Political will must to resolve issues: Vohra

NEW DELHI: Nothing could be more befitting than the “Kargil Vijay Diwas” to discuss a book – Safeguarding India: Essays in Governance and Security — written by Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra by eminent panelists comprising retired civil servants and strategic affairs experts.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 26

Nothing could be more befitting than the “Kargil Vijay Diwas” to discuss a book – Safeguarding India: Essays in Governance and Security — written by Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra by eminent panelists comprising retired civil servants and strategic affairs experts.

The panel on the dais comprised former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, ex-IPS officer Prakash Singh and strategic affairs expert C Raja Mohan. The panel was coordinated by Cmdre C Uday Bhaskar.

After Vohra introduced the subject for the evening, Singh opened the discussion. Wondering if India has a “national security policy”, he said: “The Inter-state Council set up in 1991 has met hardly 11 times, but there’s no policy direction so far.” He added that such a policy was in existence in the US and the UK.

Prakash Singh said post Independence India witnessed unrest in the North-East in 1950s, Naxalism in 1960s, Assam problem in 1970s, 1980s witnessed Punjab unrest, 1990s gave birth to severe J&K crisis and now international terrorism, but “we failed to address the problem in a holistic manner”.

On governance, Singh, who also presented report on Jat agitation in Haryana, lamented: “IAS and IPS officers have let down the country and its people. In Haryana, I have seen collapse of governance. I read in the book about withering away of state, the same I witnessed in Haryana.”

Raja Mohan said: “In the past 70 years, India has failed to emerge as a nation and state. Most structures, built in initial years, are now rusting as we are reluctant to reforms.”

However, Saran, said, “It is not that structures do not exist. Many difficult situations had been successfully handled by national Crisis Management Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary. But its success depends upon individuals who man them.”

Concluding the discussion, the J-K Governor said, “We have vast skills, experience and fair resources to meet any challenge. But, what we lack the most is sustained political will. If we do not respect the rule of law, everything will fail and get affected.”