Time to call Mehbooba’s bluff and bluster

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s call for a unilateral ceasefire by the army to coincide with Ramzan in its war on militancy amounts to a show of weakness that India can ill afford. True, in recent months killings of Indian security forces and even of innocent civilians on the Indian side have gone up but that is a reaction to greater Indian vigil and must be viewed in proper perspective. In fact, that is reason enough to continue the relentless pursuit of these terror outfits rather than declaring a unilateral ceasefire. Ms Mufti has had a garbled sense of priorities which would do the country more harm than good. Her decision on amnesty to stone pelters who were being egged on by forces across the border was hardly prudent. Students in general who were released in the wake of the amnesty have taken to the practice again, emboldened and defiant. The army has to be allowed to do its job if militancy is to be controlled and a judicious use of the carrot and the stick has to be the way to go. In any event, national interest is paramount and the sooner Ms Mufti understands this the better. Had a call for ceasefire come from the militant outfits, it could well have been weighed appropriately. But a unilateral ceasefire, risking sustained militancy without a strategy to counter it could well prove suicidal. It would ease the pressure on the militants and allow them to re-energise.

It is instructive that the BJP has described the situation in the Kashmir Valley as “very serious” and said the soft policy of the Mehbooba Mufti government was responsible for it. A BJP spokesperson said stone pelting is continuously on. In such circumstances, the state government’s call for a ‘soft’ approach is puzzling. It is indeed a moot point how long the PDP-BJP can continue when there are basic differences on approach to militancy. The spokesperson said “there is no benefit of the amnesty scheme. The results of the amnesty schemes are totally opposite to what the government had expected.” That is as scathing a censure of Ms Mufti’s soft policy as can be. The Union government has dragged its feet for too long. It is time it decides whether to go on with what independent observers view as a confused and incoherent policy or take the bull by the horns. Ms Mufti must be shown her place. If she cannot protect the integrity of Jammu and Kashmir, her administration must give way to Central rule.