Army should return to their barrack; Yashwant Sinha

DAINIK NATION BUREAU

BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has categorically suggested that the Army should return to their barracks in J &K by leaving the anti-militancy operations to CRPF and state polic. This would act “like a balm on the psyche” of the people there. Now Pakistan has become a “necessary third party” in the J&K issue because of “our own repeated mistakes”.

Delivering a talk on ‘Kashmir-Now and Way Ahead’ at an event here, Sinha pressed for an urgent dialogue with “our own people” of Jammu and Kashmir, saying too much violence has already taken place and too many lives lost, including that of the security forces, and it’s time to put an end to this. It has now become the primary responsibility of the Army to be in the forefront in the fight against militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

In villages or towns, when there is militancy situation, it is Indian Army first, followed by the CRPF and J&K Police. He was against the excessive use of armed forces in controlling internal law and order situation, including in Jammu and Kashmir.

There is a case for the Army going back to the barracks, leaving the operations (against militancy) to the CRPF and the J&K Police. It will act like a balm on the psyche of the people. As we know that the CRPF is well equipped and trained to handle militancy like they tackle Left Wing Extremism problem in the country in collaboration with the local police.

Kashmir was a political problem and people want the dialogue process to begin as was “promised” to them. A large number of people in J&K had welcomed PM Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech in which he had stressed that the problem of the state will be solved neither by abuse nor bullets but by embracing all Kashmiris. They were looking forward to a beginning of a political engagement. But, the first task is to identify the internal stakeholders. Please make up your mind who the stakeholders are. They have to be identified.

Obviously the stakeholders will be political parties, civil society groups, intellectuals, trade bodies, the youth, the various regions of Jammu and Kashmi. Then we will have to decide who the interlocutor will be. The day the Centre shows a keenness to begin the dialogue process and announces that “such and such person or persons will conduct it, there will be a dramatic improvement in the situation in the state.

“Let’s begin the dialogue process with our own people …our own citizens in the state of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

While interacting with media, Sinha also said that the implementation of GST has been “flawed and the design of the GST has left much to be desired. In all countries where GST has been introduced, there has been generally one rate or at most two rates. I was disappointed personally, when I found that when GST was introduced, it had five announced rates and many more unannounced rates and subsequently we have had many cesses which have been imposed. India should have two rates — one for the state GST and one for the central GST — or at worst three rates.