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Although the security forces are on high alert all along the 'International border and LoC in J&K, large-scale infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan and PoK has not stopped. Any softening of the borders, as recently suggested by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, will prove counter productive. Allowing free movement across the Line of Control will only help Pakistan push in more terrorists into J&K to intensify its proxy war. Winning minds of the people is important but it has to be done without compromising the security of the country. What needs to be done is to make the enemy pay heavily for its proxy war. Operation Sarp Vinash conducted by the Indian army in the southeastern slopes of Pir Panjal range last month has boosted the morale of the security forces and given a body blow to the terrorist gangs. In one of the highly successful hunting operation against terrorists that had occupied Indian territory in the Hilkaka area and were trying to enter the Valley, the armed forces encircled and killed more than 50 terrorists, including prominent leaders of the banned terrorist gangs. More than a dozen foreign mercenaries were apprehended. It was a fortnight-long campaign in which a division of the army was involved. The army busted more than 60 terrorist hideouts and captured substantial quantities of arms, ammunition and communication equipment. According to the Army Chief, General N.C. Vij, who paid a personal visit to the operational area, the terrorist infrastructure demolished by the Army included an elaborate communication centre. Cache of weapons recovered from terrorist bases in the area included rocket launchers, rifles, model and a huge quantity of explosives. The operation was conducted after intelligence agencies gave confirmed information about the presence of foreign mercenaries in the forests. The Army and the intelligence agencies deserve kudos for successfully executing this counter-insurgency operation
Talks with Pakistan and the policy of "healing touch" need not hinder the process of strengthening anti-insurgency infrastructure. The country has paid a heavy human, social and economic cost in this proxy war during the past 15 years. The armed forces suffered more casualties in this dirty war than they did in three regular wars with Pakistan. Terrorists have been targeting innocent civilians, including women and children, to spread terror. This can't be allowed to continue. It is a War we will have to fight on our own strength and determination. It is heartening to note that the local support to the insurgency has been considerably reduced. Official estimates are that 80 per cent of the terrorists operating in the state are foreigners. Punitive action against foreign mercenaries should be prohibitive and merciless.
In a disturbing development, the U.P. Government has relaxed rules for the registration of seminaries in the face of intelligence reports that ISI has infiltrated into madrasas that have sprung up all over the country, Particularly in border areas. As of now, all applications for recognition of educational institutions in U.P. have to be dealt with at the State headquarters. The Government has not cared to take the people into confidence about the rationale behind its decision to constitute district level committees that will have representatives of minorities on them to give recognition to madrasas. It is no secret that the Chief Minister's action is part of her drive to win over Muslim support. This has caused disquiet in official circles as their threat perception from these seminaries is based on the reports that these are emerging as nerve-centres of jehadi activities. The Centre has, time and again, reminded State Governments to keep a close watch on the activities of madrasas, particularly those that have come up in recent years. But the State Governments appear to have their own narrow political agendas.
Madrasas have a chequered history. Some of them rendered service to the community and did produce Islamic scholars of note. The stark reality, however, is that these schools have deprived their students of modem knowledge and played no less a role in the growth of Islamic fundamentalism. There are hardly any job opportunities for those graduating from these institutions as they are not market friendly. Unemployed and frustrated youth fall an easy prey to jehadi elements. A section of Muslim scholars have been for long underlining the need to modernise these institutions and to free them from the control of mullahs with narrow vision and dogmatic ideas. Commenting on this aspect, a noted Muslim scholar, Fazur Rahman, said, "By organically relating all forms of knowledge and gearing these to dogmatic theology, the sources of intellectual fecundity were blighted and the possibility of original thinking stifled".
Unfortunately, those who run these institutions have other ideas. They see no merit in the demand to bring about necessary changes in the curriculum to make it relevant to the spirit of the times. It is for the Muslim community to initiate a process of reforming these educational institutions by freeing them from the clutches of dogmatic mullahs.
Since there are credible reports
that some of these seminaries are producing jehadis that pose a serious
threat to social harmony and peace, the Government can't sit back and wait
for the Muslim community to act. It is in this context that the Union Government
asked all State Governments to verify antecedents of madrasas applying
for financial assistance from the Government. All that the Centre wants
the States to do is that while recommending seminaries for financial assistance,
the States must ensure that these are not indulging, abetting or in any
other way linked to anti-national elements. State Governments are required
to certify that the institutions recommended by them don't indulge in activities
that may pose a threat to the security of the country. The 'secular' brigade
and Muslim leaders have taken umbrage to this sensible move. They have
launched a tirade against the Centre for singling out institutions run
by one community to convey the sense that these are potentially anti-national.
In their blind support for the "Muslim cause", they refuse to see that
most of these institutions have been converted into "nurseries of sedition".
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