Kashmir: Replacing the troops by a dreaded state police

is no solution
by Kashmir Times, 8 July 2009

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.