Pulwama: Instead of fiery speeches, our leaders should focus on condition of soldiers, dialogue

The terror attack in Pulwama and the killing of our 40 CRPF men left one deeply shocked and pained and grieved. After this unfortunate tragedy, I have been asking myself: When will the killings and bloodshed halt in the Valley? When will there be an end to the horrifying rounds of violence and counter –violence?

There seems no clear policy of this government vis–a–vis the Kashmir crisis. I have been repeatedly saying this emphatically that it’s high time we re considered the use of military and paramilitary to crush the civilian outcry. Political dialogue should begin immediately because only a political solution will settle the mess that has been compounded by the rounds of violence. Ground realities in the Valley cannot be overlooked and bypassed. Absolute anger, severe alienation of the Valley cannot be contained by bullets and pellets, but only through a non-violent approach.

We can’t overlook accompanying factors: the security forces are trained to combat the enemy and not their very own. It is not fair for the jawan to be posted in a civilian terrain. We can’t imagine the trauma faced by the jawans stationed in sensitive locales. Sitting in the bunkers in the ongoing high- alert situation, he is vulnerable. Unfortunately, our policy makers and politicians don’t even wish to dwell on the plight of a soldier posted in a civilian terrain.

What is the sarkar doing for the soldiers, for the security personnel, who are constantly getting targeted and killed! Ironically, our political leaders seem paranoid and want to be protected day and night. While a politician sits or walks or sleeps protected, and no one from the masses can even come close to him or question him about the un-fulfilled promises he’d heaped on them during election campaigns. The gates to his sprawling bungalow are not meant to be opened to the very people he’s conned and hoodwinked. Fortified he lives, blissfully unbothered to what happens to his security men, or how they deal with the crowds in the most adverse circumstances.

Very often, the anger of the masses meant to be unleashed on the minister gets unleashed on his security men. But the minister or leader most of the times doesn’t even bother about how his security personnel deal with this.

But these very politicians when in power do not hesitate in giving orders to kill or ‘strictly’ deal with the people! I am curious to know how many of today’s politicians have sent their sons or daughters to the armed forces? Correct me if I’m wrong but these numbers would be dismal if not nil. They prefer to settle their children into business or real estate or any of the other flashy professions but not in the army.

How can then a politician know the ground realities to the border areas along the LoC or in the so called conflict areas? On those one-day-hyped visits to these areas the political leaders usually interact with the soldiers on those formality ridden formats and completes his visit by rendering a frilly speech. That’s about it.

The political leaders or the rulers have no idea of the amount of stress and tension these soldiers go through daily sitting in those bunkers in tough weather conditions. Perhaps, that explains why there are rising cases of suicides and attempts to shoot even their colleagues.

Do the politicians of the day realise that these security officials need to put forth their list of grievances? Last year a jawan who dared to openly talk about the poor-quality food served to him and to his fellow colleagues was hounded by the top brass. Why? Because on one hand we are pinning all those developed tags on ourselves but on the other we are still following those hackneyed rules of the Raj era.

And what is perhaps needed is to make it mandatory for all the ministers and their deputies, and policy makers and bureaucrats of the country, to go and spend some days living in bunkers, along the border areas or in the ‘conflict zones’ of the country. I’m certain the tough and harsh circumstances of the border area will make them re-arrange their ways of settling crisis. Perhaps only after spending time on the border area will they realise that the best way to resolve issues is through dialogues.

Protecting our soldiers’ lives and their morale should be of utmost significance. We need much less of war cries and more of diplomatic moves to settle crisis, external or internal.

To compound the Pulwama tragedy, war cries took off! Don’t tell me we have forgotten those horrifying, devastating and terrifying visuals of the World War 1 and World War 2. To this day, those pictures are enough to jolt one’s nerves…I am writing this in the context of war cries coming out from television studios and also from the provocative speeches of the political rulers. Mind you, in case we go to war, it will not only compound human tragedies in the region, but could also turn into another world war, bringing to the fore the vested interests of the international political players and arms lobbies.

Another aspect that’s been bothering me is the way Kashmiri Muslim students and traders and even non- Kashmiri Muslims have been getting targeted in several states of North India, in these last few days. If the country’s top leader says in one of his speeches that his regime is treating all citizens of the country equally, then why is it that these minority groups and communities, Kashmiri Muslims and non-Kashmiri Muslims, are feeling apprehensive and insecure? Why were over 300 Kashmiri students forced to leave overnight moving back to the Kashmir Valley from Uttarakhand and Haryana and Punjab? Mind you, these Kashmiri students had to leave in the middle of the academic year, after Right-wing goon brigade targeted, hounded and abused them in that uncontrolled, communally charged way! Where were the police, where were the rulers of the day at that time? Where were the rest of us? Why on earth did we not ask –why should these Muslim students and traders and entire families be targeted? Surely, they are not ‘enemy’ but our very own citizens!