Defence Minister A K Antony does not make loose statements. He seldom air views which can be described as controversial and ambiguous. He says what he and his ministry actually believe in. But what he said the other day (January 12) in Jammu during the crucial meeting of the Unified Headquarters, which was attended by the top brass of the Army, civil and police officials, and the Chief Minister, was highly disappointing. In fact, what he disclosed during the meeting was both disturbing and undesirable.

Mr. Antony inter alia disclosed that the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will take over the security of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway 1-A from the Army from January 15. The Union Government has every right to take such a step. It must have gone into the whole issue and taken note of the prevailing security scenario all along the National Highway before reaching the conclusion that the CRPF, and not the Army, could guard the highly sensitive National Highway.

What disturbed and dumbfounded observers was his irresponsible comment that the decision to this effect has been taken to “reduce the visibility of the Army.” The Minister’s comment must have pleased the mercenaries and the Pakistani agents who had assembled at New Delhi’s prestigious India International Centre (IIC) on Jan. 11 and attacked India and the India Army for full three days (Jan. 11 - 13). Actually, a number of mercenaries, separatists, murderers, communalists and Pakistani agents had converged at the IIC to participate in the India-Pakistan conference; all were hailed by a section of the media as “peaceniks” (peace activists).

The Defence Minister made his mind-boggling comment at a time when the anti-India and pro-Pakistan forces, plus the Kashmiri separatists, were asking New Delhi to “demilitarize Jammu & Kashmir” and resume the stalled composite dialogue process with Pakistan, so that Pakistani views on Indian Jammu & Kashmir and the views of Kashmiri separatists, including their demand for demilitarization, are accommodated, and they get what they have been striving for since October 1947.

These Pakistani agents and Kashmiri separatists have not just demanded withdrawal of the Army from terrorist-infested Jammu & Kashmir and an “uninterrupted dialogue with Pakistan” even if Islamabad continues to bleed India and foment more troubles for the Indian nation in Kashmir. They have also asked New Delhi to relent and resolve the issues of Siachen, Sir Creek and Wullar Barrage to the satisfaction of Islamabad.

The demands put forth by the mercenaries and Pakistani agents should have provoked the authorities in New Delhi to retaliate and book them under the charge of sedition. But this did not happen. Instead, they were allowed to go scot-free. Had such a conference been held in any other country in the world, the concerned government would surely have arrested the delegates and brought them to justice. All these mercenaries and Pakistani agents would have been lynched by the concerned nation.

But we are a democratic country of perverted nature. We allow mercenaries and anti-India agents to do whatever they want under our own nose to prove our democratic credentials.

What is the political message of the Indian Defence Minister? It is, shamefully, this:

His ministry shares the view of the mercenaries, Pakistani agents and Kashmiri separatists that the Indian Army is a bad institution and that the presence of the Indian Army in the terrorist-infested Jammu & Kashmir is illegal, provocative, and undesirable, and that the withdrawal of the Army from the State could be a great confidence-building measure.

His message is:

The presence of the Indian Army in Indian Jammu & Kashmir has the potential of further “alienating the Kashmiri Muslims from the national mainstream,” and that it has become imperative to “reduce the visibility of the Army.”

The performance of the Indian Defence Minister in the presence of Army Chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor is something which has perhaps never happened in any other country in the world. The Defence Minister has lowered the morale of the Indian Army and uttered words which will surely harm the sovereign interests of India, not only in Kashmir, but also in other militant-infested areas.

The truth, in short, is that New Delhi is yielding under extra-legal international pressure and that the mercenaries, Pakistani agents and Kashmiri separatists, who otherwise have become totally irrelevant in the State, are on a winning spree. They put pressure on New Delhi a few weeks ago, and the Union Government withdrew no less than 30,000 troops from this troubled State. They again put pressure on New Delhi between January 11 and January 13; New Delhi cravenly declared it would “reduce the visibility of the Army in the State.”

What is this? Nothing but an act of treachery, an act designed to weaken India and batten the anti-India forces, whose single-point agenda is to break and destroy India.                              

The author is Chair Professor, Gulab Singh Chair, Jammu University, Jammu