A soft state shies away from taking hard decisions. It is ever ready to make compromises. Matters get compounded when it pursues the policy of appeasement. That makes the soft state even softer.
We have been apologetic and defensive about Kashmir, when both legally and morally our position is indisputable. The UN recognised the legitimacy of India's legal status in Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah's endorsement provided moral justification. The UN Ceasefire Resolution of August 13, 1948, called for the withdrawal of all Pakistan forces from Kashmir while the Indian Army was to remain in the state during the plebiscite. While delineating the Ceasefire Line, the 200 sq. mile Tilel Valley, which was no man's land, was not shared between India and Pakistan. The UN made it inclusive to India. But Delhi has been mute in pressing its claim to territory under Pakistan's illegal occupation.
There have been agitations and violence in Gilgit-Baltistan over Pakistan's anti-Shia policy, denial of basic democratic rights and efforts to alter the demographic profile by settling Pathans and Punjabis. We do not even give them moral support. Neither our mission in Islamabad nor our visiting dignitaries to Islamabad ever contact their leaders. Our excuse is that we should not ruffle feathers. On the other hand, we allow complete freedom to separatist leaders from the Valley to remain in touch with the Pakistan high commission in Delhi and meet visiting dignitaries from Pakistan.
India is constantly being pilloried by Pakistan, the separatists and our own human rights activists for human rights violations. The Army is demonised despite the fact that its record of upholding human rights is far superior to that of the Pakistan Army in erstwhile East Pakistan, Baluchistan and Waziristan, or, for that matter, the US Army in Vietmam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Both Pakistan and the US have been carrying out airstrikes and artillery bombardments against militants. India has never once used these weapons against militants in Kashmir. All allegations of human rights violations are investigated.
Over 90 per cent have been found to be false. Army personnel found guilty have been promptly punished and dismissed from service with imprisonment from two to 14 years. An example comes to mind to illustrate the difference between the Indian and Pakistani approaches. Mohammad Akbar Bugti, the veteran separatist leader in Baluchistan, was eliminated by an airstrike ordered by former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the veteran Kashmiri separatist leader, not only enjoys the freedom to indulge in sedition and promote terrorist violence, but is provided the best available medical care. He was supposed to be terminally ill with liver cancer in 2007 and wanted to go to the US for medical treatment, but the US denied him a visa because of his terrorist connections. He went to Mumbai where a Kashmiri pandit doctor performed a complicated surgery and saved his life.
In 2007, the government took the bizarre decision of giving pensions to the families of terrorists killed in encounters with security forces. This is not done anywhere in the world. Now the demand is to get the "misguided boys" back from PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) and give them rehabilitation benefits. They are trained terrorists who have lived in terrorist camps. On the other hand, little has been done for the return of Kashmiri pandits or for the repair of scores of their vandalised temples. The pandits have been languishing in refugee camps.
Our response to Pakistan's cross-border terrorism has been tepid. We failed to carry out surgical strikes on terrorist camps in PoK, which is legally Indian territory. Now, Pakistan is a nuclear weapon power and the excuse is that we should not provoke a nuclear war. Pakistan is not deterred by Indian nukes and continues with its terrorist strikes. It knows that India is a soft state.
Terrorism has been losing steam in Kashmir. Since 2008, three mass movements have taken place. The Amarnath land controversy in 2008 was based on total falsehoods and fraud. So was the alleged rape and killing of two women at Shopian in 2009. Both these movements held the Valley to ransom for two to three months. The stone-pelting intifada of 2010, for three months, resulted in 100 stone-pelters getting killed and some 2,000 security force personnel injured. Chief minister Omar Abdullah failed to tackle the situation. Though thoroughly discredited, he was allowed to continue in office. He recently asserted in the state Assembly that Kashmir acceded and did not merge with India, like Hyderabad and Junagadh did. The reference to the latter two states has a mischievous insinuation. He took the oath of office swearing by the Kashmir Constitution, Article 3 of which states that Kashmir is and shall remain an integral part of India. He is irked by references to Kashmir being an integral part of India. Yet Delhi gives him all-out support.
The latest trend is for separatist leaders to tour the country preaching sedition at meetings in Delhi, Kolkata and Chandigarh. Their demand for "azadi" will lead to colonial subjugation of the majority in the state. Kashmiri Muslims are only 45 per cent of the state's population. The remaining population is of other Muslims and non-Muslims, who are not separatists. Some publicity-crazy individuals have been supporting these separatists. They have even been turning history on its head by saying that Kashmir had never been a part of India. Srinagar was founded by Ashoka the Great.
The state has chosen to turn a blind eye to these shenanigans, seeking shelter behind the plea of freedom of speech in a democracy. No state, no matter how liberal and democratic, allows the freedom to propagate sedition and treason. John Amery, son of Leo Amery, the secretary of state for India in Churchill's War Cabinet, had joined the Nazis and broadcast Nazi propaganda on Berlin Radio. After the war, he was tried for treason and sentenced to death. There is no reason why those indulging in treason should not be proceeded against. It is only in a soft state that people can be allowed the freedom to propagate sedition.
