One-sided truce in Kashmir will not do, says army

ARMY BRASS SAYS MILITANT GROUPS USED THE CEASEFIRE DURING THE VAJPAYEE GOVT IN 2000 TO REGROUP AND PLAN MORE OPERATIONS IN THE VALLEY

NEW DELHI: The Indian Army is opposed to a unilateral ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir, given an increase in the number of militant-initiated strikes in the state during the last truce, announced by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, between December 2000 and May 2001. The army is worried that something similar could happen in the event of a ceasefire now.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on May 9 urged the Narendra Modi government to take a leaf out of the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s book and declare a unilateral ceasefire from the holy month of Ramzan in mid-may to the Amarnath Yatra in August.

The Indian Army and national security planners say that the so-called Non-initiation of Combat Operations, or NICO, initiative will only work if Pakistanbased terrorist groups active in Kashmir also simultaneously announce a ceasefire. Army officials also add, just to get things straight, that the use of the term ceasefire doesn’t make sense because it isn’t as if Indian and Pakistani armies are fighting a war in Kashmir.

Senior defence ministry officials say that so far nothing has been put down on paper on even the proposal of such a ceasefire. It is all speculation driven by the local politics of the state, they added. Still, a senior army officer said, on condition of anonymity, that the matter will be discussed after the Prime Minister returns from Nepal on the basis of a memorandum or all-party resolution sent by the Mehbooba Mufti regime.

Indian Army data indicates that before NICO was announced by Vajpayee, the total number of terrorist -initiated attacks in 2000 stood at 446. The number increased to 712 during the ceasefire and then went down to 708 (from June 2001 to December 2001), 542 in 2002, and then 450 in 2003. Army brass told Hindustan Times that terrorists used the 2000 NICO to regroup and plan future operations in the Valley.