they are “part of the sovereign function discharged by the Union of India through the army”. Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi had said security forces could not be blamed for collateral deaths that critics describe as extrajudicial murders in Manipur.

The petitioners – human rights organisations – say troops have not faced action as they operate under Afspa, which grants powers to them to arrest and shoot to kill without fear of prosecution.

CONTROVERSIAL LAW

WHAT IS AFSPA?

HT FILEPeople in Manipur protest against civilian deaths.

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act or Afspa was enacted in 1958 to bring under control what the government of India considered ‘disturbed’ areas It grants sweeping powers to the armed forces to arrest, conduct searches and seizures and also provides immunity from prosecution to members of the armed forces ENFORCED IN Parts of Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Jammu and Kashmir

THE PLEA

Human rights groups demand probe by CBI or a special investigation team into the alleged 1,528 cases of ‘extrajudicial killings’ in Manipur between 2000 and 2012 by the army

COURT REPLY

Says army can initiate a court of inquiry, but it must be time-bound Next hearing in 4 weeks. Decision on which agency will conduct probe pending.