Are the security forces and AFSPA the only villains in Kashmir?

After over six decades of using the security forces to fight insurgency, it does not improve my confidence in the nation when the Union defence minister Manohar Parrikar has to come out to defend the security forces for the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

The killing of Burhan Wani, an armed extremist, who is wanted for killing scores of innocent people, let alone the men in uniform "destined to die" (as a learned MP once put it) has touched off a "controversy" as usual.

Perhaps this is the only country where more tears are shed for terrorists, militants and extremists, while thousands of families are doomed to mourn in private their losses at the hands of terrorists.

I have nearly two decades of experience as an MI officer in dealing with over 25 insurgencies in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sri Lanka.

Also read: Let's find the reasons for life, not death, in Kashmir

Fortunately my exposure to Jammu and Kashmir was only for the weeks at the height of trouble in 1990. So it distresses me even more to see brilliant minds singling out the security forces and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), as the villains in "informed discussions" in our media.

Is the AFSPA the only villain in Kashmir? If so, why did not we think of abolishing rather than using it?

I wish resolving the Kashmir issue were as simple as that.

I am opposed to the use of the AFSPA as a panacea for the State's inability to overcome internal threats to its existence. We cannot expect the State to impose the AFSPA for 50 years, as in Manipur, and get away with it by blaming the security forces every time the public gets agitated. We have been doing it even before the AFSPA was conceived.

If I were a Manipuri, I would also protest against the State because people have been victims of both extremists and the government for nearly two generations.

Also read: I'm a Kashmiri Pandit, this is how I escaped being killed by security forces

It is dishonesty in politics and corruption in governance that perpetuates problems in states. And in the Northeast, politicians have been riding piggyback on the issue of fighting extremism; for some in the garb of politicians, it is a lucrative business too. I presume it is true in Jammu and Kashmir as well. Otherwise who will bother about the Hurriyat leaders? I remember a telling instance when a Manipur Opposition leader known to me contested the state polls thundering against the AFSPA issue and got elected.

When he became the chief minister the Army wanted to withdraw the perpetual military security guard it had been providing to the chief minister, as it expected the State to revoke the AFSPA.

I am told the chief minister got panicky and stopped it. When I went to congratulate him, he touched upon the issue. He said with a poker face "Colonel sab, we say so many things during an election to win votes. But I have to be realistic when I become CM."

This political doublespeak is the harsh reality of our "democracy". For our troubled states like Jammu and Kashmir, time for band-aid solutions have long run out and you cannot con the people, repeating the abolish AFSPA slogan anymore.

Probably, even Irom Sharmila who had been on hunger strike over the issue of abolishing the AFSPA for 16 years had realised this. She has at last decided to give up her fast and enter the political fray. It is a welcome decision because it is politics that sustains the misuse of AFSPA. There is no quick fix solution for the Jammu and Kashmir problem. It has become more complex because successive national leaderships at the state and Centre have dithered in finding a solution. Leaders in the state and Centre have to bite the bullet and take some hard decisions and build a national consensus to implement them.

Till they do it, let us not talk of the AFSPA and advise the security forces on how to conduct their operations. I am against using the Army against civilians; it is a self-defeating proposition like using a sword for the morning shave. So if we don't need the AFSPA, we should stop wasting trained soldiers on counter-insurgency tasks. They are meant for a better purpose - national security. It is getting a little tiring to hear armchair discussions on the AFSPA "dispassionately" when I see thousands of my fellow soldiers continuing to die, in spite of the AFSPA, because of our incompetence in ending the "problem".

It is tragic to see our security forces and youth in Jammu and Kashmir dying in vain as there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

Both New Delhi and Srinagar seem to be indulging in traditional political gamesmanship to buy time to heal the issue. I doubt whether they are even looking for a Bodhi tree to sit under to gain some wisdom on resolving the issue.