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‘Do not link retaliation with elections’

Coming down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for comprehensively failing the country in preventing repeated Pulwama-like terror attacks, former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha is of the view that the government is killing terrorists in Kashmir while keeping terrorism alive and kicking.

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Mukesh Ranjan in New Delhi

Coming down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for comprehensively failing the country in preventing repeated Pulwama-like terror attacks, former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha is of the view that the government is killing terrorists in Kashmir while keeping terrorism alive and kicking. In an interview with The Tribune, he expresses his anguish over the government’s directionless policy in the Valley. Excerpts: 

The Pulwama terror attack is probably the second biggest assault on India after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. How do you comprehend it?

Firstly, it was a cowardly attack and a horrible  one, as US President Donald Trump has described it. But here I must say that it represented comprehensive failure on the part of the government in preventing several such attacks, which the country, particularly Jammu and Kashmir, has witnessed in the past three to four years.  

Was the attack a glaring intelligence failure, particularly when such high quantity of explosives were used to blast the ill-fated vehicle?

I used the term comprehensive, as the failure was on all fronts and all departments of the state machinery. Nobody is answering the questions as where did several kilos of explosives come from and where were these stored? How the state intelligence, which is under the Central rule, could not get a whiff of this? And then, the terrorists with the explosives must have taken a route to hit the CRPF convoy. In such a situation, questions must be asked as to why were precautionary measures to sanitise the route not taken, especially in view of the fact that such attacks have taken place earlier also. It’ll be interesting to know that how were the officers distributed in the convoy, as I understand that in an Army bus or truck, there would always be an officer onboard. This aspect needs to be looked into. All these demonstrate complete failure of those from the Prime Minister to the Governor to the officers responsible for security in Jammu and Kashmir.

Do you think that the government’s “hot pursuit” policy in the Valley for the past three years is the right way of dealing with the Kashmir issue?

I don’t think so. The Kashmir issue has completely been mishandled. The fundamental mistake that the government has committed and continues to commit is the thinking that you can end terrorism by eliminating terrorists. With this, the government has ended up killing terrorists while terrorism remains alive in the state. 

At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims “time for talks is over”, what are the options available for India to deal with terrorism?

The present government has been guilty of flip-flop in its policy towards Pakistan. For this, there are many instances, including Narendra Modi’s sudden visit to Lahore to attend a marriage ceremony at Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s residence and also numerous summit meetings on the sidelines of multilateral meetings. But at the same time, India suffered incidences of cross-border terrorism. Therefore, it seems that India desperately lacks a game plan or strategy to deal with cross-border terror activities. Also it was claimed that demonetisation had broken the back of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and that the much-hyped surgical strikes were enough to quell Pakistan. But now we know that both the claims were hollow.

Do you think the measures (economic and diplomatic), which are being taken by the government vis-a-vis Pakistan in the aftermath of the attack are enough?

We still need to see and watch whether the steps taken would prevent such attacks in India, as there is no such evidence in generally containing Pakistan. The government’s decision to withdraw the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status on Pakistan is nothing but a mere formality. In any case for India, trade has not been a strong point with Pakistan, and so it is not going to hurt the country. But if a decision against Pakistan comes at the end of the meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris, it may help in choking terror financing. Also we claim that we have isolated Pakistan internationally. This is nothing but delusion. The visit of Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to Pakistan after the Pulwama attack is proof enough of that. World leaders have, no doubt, condemned the attack and expressed their sympathies, but that is where it ended every time. We must realise that the fight against terror is our own fight and we will have to fight this war and win it. 

What have you to say on the government’s decision to withdraw security cover of separatist leaders in the Valley?

It will not go down well with the supporters of Hurriyat leaders, who are not inconsequential in Kashmir. And also everybody knows that their security was there in order to keep an eye on them. 

Do you think that the Centre and state governments need to do more to protect Kashmiri students living in other parts of the country?

The biggest objective of terrorists is to intensify the feeling of alienation among the Kashmiris. If the rest of India attacks Kashmiris, they are only helping the terrorists. Every such incident is magnified thousand times in Kashmir and confirms their fear that the rest of India is interested only in acquiring the territory of Kashmir, but not the Kashmiris. The government should ensure that this is stopped immediately and the miscreants are brought to book. The targeted students and traders should be  brought back from where they have left and  provided full security.

How is the Opposition justified in criticising the Prime Minister for his conduct in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack?

A ghastly incident like a terrorist attack should not be politicised by any party, much less the party in power.

As the General Election is round the corner, will the attack have any bearing on it?

It all depends on how it pans out in the coming days. The government will be well advised not to link any retaliatory action with elections.  


If the rest of India attacks Kashmiris, they are only helping the terrorists. The government should put an end to this and punish the miscreants. — Yashwant Sinha

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