Is The Government Reducing Army To A Better Police Force, Undermining Its Primary Task Of War?

When dominant discourse in New Delhi is that Kashmiri protesters should be treated harshly, a book Dragon On Our Doorstep calls for a resolution of Kashmir. It discusses benefits of Kashmir resolution for India, Indian army and the region.

When the call is to treat Kashmiri protesters strictly, the book calls for a review of India’s Kashmir policy. Strictness means killing and maiming of stone throwing protesters. This year alone eighteen protesters have been shot dead. Last year, nearly 90 protesters, were killed. I will not go down to quote more figures. Remember The New York Times last year called blinding of Kashmir protesters with pellets as An Epidemic of ‘Dead Eyes’.

The strictness also means a person can be tied to military jeep. He can be used as a human shield against stone-pelters. The action can be justified. Like BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav did when he said: "everything is fair in love and war". The strictness also means sending more troops to Kashmir and to raise more battalions. The government has plans to raise all women battalion to deal with protests of girl students.

In this setting, if authors of the book, Pravin Sawhney and Ghazala Wahab, tell you that in the absence of political initiative to address Kashmir issue, Indian army is fighting the war of diminishing returns in Kashmir, you should listen to them. They are speaking so different a language, to the extent, that I wonder why they have not been charged with sedition till now.

They write about necessity of solution of Kashmir issue. They say why the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) should be withdrawn for the benefit of the Indian Army. Counter Insurgency operations, they say, have become bread and butter for the Army and preparedness for a conventional war has been given short shirft. Remember these assertions come from Pravin Sawhney. Sawhney has thirteen years of Commissioned Service in the Indian Army. He has been editor of the Force, a magazine on national security and defence. Ghazala Wahab is a career journalist. She is Executive Editor of the Force.

Repeatedly, in this 458 page book, the authors urge that India must review its Kashmir policy, politically, militarily and strategically. “The interest of India, Pakistan, China and the people of Kashmir converge here. Sure, no party will give up its stakes, though give and take are both possible and doable under the overall rubric of Kashmir resolution.”  The authors go further. They call Kashmir a bottleneck and say its resolution will open the floodgates of opportunities not only for India but the entire region.

If in the prologue, the authors say, the resolution of Kashmir will render the military line irrelevant and free up large number of troops from perennial tours of duty in the region, in a chapter, Political Games at Work, it gives another argument that is so relevant at present time. Kashmir issue, the book says, predates the violent insurgency that started in 1989. “A party’s professed position is one thing, a government’s commitment is quite another. The BJP may be committed to complete integration of Kashmir with India, but the government of India has committed itself to final resolution of Kashmir with Pakistan.” The BJP, which is in power in the centre and sharing the power with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, refuses to hold talks on Kashmir. It states the same before the Supreme Court. Perhaps it still thinks as a party. Not as Government of India.

For long two major regional political parties, National Conference and PDP have sought revocation of the controversial AFSPA. But the Army has always opposed it, so have the Congress party and the BJP.

The authors have said what no one has said so far. Pro-Indian politician in Jammu and Kashmir say it, but privately. The book says the revocation of the law will benefit the Army and will take it out from the Counter Insurgency operations in Kashmir, where it is for past 27-years.

"The army has been in the counter-insurgency role in J&K for such a long time that it has developed a stake or, crudely put, a vested interest in it."

"As has been noted", the book says, "an entire generation of army officers, now in the ranks of generals, has known nothing but CI operations in Kashmir." "Their gallantry awards, perks, promotions and personal tales of heroism all come from Kashmir. In fact a large number of recently retired officers have built a new career as security experts based on their experiences in Kashmir and frequently travel within India and abroad to give talks on the subject."

“Moreover, the US-led global war on terror and popular movies on counter-terrorist operations like hostage rescue or raiding of terrorist hideouts, have glamorized CI ops in Kashmir to such an extent that in the last few years the Army only talks of this in public forums. With these attendant benefits, the reluctance to leave is understandable.”  

Thus, in contrast to the pro-India regional political parties and separatists leaders like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who see revocation of the AFSPA, as Confidence Building Measure for people of Jammu and Kashmir especially of the Valley, the authors have give different perspective and say it is in the benefit of Indian army as the law has infused indiscipline in all ranks.

Such is the state of Indian Army today, the book says, that its officers take pride in comparing themselves with paramilitary forces, of course, holding themselves as better than them.” There is an advice to the army from the authors. That if indeed the army is serious about restoring its cutting edge and not ending up as a ‘better’ police force, it needs to recommend to the government that it must go back to its primary task. Over and over again, the authors say, the primary task for the Army is to prepare itself for a hot war.

The book in chapters like Cold Start to a Hot War has talked about the real hot war scenario.  And the book’s prologue, start with a shocker. “Let alone China, India cannot even win a war with Pakistan.” “The reason India would be at a disadvantage in a war with Pakistan is because while Pakistan has built a military power, India focused on building a military force.”

At present, atmosphere in Srinagar is depressing. The weather is beautiful but everyone is worried about what next. Some even talk about possibility of a war. Hopelessness has taken over everyone. There is sadness all around. Even the beautiful Dal Lake looks sad. In this gloomy surrounding, the book is fascinating read.  

Why it becomes interesting read is that at present in Café’s of Lal Chowk, in college and university campuses of the Valley, at office of political parties, talk is all about, what next. People talk more about China, Pakistan, CPEC, and Kashmir. China’s role in particular has become part of larger discourse in Kashmir.

The book too talks at length about the Army’s role in counter-insurgency operations, India’s border dispute with China, presence of Chinese workers in Pakistani Kashmir and how it alters the situation in case of a hot war. It also reveals China no longer consider Jammu and Kashmir as part of India.

In December 2010, the book say, on the eve of Premier Wen Jiabo, China announced that its border with India was 2,000 kilometers not 3,488 kilometers as is India’s position. Thus, with one stroke China has said that it has no border with India in Ladakh.

“Kashmir, China signaled, now belonged to Pakistan. Given this logic, Gilgit-Baltistan, by Chinese interpretation, was no longer a disputed, but Pakistani territory.”

For long Kashmiri separatists see China as a party to Kashmir resolution. In 2012-13, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had stated that a Chinese think-tank had invited him for a conference to be held in Beijing. He didn’t go. But China has entered the scene and authors have described it vividly, how it has. Last year in the height of agitation in Kashmir after militant commander Burhan Wani was killed, Kashmiri protesters raised a Chinese flag. They called for intervention of China. Later police went after the protesters. It launched a big crackdown to trace out the flag. Senior police officers were surprised. They found the Chinese flag in a casket in a mosque in Baramulla. A communist country’s flag was kept in a mosque to avoid its seizer!

Reading this book in Srinagar gives a hope sooner or later some process will begin about resolution of Kashmir. Otherwise, the politicians and experts on TV present nothing but doomsday scenario. So grim, that the largest circulating newspaper of Kashmir, Greater Kashmir, in early April this year, wrote an editorial titled, “Dangerous othering of Kashmir.” Such is the worry in the Valley over the language being used against Kashmiris.

 The authors conclude the book giving different dimension. They say settlement of Kashmir will not only benefit India and Pakistan as both would be viewed as countries capable of shedding their historical baggage by China and Russia, it also it will help Moscow, which is worried about terrorism in Afghanistan and its implication for it.

Peace between China and Pakistan would help China to get both on board its One Belt One Road plan and with Kashmir settled, authors argue, China may find a mechanism to address the concerns of the restive population of Xinjinag, which borders both Gilgit-Baltistan and Afghanistan. With these arguments the book gives hope about settlement of Kashmir. Hope is what we need the most at present in the Valley.