Karat slams Gen. Rawat for defending J&K ‘human shield’ against protesters

Karat says Centre trying to suppress views of people in Kashmir

Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat’s defence of the use of a human shield in Kashmir was criticised by the CPI(M) on Tuesday with the party saying his comments reflected the views of the Narendra Modi government.

CPI(M) politburo member Prakash Karat said that the Modi government was trying to suppress the views of the people in Kashmir, and the Army as well as Kashmiris would suffer irreparable damage because of the government’s use of force against civilians in the Valley.

Mr Karat said that the people of Kashmir were voicing their political protest and the Modi government was trying to suppress their voice through the use of force.

The Army Chief had last week said that he would have found it easier to deal with protesters in the Valley if they fired weapons instead of hurling stones at security personnel and had also defended the actions of the Maj. Leetul Gogoi, who tied a civilian in front of a jeep to deter stone-pelters.

In an editorial in the party mouthpiece People’s Democracy, Mr Karat said that the Army chief made no distinction between young protesters throwing stones and armed militants. He said that to “taunt protesters to take up arms, so that the Army could deal with them appropriately, is a needless provocation” and such an attitude was unbecoming of a senior Army officer.

Mr Karat added the Army Chief’s remarks exemplified “all that is wrong” with the way the BJP government was dealing with the situation there. “The Army Chief of Staff, by commending this act, has let down the high professional standards of the Army.”

However, when asked about the editorial on the sidelines of the party politburo meeting here, the former CPI(M) general secretary refused to comment and said that it was an editorial (which is) the party stand.