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Advani seeks PM's nod to fight harder in Kashmir

George Iype in New Delhi

As the diplomatic war of words between India and Pakistan continues, Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani has stepped up his offensive in Jammu and Kashmir with a new set of initiatives.

Ministry sources said for the first time, the government has ordered troops to move deep into the jungles in the mountainous belts of north and south Kashmir to flush out Inter Services Intelligence-trained militants.

Advani, who is to visit the state on Thursday next, June 18, has entrusted the day-to-day monitoring of the counter-insurgency operations to Special Secretary M B Kaushal.

According to details available from Kaushal's office, Indian troops have virtually flushed out militants from Pir Panjal in south Kashmir, and the Ajas, Rajwar and Handwara jungles in north Kashmir in the past week. The military operation will now continue in the mountainous regions of Udhampur, Rajouri and Poonch districts in the next five days.

The home minister has also put forward before Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, two new proposals to effectively counter Pakistan's proxy war in Kashmir.

First, Advani wants the government to vigorously enforce the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, a special legislation meant for Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the North-East.

The Act provides extraordinary and broadly defined powers to the security forces "to shoot to kill, with virtual impunity from prosecution."

This special legislation also provides for preventive detention, thereby separating the detainees from the normal judicial process and the safeguards attached to it.

But successive governments have been compelled not to enforce the legislation effectively after national and international human rights organisations, including the United Nations Human Rights Commission, questioned and severely criticised it.

Now the home minister wants to enforce the Act with an iron hand so that the armed forces can act with impunity in Jammu and Kashmir.

Secondly, Advani has sought the prime minister's permission to induct arms and ammunition seized from militants into the central paramilitary forces that are fighting the insurgents and terrorists in Kashmir and the North-Eastern states.

Sources said Vajpayee will soon convene a meeting of the home, defence and finance ministers, along with their officials, to discuss the proposal, since the government shares Advani's view that this could be one of the important means to strengthen the weaponry of the security forces.

"The security environment of Kashmir has suddenly changed in the past month. So there is no reason why weapons captured from militants could not be used by the security forces," a home ministry official close to Advani told Rediff On The NeT.

Advani's proposal to equip the armed forces with more arms and ammunition arises from a recent defence ministry report. It said a large arsenal of sophisticated weaponry seized from Punjab terrorists, Kashmiri militants and the North-Eastern insurgents are lying unutilised with the Central Reserve Police Force and the Border Security Force for many years now.

But officials fear the home minister's suggestion may invite stiff opposition from the generals. Senior army officers have consistently maintained the need for the continuous acquisition of sophisticated and modern arms for the armed forces, and fear India will considerably lag behind its immediate border enemy Pakistan, if the country does not procure new weapons.

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