Archive of South Asia Citizens Wire | feeds from sacw.net | @sacw
Home > National Interest vs People’s Interest : A space for social movements and (...) > Kashmir: Replacing the troops by a dreaded state police is no (...)

Kashmir: Replacing the troops by a dreaded state police is no solution

by Kashmir Times, 8 July 2009

print version of this article print version

Kashmir Times, 15 June 2009

Editorial

Not a law and order problem

Replacing para-military forces by dreaded and directionless state police is no solution

While the Union home minister after his visit to Srinagar on Friday was non-committal on the demand for revocation of the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and removing of armed forces and para-military forces from the civilian areas, the leaders of the ruling establishment are busy in creating an impression that the replacement of the armed forces by the dreaded and directionless state police will not only bring peace and normalcy in the State but is also a solution of the Kashmir problem. This is precisely what Dr. Farooq Abdullah, on his first visit to the State after his induction in the Union cabinet, said when he asked the state police to prepare for lead role in maintaining the law and order situation in the State. The prolonged Kashmir issue is not a law and order problem that it can be tackled by replacing one force by the other and by taking other cosmetic steps like reduction of troops. Primarily it is a political problem which calls for a political solution. Even P. Chidambaram has conceded that Jammu and Kashmir needed political solutions, though he did not spell out the nature of the problem and the manner in which it has to be resolved. The issues like the revocation of the draconian laws, removal of troops and restoration of civil liberties, peace and normalcy are the bye-products of the basic Kashmir problem which has remained unresolved for the past over six decades. It concerns the basic right of the people of the State to determine their future and this right has been denied to them. Any lasting and just solution must take into account the urges and aspirations of the people living in all the regions and areas of the State and belonging to all the communities. This calls for reconciliation of divergent aspirations and perceptions and a solution based on consensus. In the present climate multi-level dialogue involving India and Pakistan as well as the people of Jammu and Kashmir is the only way out. Unfortunately such a dialogue has yet to be started. Even a conducive climate through various confidence building measures has not been created for initiating such a process of dialogue.

The demands for revocation of all draconian laws, removal of troops, restoration of civil liberties and end to all kinds of human rights abuses should be viewed as measures to overcome trust-deficit and create a congenial climate for dialogue and not as a solution of the vexed problem. While removal of troops from the civilian space is paramount it needs to be understood that merely replacing the army and para-militaries by the highly indisciplined, trigger-happy and lawless state police will not achieve any miracle. Replacing one ruthless force by the other is not going to make any difference. This is particularly so in view of the fact that apart from the armed forces and other central forces the State police too is responsible for untold atrocities committed on the people and is equally involved in the cases of rape, custodial killings, disappearances, extortion and other grave human rights abuses.Intriguingly instead of making the state police accountable with a humane face it has been used by the successive regimes to silence the voice of dissent and suppress people’s urges and aspirations. The Special Operation Group with a large number of ex-militants on its rolls, which has not been disbanded despite commitments in this regard, is much more ruthless than any other force involved with the so-called counter-insurgency operations. Unless the lawlessness force is disbanded and the State police acquires a human and people-friendly face nothing is going to change. The police in the State has been misused for years as an instrument of repression and not that of service and has been trained and groomed that way. It has achieved notoriety both for corruption and high-handedness. The police,like the bureaucracy in the state, has also been misused by the successive regimes to serve their partisan interests and act as an instrument to victimize their critics and suppress people’s urges and aspirations. Whether Kashmir remains an army cantonment or a police state is not going to make much difference. Peace and normalcy can only be achieved by resolving the basic political problem and creating a democratic temper and climate.