A proxy war in Kashmir: Pakistan is trying to break India

By M Venkaiah Naidu

In the wake of the recent killing of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani by brave security forces in an encounter, bizarre and strange arguments have entered public discourse with some intellectuals, as also a section of media sympathising with the terrorist and pillorying the government and security forces.
What is happening in Kashmir is not something that developed overnight which the NDA government has had to handle. Kashmir has a historical context. As my colleague M J Akbar pointed out in the Lok Sabha the other day , even before the blood copiously shed by the havoc of Partition had gone dry Pakistan driven by the ideology of the two-nation theory tried to wrest Kashmir from India.

After the disasters of the 1965 and 1971 wars, Pakistan recognised the futility of military misadventures against India.

As a result, beginning with the 1980s, it resorted to what is popularly known as trying to inflict “a thousand cuts“ on India.Clearly then, Kashmir is a problem that has been festering for several decades due to the proxy war mounted by Pakistan.There is an ideological dimension to Kashmir which we can ignore only at our own peril.

It is well known worldwide that Pakistan has been imparting training to terrorists and providing cover to them to infiltrate into India and create chaos by unleashing violence.

The youth of Kashmir are being misled and misguided by state and nonstate actors from across the border. The NDA government, however, is determined to restore normalcy in the sensitive border state by handling the situation in a firm but humanitarian way and by winning the hearts and minds of the people. Though it might take some time, ultimately Kashmiriyat will triumph and the wicked designs of Pakistan will stand defeated.

The government has already anno unced the formation of a committee to review the use of pellet guns for crowd control. This panel is likely to submit its report within two months.

Ridiculous and incredible as it may sound to any Indian regardless of political affiliations some columnists, driven by a warped ideological orientation, have gone so far as to suggest that the slogan of `azadi' should be discussed by the Centre.

It is very easy for armchair columnists to give gratuitous advice to arrest a terrorist in a matter-of-fact manner as if the security forces were dealing with any other civilian. What options do security forces have when they are dealing with a hardened, heavily armed terrorist with several cases, including murder, against him?

It is hard to imagine that those who romanticise terror are not aware of the challenges faced by the brave army, CRPF, BSF, ITBP soldiers and the police of Kashmir in relentlessly fighting against indoctrinated jihadists who are determined to carry out mayhem and seeking to strike at the very integrity of India. With frequent infiltrations from across the border, these destructive forces are getting emboldened and launching attacks on the security forces.

Can anybody treat terrorists with kid gloves? Should such a debate enter the public discourse in the first place when the country is facing a grave threat to its unity and integrity? Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind the Mumbai terror attacks claimed that Burhan Wani spoke to him and told him that his last wish was to talk to him. Even if his claim could not be taken at its face value, those questioning the actions of the security forces should realise the extent of frenzy Pakistan is trying to whip up on this issue.

How can anybody sympathise with terrorists when the whole world is grappling with the unprecedented monstrosity of such evil forces day in and day out? In case of mistakes on the part of the security forces, there are systems in place to take corrective measures as per the law of the land. But sympathising with terrorists who want to break up India is not acceptable.

Strangely , armchair columnists and some so-called civil society groups who pillory every action of the government maintain a stoic silence whenever CRPF jawans or other security personnel are killed in ambushes by terrorists and Maoists. Don't our security forces have any human rights?
Our sympathies should lie with the common, helpless people who are targeted by terrorists and Maoists. At a time when Pakistan is trying to use every dirty trick in its book to foment trouble in Kashmir and ensure that normalcy is not restored, the statement of former union home minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram that “India should assure the people of Kashmir that the grand bargain promised during the time of Kashmir's accession would be honoured“ is highly irresponsible and shocking.

UPA was in power for a decade and Chidambaram was union home minister, why did they not seal this supposed “grand bargain“ and solve the Kashmir issue? This shows that Congress resorts to double standards for narrow political gains even in matters of national unity.

Let us not play with the unity and integrity of the country for parochial, short-term political gains. Pakistan has unleashed a proxy war with an ideological dimension. All Indians have to stand united against this threat.

(The writer is Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Urban Development)