J&K under Governor’s rule: Political sensitivities, appeasement won’t come in the way of Army

With Governor's rule being imposed in Jammu and Kashmir, one could expect a hardline policy to flush out the terrorists and make every possible effort to restore peace. The South of Kashmir in particular has been a major area for concern for the security agencies where terrorism has flourished over the past few years.

Yesterday at the high-level meeting chaired by the Union Home Ministry a plan was drawn out on the way forward in Kashmir. The core areas of focus in the coming months would be south Kashmir and areas such as Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam would be get key focus.

Many within the BJP say that the working relationship with Mufti Sayeed was a better one when compared to his daughter Mehbooba Mufti. The Centre had one policy and the Mehbooba led government in J&K another. There were issues galore which included the manner in which Mehbooba backed the separatists. Any action against them would be frowned upon and ironically to bring them to the talks table a pre-condition was the slowing down of the NIA cases against them.

Under Governor's rule, the government would adopt a tougher approach not just within Kashmir, but also along the border. There was a need for some tough calls and with this coalition in place, it was just not possible, said a senior official.

The official also informed OneIndia that soft separatism is something that was not working in Kashmir.

We know who brings the stone pelters out on the streets. They are specifically brought out to stall military operations. The Army was having a torrid time and during each encounter they performed dual tasks- gunning down the terrorist and taking on the stone pelters simultaneously.

The data in terms of number of terrorists and their top leaders being killed looks good. While it took a lot for the security forces to hunt them down, the problem is that more kept coming back. For instance, the terror groups and the separatists were aware of the soft approach of the J&K government. In many places, recruitments and sermons calling on youth to take up terror went deliberately unnoticed. You finish one, three more crop up says the officer.

Currently there are 144 terrorists who are active in the South of Kashmir. The worry is that of these, at least 130 are locals while the rest are foreign terrorists. It clearly shows that the policy against the foreign terrorists has been more effective when compared to the locals. When it comes to locals, there has been a soft approach by the state government and this in the long run has clearly hurt the war on terror.

With the Governor's rule in force, the security forces would clearly operate with an iron fist. Issues such as vote bank and political sensitivity will not come in the way of operations and this is the need of the hour in Kashmir today.