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Why Centre Is Against Ceasefire


Date:- 16 May 2018


A series of terror attacks on vital installations during the last and only unilateral ceasefire almost 20 years back in Jammu & Kashmir besides terrorists regrouping and rearming during that period weighed on the minds of the Army top brass and led Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to reject Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s recent call for a similar move during the forthcoming Ramzan and Amarnath Yatra.

For, when the six-month Non-Initiation of Combat Operations(NICO) was affected during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime in 2000, terrorists had attacked the Srinagar airport, stormed then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah’s public rally and conducted suicide attack on Army Cantonment in Srinagar besides stepping up levels of violence. The NICO came into effect on November 19, 2000 and lasted till May 31, 2001.

The latest proposal for unilateral ceasefire was mooted by Mufti on May 9 after convening an all party meeting in the wake of a 22-year-old tourist from Tamil Nadu dying in stone pelting. The holy month of Ramzan begins on Wednesday while the annual Amarnath pilgrimage lasting for nearly 50 days commences June 28.

“Everyone (all parties) agreed that we should appeal to the Centre to consider a ceasefire like the unilateral ceasefire in (former PM Atal Bihari) Vajpayee’s time during Ramzan (later this month) till Amarnath Yatra and Eid,” she had told reporters after the meeting. But a day later, the BJP said it does not support the idea of unilateral ceasefire. “There was no consensus on it. BJP doesn’t stand by anything that says it is time to observe unilateral ceasefire,” BJP State spokesperson Sunil Sethi had said.

Responding to the proposal, Sitharaman had said on Sunday last the Indian Army has to firmly handle any terrorism which threatens peace and harmony of the State. Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India and terrorism has to be eliminated by the Army for which firm action is required, she had said.

Elaborating upon the apprehensions of the security establishment over the latest proposal, officials said on Tuesday, the three major players in the State are not on the same page. They include the State police, political parties and the ‘tanzeems(terrorist organisations).’ At present, the three main ‘tanzeems’ like Hizbul Mujaideen, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jaish-e-Mohammad are active in the Jammu & Kashmir and unless they offer to halt their spree of violence, one-sided ceasefire by the Government makes little sense, they said.

Compounding the issue, all the three ‘tanzeems’ are headless at the moment with their top commanders neutralised by the security forces in the last one year or so, officials said. Given this void, “who will take the call for stopping violence and initiate talks with the political leadership,” they said.

Moreover, the State police is in the forefront of fight against terrorism and provides critical intelligence inputs to the Army and paramilitary forces like the Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) about the presence of terrorists in an area. The real time intelligence enables the security forces to launch operations. The police are yet to share its views on the unilateral ceasefire proposal, officials said.

Moreover, a unilateral ceasefire will give time to terrorists to regroup and rearm thereby posing a far bigger challenge to maintain peace, they said. At present, the intensity of operations is keeping the terrorists on the run and nearly 65 of them killed in the first four months. Infiltration from across the Line of Control(LOC) is expected to gain momentum and the Army is geared to prevent large number of terrorists from sneaking into the State.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, Wednesday, 16 May 2018 | Rahul Datta/Mohit Kandhari | New Delhi/Jammu