We accepted defeat 8212; Farooq on the hijacking episode

JAMMU, FEB 26: Expressing his grave dismay at the release of three foreign mercenaries in the Indian Airlines plane hijacking episode, Jam...

JAMMU, FEB 26: Expressing his grave dismay at the release of three foreign mercenaries in the Indian Airlines plane hijacking episode, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said that he quot;felt ashamed at what the government had done. We accepted defeat,quot; he said. He said that rather than making it clear that we are ready to fight it out, the country sent the message that it was weak and weeping.

He also criticised the media8217;s role during the hijacking episode saying that it had unduly projected the grief of the families whose relatives were on board the aircraft when the country8217;s prestige was at stake.

Abdullah was speaking on the occasion of the 2nd Amar Kapoor Memorial Lecture here on Friday. He paid glowing tributes to Amar Kapoor, describing him as a superb police officer and an excellent human being.

The Chief Minister said that the bureaucrats and politicians who had arrived at the Shimla Accord with Pakistan in 1972 would never be forgiven by the people as they had failed to thrash out the Kashmir issue then.

Maintaining that the country8217;s partition was wrong, the Chief Minister said that blunders had been made by the country8217;s leadership then and continue to be committed to this day.

Throwing his weight behind those who favour a strong federal structure, Abdullah said that he envisioned the country as the quot;United States of Indiaquot; and if this was not done the country would collapse in the manner of Russia. He said that people in different states spoke different languages and a federal structure was important for the country8217;s long-term stability.

He said that Pakistan had never been sincere in fulfilling its obligations as part of the the UN resolutions and would not do so even now. Quoting a Urdu couplet, he said that the country was facing grave challenges and people would have to rise to the occasion. Talking of Clinton8217;s visit, he said that the country should not be be bothered whether he visits Pakistan or not.

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In his lucid presentation on 8216;Low intensity war and high intensity conflicts8217;, Prakash Singh, former Director General, BSF, said that lack of vision in the country8217;s leadership has been responsible for the emergence of militant movements in the country. He said that the leadership had failed to gauge regional aspirations and hence, evolve a plan to deal with the problems that were likely to crop up. Quoting the example of Punjab where he dealt with insurgency, he said that police and para-military forces did not know for a long time what policy to follow in the state.

Singh held the state governments primarily responsible for the rise in militancy saying that they had failed to assert their authority and check corruption.

He said that the foremost requirement for bringing about a change in the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was to effectively check infiltration. Giving the example of Punjab, he said that militancy was contained in the state only after the fencing was erected on the border.

He also stressed the role of the Jammu and Kashmir Police in ending insurgency in the state. Referring to the series of mistakes about Jammu and Kashmir, he said that the country8217;s response was slow in 1947. Apart from this, the case was wrongly taken to the UN and admitted under a wrong clause and a cease-fire had been accepted at the wrong time. The biggest opportunity to settle the issue, he said, was missed after the 1971 war. He was also critical of the handling of the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping and the IA plane hijacking episodes.

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Pointing to the assessment by some foreign scholars that India did not have a tradition of strategic thinking, Singh said that India8217;s tendency to react only after the enemy had entered its territory has come to be called as the quot;Panipat syndromequot; by experts.

Tracing the origin and handling of militant movements faced by the country since Independence, he said that while the fifties saw Naga insurgency, the sixties saw the emergence of the militant movement in Mizoram besides the start of the Naxalite problem. Insurgency raised its head in Assam in the 70s, in Punjab in the eighties and in Kashmir in the nineties.

He said that Jammu and Kashmir8217;s was no longer a mere territorial dispute between India and Pakistan. The attempt was now to create an Islamic state there. quot;The struggle now is between Islamic fundamentalist forces drawn from various countries and the secular state of India,quot; he said.

Talking of the high-intensity crime, Singh regretted that so far India had no comprehensive law to deal with organised crime. He said that about 5,000 Nepalese girls were forced into prostitution in India every year.

First to desert a sinking ship

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quot;India may one day hand over Kashmir to Pakistan on a platter,quot; Farooq Abdullah said taking a dig at New Delhi8217;s handling of the challenges posed by the neighbour. And, in keeping with his reputation added, quot;But before they do so, I should be told about a week in advance so that I can pack my belongings,quot; the Chief Minister said, yielding laughter from the audience.