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| Lok Sabha echoes PM’s plea to take Kashmir on a ‘non-lethal’ course | | | ABID SHAH
Early Times Report
NEW DELHI, Aug 26: On a day when Lok Sabha echoed with concern over long drawn protests in Kashmir by disenchanted youth, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stressed the need for “non-lethal” crowd control methods by security forces to ensure public order.
Speaking here today at the on going three-day conference of Director Generals and Inspector Generals of Police, the Prime Minister said, “Despite the curtailment of militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir, the public order dimension in the state has become a cause for serious concern.
“We need to revisit standard operating procedures and crowd control measures to deal with public agitations with non-lethal, yet effective and more focused measures. We also cannot have an approach of one size fits all. For instance, I understand that instead of a single standard sequence for the use of force, other countries have put in place procedures that vary according to the specific needs in different situations.
“Similarly, the experience begun successfully by the Rapid Action Force for non-lethal crowd control needs to be examined for being followed by other police forces as well. I hope these aspects would engage your attention. I would request the Home Minister to establish a high-power task force to come out with a set of recommendations on these issues in the next two-three months.”
These remarks by Manmohan Singh have, significantly, come on a day when members expressed grave concern in Parliament over the situation in Kashmir, particularly after June 11. Ever since over 60 youth were killed in daily protests that invariably led to confrontation with security forces who often charged with teargas and firing.
The Communist Party of India MP Gurudas Dasgupta put the number of injured at 1,800 during the current wave of agitation. He called for all efforts to end the alienation that has been causing resentment among Kashmiri youth. For this he urged the Government to talk to Pakistan and sort out the issues that have been agitating the youth.
He said “peace in Kashmir does depend on peace in the subcontinent.” But former Chief Minister of the State who is now a Union Minister Farooq Abdullah warned the separatists that the independence sought by them could lead to a situation where Kashmir could face problems that Taliban have been posing before Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Abdullah said that Kashmiris do not want separation as was being touted. They wanted a solution “within India and not within Pakistan, or within China”. He was applauded for this by members cutting across the two rival benches of Parliament. He made a strong plea to solve the Kashmir problem “by winning hearts and minds of people”, saying that this needed “open heartedness” on the part of the Indian Government.
Indicating that autonomy for Kashmir could not only help in solving the problem of winning over Kashmiris but also strengthen India’s federal structure, Farooq Abdullah made an impassioned plea for tackling the problems of his State with a true democratic spirit as per the best Indian traditions of reconciliation and accord.
His assertions are in tune with those made by the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram yesterday at DGPs and IGPs conference where Chidambaram had said that he hoped to find the “elusive starting point” to begin again the stalled process of dialogue with those behind protracted unrest in the Kashmir Valley. And this he had said could be possible in next few days.
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