Let Army talk to Elders
The Army Chief General Bipin Rawat's outburst over a week back was not bad as it has been projected by some political quarters in and out of the state as it came immediately after the Chief paid his last respects to army personnel who were killed by terrorists aided and abetted by Pakistan. It was because of the large number of casualties since the surgical strikes in POK in the latter half of September last year.
The Army's well defined role in anti-insurgency operations has suffered a setback because of the unusually large number of Army personnel falling to terrorist violence in the last five months. No General likes to see his officers and men in coffins. It is oblivious, that the Army urgently needs to rework its strategy for retaining the upper hand that it has enjoyed against those having nefarious designs in the sensitive border state of Jammu and Kashmir. Further, the Army does not have the power to go after or declare elements who display flags of ISIS or Pakistan as terrorists. Over and above, anti-national elements within miscreants provoke youth and the villagers to sabotage the anti-terror operations launched in the pocket infected by the terrorist or where they took refuge. The end result- while the army uses restraint to avoid civilian losses, the terrorists, taking the advantage of the situation escape after inflicting heavy casualties on defence forces.
Even as the state administration has urged the people to steer clear of terror spots, the youth has resorted to throwing stones in Srinagar which assumed alarming proportions in the summer last year.
The reason for obstructing encounters needs to be tackled and resolved in consultation with the village level society by the Army. At the same time it is imperative that the elders should intervene that civilians especially the youth should not interfere with the anti-terror operation by the Army.
