Demilitarisation of JK impossible: Governor

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Jammu, Apr 4: Strongly rejecting the demand for the demilitarisation of Jammu and Kashmir, Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha today said troops cannot be pulled out as it is a border state.

''Demilitarization cannot take place in Jammu and Kashmir just as there can be no demilitarisation in Punjab, Rajasthan or any other border state of the country,'' the Governor said in his presidential address at a National Seminar on J and K and the 'Region: Strategic Challenges and Opportunities' at General Zorawar Singh Auditorium, University of Jammu.

''However, the present additional role of the Army in terms of restoring internal peace in a State which is a victim of terrorism, can cease only when peace is fully restored'', he said, adding that troops can then return to barracks or their overall strength in the State reduced but that will not be demilitarisation.

Gen Sinha said in a participatory and vibrant democracy like India, issue of vital interest like national security cannot be left only to political leaders or the Government and the civil society should play its role in forming an enlightened public opinion.

He said the seminar should also deliberate on Kashmiriyat and the role of media in proxy war like situations.

He said the media while discharging its obligations of reporting events objectively, should also counter the propaganda beamed from across the border and certain elements in the state in the larger national interest.

The Governor said any solution to problems in the state should be ''Jammu and Kashmir centric rather than Kashmir-centric''.

On revival of Kashmiriyat, the Governor said, ''This glorious ethos holds an important key to the solution of the vexed problem.

Kashmir is embedded in soul of India and the philosophy of Kashmiriyat stands for amity, tolerance and brotherhood. This great philosophy has enabled the Indian civilisation to survive the vicissitudes of history.'' ''Clemenceau, the French Prime Minister had said that war is too serious a matter of the State to be left to the Generals. Parodying him one can say that in a vibrant democracy, vital national and security issues cannot be left only to political leaders,'' he remarked.

Gen Sinha recalled the traumatic experience of 1962 war with China and said, ''We found our belief in the impregnability of the Himalayas, the infallibility of our foreign policy and the invincibility of our Army, shattered.'' He said one India failed to realise that foreign policy and defence were two sides of the same coin, which resulted in grave mismatch between the two. ''This resulted in the disaster we suffered in the Himalayas,'' he added.

Arunachal Pradesh Governor S K Singh inaugurated the seminar while GOC-in-C, Northern Command, Lt Gen H S Panag delivered the key-note address.

Vice-Chancellor, Jammu University, Prof Amitabh Mattoo also addressed the seminar, jointly organised by the Centre for Strategic Studies in collaboration with 16 Corps.

Several former ambassadors, serving and retired generals, journalists, bureaucrats, intellectuals and strategy experts from various parts of the country are participating in the two-day national seminar.


UNI

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