{"id":13344,"date":"2018-12-09T09:51:44","date_gmt":"2018-12-09T04:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/?p=13344"},"modified":"2018-12-09T09:51:44","modified_gmt":"2018-12-09T04:21:44","slug":"military-has-limited-role-solution-of-kashmir-issue-only-through-politics-lt-gen-a-k-bhatt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=13344","title":{"rendered":"Military has limited role, solution of Kashmir issue only through politics: Lt Gen A K Bhatt"},"content":{"rendered":"

SRINAGAR:<\/strong><\/i> The military can only have a limited role, with solutions critical for resolving the larger Kashmir issue lying in the realm of politics \u2014 good governance, and political engagement as witnessed during the Vajpayee years, according to the Army\u2019s Valley chief, Lt Gen A K Bhatt.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cThe military can only create conditions of normalcy. Beyond that, the initiatives have to be at levels of good governance, politically talking to people. During the Vajpayee era, it has happened, and similar initiatives the government will take at the right moment. I am sure they will,\u201d General Officer Commanding (GoC), 15 Corps, Lt Gen Bhatt said in an interview to The Sunday Express.<\/i>
\n\u201cOne of the main things is to find the methods and means to convince the youth that the path of violence will not deliver anything. And second, more importantly, is to work in the psychological space with the populace of Kashmir, to tell them that their future is far better in India than in Pakistan\u2026 that they are only being used as tools by the Jamaat, by the separatists and Pakistan,\u201d he said.<\/i>
\nAbout the Army\u2019s role, Bhatt said, it was to ensure that peace was maintained. \u201cOf course long-term solutions, the government has to look at them.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Admitting that different people could have different interpretations about what a political solution should comprise, he said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to get into that realm because it not mine.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Admitting the challenge posed by social media in the Valley, the Lt General said it is being used to radicalise youth as well as to mobilise crowds to sites of counter-terror operations. \u201cSocial media is the biggest concern for me. This, which is a privilege we have in a democratic nation\u2026 why I am calling it a privilege in a democratic nation\u2026 you see how China handles it, how other countries handle it and have tight control over social media. Here, social media is entirely free. And the freedom has resulted in this being used very actively by our adversaries.\u201d Creating an \u201cindigenous social media platform\u201d could be the solution, according to Bhatt.<\/i><\/p>\n

Calling elements based in Pakistan the \u201cinstigators\u201d, he said \u201call stone-throwing groups in Kashmir have Pakistani numbers\u201d.<\/i><\/p>\n

Noting that attempts at infiltration had increased, Bhatt said 50 militants had been eliminated this year trying to cross the Line of Control. \u201cAbout hundred have been able to infiltrate. Every day and night, at some place or the other on the LoC, an attempt is being made to infiltrate\u2026 They try and use new methods.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

The other worry for the Army has been \u201clarger number of local recruitments\u201d. \u201cIt has gone down in the last two months. But in the early months of April, May and June, this slightly increased. That is why, despite us neutralising about 200 (militants), the number is still the same.\u201d(Inputs from Indian Express). <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SRINAGAR: The military can only have a limited role, with solutions critical for resolving the larger Kashmir issue lying in the realm of politics \u2014 good governance, and political engagement as witnessed during the Vajpayee years, according to the Army\u2019s Valley chief, Lt Gen A K Bhatt. \u201cThe military can only create conditions of normalcy. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-union-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}