The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

ARTICLE

Talks alone can solve Kashmir problem
Pakistan may, however, wait till a new govt takes charge
T.V. Rajeswar

Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister's adviser, was apprised of Delhi's disappointment with the manner in which Pakistan was conducting itself on various crucial issues

In an address in Occupied Kashmir Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reportedly said that the J&K issue could trigger a fourth war with India. The remark drew a prompt retort from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that there is no scope of Pakistan winning any such war in his life time.

Almost immediately after the report, Nawaz Sharif's office clarified that the media report was incorrect. It added that any issue of conflict between Pakistan and India has to be resolved through peaceful means. Nawaz Shairf's office also said that he considered Kashmir as his prime responsibility and hoped that it would be resolved in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people and the UN resolutions. Sartaj Aziz, National Security Adviser, who was recently in India, added Indian forces in Siachen posed a serious threat to Pakistan’s environment and urged India to pull out its troops. India had dealt with this Siachen issue even earlier and said that this could be considered after the existing troop positions of both India and Pakistan are recorded.

The Pakistan Army, which is the ultimate authority in Pakistan on political issues such as Jammu & Kashmir, had published its “mother document” which says that the growing Indian military power “disturbed (the) strategic equilibrium of the region” and that in the face of growing disparity, Pakistan may have to use nuclear weapons as a last resort.

Nawaz Sharif’s obsessive approach to the Kashmir issue is known. He had earlier appointed Gen. Pervez Musharraf as the Army Chief of Pakistan overlooking several of his seniors. He had great faith in his capacity to deliver Jammu & Kashmir sooner or later. Sharif was fully in the loop when General Musharraf carried out the Kargil attack which misfired and forced Pakistanis to withdraw from Kargil. It was done at the instance of President Clinton after Sharif had rushed to him for relief after the Kargil debacle.

The revelation of Pakistan’s special envoy to the US that President Obama had sent a secret message to President Asif Ali Zardari in 2009 that he would nudge India towards negotiations on Kashmir in lieu of it ending support to terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba had no impact on Pakistan. Obama told Asif Ali Zardari that fighting India through proxy groups was not sustainable any more.

Addressing a gathering in Delhi on December 7, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that countries such as Pakistan that practised embedded terrorism had to clean up their act and there was no choice in the matter.

Pakistan's obsession with Kashmir is not going to stop in the near future and it is the view of strategic observers that Pakistan would continue to infiltrate Kashmir with jihadi militants trained in POK and that after the snow melts in the upper reaches of Kashmir, infiltration of militants would increase.

Having said that, the Kashmir issue has to be resolved sooner or later to the satisfaction of India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. There had been several attempts in the past to resolve this thorny issue. The Simla talks of 1972 failed to produce a lasting solution. Although India claimed that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto agreed to treat the Line of Control as the permanent international border between India and Pakistan and that he would get the political groups and the people of Pakistan agree to the new solution in due course, Bhutto repudiated India's claim and denied any such understanding.

Musharraf came out with a solution of his own. In an interview with Indian an TV channel he said Pakistan would give up the claim to J&K if India accepted a four-point formula: (1) Kashmir should have the same borders but people should be allowed to move freely across the region; (2) The region should have self-governance or autonomy but not independence; (3) Troops should be withdrawn from the region in a phased manner; and (4) a joint mechanism comprising representatives from India, Pakistan and Kashmir to be set up to supervise the implementation of such a roadmap for Kashmir. The formula was rejected by Dr. Manmohan Singh with the observation that that the borders of J&K cannot be redrawn.

From J&K itself there were conflicting reactions. Syed Ali Shah Geelani repudiated the formula and said that it showed that Musharraf had lost self-confidence and was in a state of mental depression. Sajjad Lone, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party, said that it was a welcome step and the Kashmir leadership should be fully involved. The Pakistan-based United Jihad Council, which is a coalition of terrorist groups, lashed out at Musharraf and said that Kashmiris would not compromise on their right to self-determination. On the other hand, Omar Abdullah stated that Musharraf's proposal deserved a serious consideration and that he was in favour of an out-of-the box solution to the Kashmir issue.

In Pakistan, Imran Khan of Tehreek-e-Insaf stated recently that back-channel discussions between the interlocutors of India and Pakistan had almost reached an amicable formula for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute when unfortunately the Mumbai attack of 2008 took place.

It is known that India's interlocutor Satish Lamba has been visiting Pakistan during the past three years. He has interacted with Nawaz Sharif even during his first term as Prime Minister. Lamba's counterpart, Sartaj Aziz, was in Delhi in November this year and had met Foreign Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. Khurshid reportedly expressed Delhi's disappointment with the manner in which Pakistan was conducting itself on various crucial issues. Khurshid told Aziz that peace and tranquility on the Line of Control was one of the most important confidence-building measures which had been regrettably ignored by the Pakistan Government and its armed forces. The 136 ceasefire violations in 2013 alone were the highest in the past eight years. It was pointed out to Sartaj Aziz that the understanding reached in New York after the two brief meetings Dr. Manmohan Singh had with his counterpart on October 5 and 11 had not yielded any results. Sartaj Aziz had a brief meeting with Dr. Manmohan Singh on November 13 but no discussions took place between them, since Salman Khurshid had already conveyed to him whatever was to be said to Pakistan.

It is obvious that the Kashmir problem has to be resolved only through negotiations between the two Prime Ministers or through interlocutors. With the recent election results from the four states going against the UPA, it is likely that Pakistan may not make an effective push towards a solution of the Kashmir issue and that it may well wait till the next parliamentary elections are over and a new government is in power.

MIDDLE

In pursuit of silence
Avneet Sidhu

Don't you sometimes wish you had a mute button to switch off all unwanted sounds? Alas! That's practically impossible as long as television channels continue to work 24X7 and also when you choose teaching as a profession. After a highly interactive session with students which I look forward to everyday, I feel the need to replenish my energy by being quiet for a couple of hours. We all yearn for this time to ourselves in the hustle-bustle of our daily routine but grabbing just a few quiet moments seems such an arduous task to accomplish.

How I wish every morning that my family was not that religious and information seeking so that I don’t have to wake up hearing horrifying news and sermons delivered by gurus on television. This makes me wonder who first thought of praying loudly and if God would be up so early. Wouldn't He want to sleep till a little late on Sundays? Even the maid in the kitchen has mastered the art of simultaneous clattering of plates and chattering endlessly.

I somehow survive the potpourri of the jarring television, local news brought to me by my “kaam-wali”, pesky forwarded Whatsapp messages along with repeated reminders of to-do list by each family member and reach for work only to find that annoying colleague of mine grouching over a misplaced file that she found on the next desk, making fuss over this triviality in that irking shrill voice of hers. How badly I want her to zip it up but instead I try to smile, reposing in my seat and have a glass of water to start the day calmly. I've only been out of bed for two and a half hours but my whole bio-rhythm has been terribly shaken, craving for a quiet, peaceful morning.

Travelling alone can be quite peaceful. This notion of mine was shattered by that one-hour journey to Chandigarh I had to take by bus, sitting next to a lady who wanted to know all about myself and not finding me amenable enough, decided to tell me everything about her own family, never once seeking my consent if I would like to listen. In less than an hour I knew all details of her two daughters, the elder one being happily settled in America and the younger one she very proudly said was learning to make software (soft toys)! Before I got off the bus the lady made me note down her contact details and wanted me to suggest a match for her talented younger daughter. That day I promised myself I would stop being a polite listener and will not let anyone take undue advantage of my auditory appendages.

In pursuit of silence I had been trying everything to steal a solitary moment but realised how desperately I wanted to hear those unwanted sounds when I got a terrible ear infection while swimming last summer. I felt cut off from the world when I found it hard to hear and wanted everything repeated. Gratitude was all I could offer after I was cured and decided to celebrate all the noises in my life.

OPED DEFENCE

A National Security Doctrine is Imperative
The concluding part of the analysis on civil-military relations argues that India’s national security concerns demand that all interests and all institutions of national power are brought to work most closely together to further the country’s interest and build a militarily and economically strong nation that enjoys the world’s trust and respect
N.N. Vohra

IAF helicopters bearing the National and the service ensigns fly past over Rajpath on Republic Day. Individual services need to close ranks and get collectively concerned about the major threats and formidable challenges that the country faces

Over the years, continuing efforts have been made by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to promote jointness through integration of the planning, training and other systems so that, progressively, a tri-service approach could get fully established. However, certain issues continue to affect the efficient functioning of the defence apparatus:

There must be no further delay in finalising the National Security Doctrine, on the basis of which integrated threat assessments can be made.

While some improvements have been achieved in the past years, the MoD must enforce strict measures to ensure that the DRDO, ordnance factories, defence public sector undertakings and other concerned agencies function efficiently to deliver supplies and services as per the envisaged time and cost schedules. Prolonged delays cause serious difficulties for the armed forces and large economic losses as the lack of certainty about supplies from indigenous sources compels expensive imports.

While there have been notable advances in the rationalisation of the procurement policies and procedures, there is still need to ensure against prolonged acquisition proceedings as such delays altogether nullify the “make or buy” approaches.

The individual services enjoy the autonomy of taking decisions to make their own selections of weapons, equipment and systems. The Integrated Service Headquarters must take effective steps to establish a tri-service approach in regard to such decisions as doing so will engender very significant financial savings.

Defence planning process has still to get established. The X and XI Plans were implemented without receiving formal approvals. While the Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan has since been finalised, it is still viewed as a totalling up of the wish lists of the individual services. The Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) must devote urgent attention towards finalising a fully integrated defence plan with at least a 10-15 year perspective.

The services enjoy the authority of virtually settling their own manpower policies. The pro-rata percentage representation of arms and services in the Army needs to be modified as it is virtually a “quota system” which breeds group loyalties and cuts at the very roots of jointness within the service.

While the functioning of the defence apparatus has been getting steadily refined, the continuing lack of consensus among the three services is thwarting the achievement of the vital objective of “jointness”. A number of joint service institutions have come into existence in the post Kargil War period. Among the new institutions, frequent references are made to the IDS, Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Andaman & Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command. While it may be far too early to rejoice over these inter-agency institutions, it is disconcerting to learn that the individual services are not doing all that is required to see that these get fully established without facing delays and difficulties. A former Army Chief is quoted to say that the IDS is “a redundancy in military bureaucracy”; the founder Director of DIA is quoted to bring out that “the DIA cannot deliver as the intelligence agencies of the three services feel threatened by it” and about the IDS it is stated that “the services will never allow this body to function as they feel threatened that it will start examining the basis of their budgetary proposals, acquisition plans and force structures”.

Consequences of economic meltdown

The time has come for the individual services to close their ranks and get collectively concerned about the major threats and formidable challenges which we face in our close neighbourhood and beyond. The global security environment is continuing to become growingly complex and huge uncertainties loom large on various fronts.

Our military has to be also concerned about the consequences of the economic meltdown and the strong likelihood of the allocations for defence facing a significant decline. In this scenario, to prepare for successfully meeting future challenges, it is of the highest importance that the individual services shed all reservations and establish meaningful jointness. A truly tri-service approach will reduce functional overlaps, wasteful duplications and redundancies. The IDS have already promulgated a joint doctrine for the armed forces, which is presently undergoing revision because of the differing views of the service headquarters on several issues. Any delay in this regard would come in the way of the armed forces preparing themselves fully for delivering an effective response when any emergency arises in the future.

The defence ministry must realise the need to keep a very close watch on the rising cost of maintaining the military apparatus and ensuring that the high cost of the longer term acquisitions can be met from within the future availability of resources. Urgent attention needs being paid to reducing dependency on imports. This would require a very vigorous revving up of the ongoing indigenisation programmes. In the years past, only the Navy initiated systematic steps to foster indigenisation of their major platforms and systems and deserve all praise for the wonderful outcomes which they have already been able to achieve.

It also needs being noted that India is not the only country which is engaged in dealing with problems relating to the functioning of the defence management apparatus. Many democracies have been facing such problems and, benefitting from their own past experiences, several countries have established strong parliamentary oversight bodies to monitor all important issues relating to their armed forces. Some countries have even inducted external experts to monitor their ongoing defence reform processes.

Evolving a model for jointness

India cannot and must not be left behind in doing all that needs to be done for strengthening and enhancing our national security interests. We need to develop our own model of defence management which vigorously promotes and sustains military professionalism while being fully in tune with our constitutional framework and in harmony with our glorious traditions and soldiering. The model to be evolved should also not be excessively encumbered with varied hierarchical fixations which are rooted in our colonial past.

Considering the threats and challenges which loom on our horizon it is extremely important that our higher defence management structures are founded in the need to maintain a sensitive balance between the civil and military components and, side by side, ensuring that the entire military apparatus functions strictly within the parameters of “jointness”.

It would be an ideal situation if the service chiefs were to collaborate closely and for the Chiefs of Staff Committee to itself take the various required decisions to pave the way for the future and establish jointness, brick upon brick. In the past over two decades many useful opportunities were lost because of the lack of convergence in the views of the service headquarters.

If jointness and a tri-service approach cannot be achieved soon enough then, perhaps, the only option left may be to proceed towards replacing the existing single service Acts by an Armed Forces Act which would lay a statutory basis for achieving jointness and delineating the roles, duties and missions of the armed forces, as also the procedures and modalities relating to the functioning of the defence apparatus. In this context, it may not be out of place to recall that the US achieved its objectives by promulgating the Goldwater Nichols Act in 1986, after nearly four decades of experimentation under the aegis of its National Security Act. More recently, because of the serious budgetary problems faced by the country, UK has been devoting a high level of attention to reforms in its defence management apparatus. In this context, the Levene Report has sought to clarify the respective roles and responsibilities of ministers, civilian officers and the military at the policy, strategic and operational levels.

A dedicated security cadre

In so far as the tenure of civilians working in the MoD are concerned, a dedicated security administration cadre should be established by drawing in the best available talent from the civil services, defence services, DRDO, science and technology, information and communication technology, broadcasting and media, et al. This dedicated cadre should enjoy open ended tenures and those found fit should be enabled to develop specialisation in dealing with security related matters and be deployed in the MoD, Ministry of Home Affairs, Research and Analysis Wing, Intelligence Bureau, National Security Council secretariat and other security management related areas for their entire careers. This recommendation is contained in the Report of the Task Force on Internal Security (2000). It was accepted by the Group of Ministers (GoM) and after hearing it, the GoM had gone further and added that as “the assignments in these ministries/agencies are perceived as exacting and unattractive, the members of such a pool should, therefore, be appropriately compensated by provision of non-monetary incentives”. It is time to resurrect and speedily implement this decision of the GoM.

Another factor noted by the GoM was related to the marked difference in the perception of roles between the civil and military officers. A task force was set up to work out the curricula for organising a continuing Joint Civil and Military Training Programme on National Security, which would be undergone by Brigadier and Major General and equivalent rank officers, IAS, IPS, IFS, central police forces and, as the training settled down, participants would also be drawn from the media, industry and other arenas. On the basis of this task force’s recommendations the first two-week programme commenced at the IAS Training Academy at Mussoorie, in February 2003. This programme has been successfully continuing for over a decade now and the 20th course commenced at Mussoorie in November 2013. It would be beneficial if the MoD reviews this programme and suitably recast its contents to meet the existing and emerging scenarios.

Reviewing promotion system

Controversial interviews relating to personal issues, the Raksha Mantri’s decision being challenged in the Apex Court and several other unseemly scandals have marred the army’s image and dragged the services into the cesspool of partisan and parochial politics. This has caused divisiveness and serious damage to the very fabric of our military. It is indeed most unfortunate that any questioning of the deviations from the well established norms is viewed as questioning the very loyalty of the entire army. Such incidents, which have a great adverse affect on the morale of the armed forces, must not be allowed to recur under any circumstances. Time has perhaps come to review the entire existing basis of promotions and appointments to the higher echelons in the three services.

The patriotism and professionalism of the men and women of our armed forces is second to none among the militaries the world over. Our national security concerns demand that all interests and all institutions of national power are brought to work most closely together to further the country’s interest and build a militarily and economically strong India which enjoys the trust and respect of all our neighbours. In conclusion, the country must come first, always and ever, and never forget “who lives if India dies.”

Refining Jointness

Continuing lack of consensus among the three services is thwarting the achievement of the vital objective of jointness

The military also has to be concerned about the consequences of the economic meltdown and the strong likelihood of the allocations for defence facing a significant decline

Higher defence management needs to maintain a sensitive balance between the civil and military components and ensure that the entire military apparatus functions strictly within the parameters of jointness

A dedicated security administration cadre should be established by drawing in the best available talent from the civil services, defence services, DRDO, science and technology, information and communication technology

Part 1 can be accessed on www.tribuneindia.com

The writer is Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Excerpted from the National Security Lecture — 2013 on Civil Military Relations: Opportunities and Challenges, delivered at the United Services Institution, New Delhi