Army Chief’s provocative utterances

Throwing an open challenge to both the political leadership controlling and commanding the central government in Delhi and as well as the Mehbooba Mufti led PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir the Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has publicly contradicted the unanimous decision of the home ministry and the Mehbooba government to grant amnesty to first time stone-pelters. The army Chief’s remark by all standards of understandabilities that the political executive and the army are not on the same page over the current phase of public unrest in Kashmir. Interestingly the Union Home Ministry Rajnath Singh was the first top public functionary to announce the decision of amnesty to first time stone pelters in Jammu & Kashmir and central government’s special representative on Kashmir engagement endorsed the home minister’s decision after the Chief Minister briefed the state assembly during the budget session in the assembly last month. Keeping in view the superiority of the political executive in the enforcement of policy decisions the Modi government should have taken a serious not of the contraction of the Home Minister’s statement by the Army Chief. Not only on the decision of amnesty to first time stone pelters in Kashmir but also on the teaching of students in Kashmir valley the Army Chief has attracted criticism from people of all shades within and outside Jammu & Kashmir. The PDP-BJP coalition government but not the army chief has the public mandate to take decisions on the law enforcement and working of institutions in Jammu & Kashmir and people are upset over the silence of the central leadership and Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s silence over the provocative remarks of the Army Chief almost over every decision the central or the Jammu & Kashmir takes on the working of government forces and public institutions.
Since army chief’s provocative remarks are not taken well by the hostile populations in Jammu & Kashmir, political wisdom demands that central government exhorts army chief to stop reacting to the decision taken by the central or the state government on dealing with the current phase of public unrest in Kashmir. Both the central leaders and the Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti should break their silence over the provocative remarks of the army chief and play their role in silencing not only the army chief but all other provocative voices in the country. Provocation is not a solution to the current crisis in Kashmir but instead soft peddling is the way to cool down the rising tempers in Kashmir.