New Delhi: Former Northern Command chief Lt Gen Deependra Singh Hooda (retd) and Jammu and Kashmir ex-Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda on Thursday said the Centre “lacked” a coherent policy with regard to the strife-torn state, and pitched for early remedial measures to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.
Speaking at a conference on the theme “New Militancy, Old Strategy”, organised here by NGO Observer Research Foundation, Lt Gen Hooda said there was lack of “unified command” for operation by the forces. “All security agencies must work under the unified command headquarters. It must be owned by the state government to effectively implement strategies,” he said. Lt Gen Hooda headed the Northern Command when it carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control to dismantle terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. “The Centre has not spelled out any strategy and parameters to be adopted in Kashmir. The situation does not look good,” he said.
The Army veteran claimed the Union Home Ministry was supposed to frame the strategy, but it hardly had any control over the forces.
“The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) are mainly controlled by the states wherever these are stationed while the Army comes under the Defence Ministry… The Centre has not defined whether the forces have to deal with proxy war unleashed by Pakistan or take counter-terrorism or counter-insurgency measures.
“It was counter-insurgency earlier, but now we talk of counter-terrorism. The country has to be careful about its ‘strategic messaging’. In 2016, the forces launched ‘Operation Calm Down’ to deal with an uprising in the wake of killing of terrorist Burhan Wani, but in 2017-18, the troops are waging ‘Operation All Out’,” LT Gen Hooda said. He said such phraseology sent a wrong message among the locals, portraying “as if the Centre was at war with them”. He pitched for tackling the situation socially, politically and economically.
Former DGP Khoda said radicalisation of Kashmir youths by the ISI was a reality, which could be attributed, among other reasons, to the rise in right-wing fanaticism in other parts of the country. He claimed the country currently lacked a clear policy on Kashmir. He said the security forces should not be engaged in peace-making as the situation in Kashmir was quite complex.
‘Operation phraseology can be lethal’
Lt Gen Deependra Singh Hooda (retd), who headed the Northern Command when surgical strikes were carried out across the LoC, said phraseology had to be proper as it could otherwise send a wrong message among the locals. “In 2016, forces launched ‘Operation Calm Down’ to deal with an uprising in wake of terrorist Burhan Wani’s killing. But in 2017-18, the troops are waging ‘Operation All Out’,” he said.
