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THIS refers to Mr A.N. Dar’s article “Kashmiris’ disinterest in militancy: measures to end the menace.” (September 24).

The Kargil war is over; but the risk of a general holocaust engulfing the Indian subcontinent may have grown more acute. In the wake of the Kargil war Pakistan’s Talibanised and disintegrated state apparatus has gone back to its earlier plan to destabilise India.

Can anyone explain how militancy could have flared up in the valley when every other indicator shows that the Kashmiris are (true to the author’s observation too) sick of militancy and long for a return to peace, normal politics and good, honest government?

It is important to distinguish between the support Pakistan is giving to the jehadis and the support it gave to the Kashmiri militants of 1990-91. Both were hostile acts, but in 1999-93, Pakistan’s role was more passive than it is today. The support Pakistan is giving to the jehadis now is of an entirely different kind. Except for a handful of left-over cadres of the Hizbul Mujahideen, the vast majority are strangers to Kashmir. They are from Pakistani and Afghan outfits and those which owe their allegiance to Osama bin Laden. Besides, Pakistan’s ISI has taken upon itself the task of attacking soft targets in India. There is thus a mindless destructiveness behind Pakistan’s assaults that makes the challenge India faces qualitatively different from any that the world has known, at least in the 20th century.

This raises a crucial question: if Pakistan continues to escalate the level of violence in Kashmir and the rest of India, should India fight the new war on its own or in its enemy’s territory?

Cold logic demands that India should take the next war to Pakistan and not delay it any more. The rationale for this is as old as history. Partition robbed India of its natural frontiers and left it facing the classic dilemma that all powers with land frontiers have faced when threatened by turmoil across their borders. Their natural response has been to expand and expand till they reached a natural barrier that can reinforce their statehood. India cannot easily do this today because the Pakistani military is simply waiting for a chance to unleash a pre-emptive nuclear strike, regardless of the consequences.

But there is another option too. This is to alert the international community to the choice that Pakistan is forcing upon us today and enlist its help in bringing that country under control. This will not be possible without a sustained, quiet dialogue and a willingness to meet the world’s security concerns more than halfway.

Campus violence

Increasing violence in colleges and universities and the deteriorating standard of academic excellence are the direct fall-out of politicisation of students’ unions, which stand more for the gains of their political mentors than for the academic growth of their institution (“Murder at HAU”, edit, Oct). The politically sponsored student leaders’ rivalry and persistently simmering tension have taken over classroom teaching, lab-research and academic discussions on the campus.

The murder of a B.V. Sc. student at HAU, Hisar, is painfully not the first case of student violence and the authorities’ indifferent attitude. While the guilty must be brought to book, we need also to give a serious thought to the whole system of enrolment and the prevailing unhealthy system of electing student unions, whose leaders in most cases are more of a bully than a serious learner interested in academics and his future growth.

Of course, the fact of callous attitude of the local hospital, despite its being equipped with a CT scan and a trauma centre, the university ambulance being without petrol and the failure of the DSW to rise to the occasion need to be probed thoroughly. But much more important is to initiate a national debate on the need and role of the students’ unions in colleges and universities.

We must decide whether these unions are for a healthy interaction and intellectual awakening of the youth. If so, let there be some minimum conditions of academic excellence for the prospective student leaders. And if these unions are the political extension for training for various political parties, which is the reality in most cases, then these unions should have no place in our academic set-up.

VED GULIANI
Hisar

	M A I L B A G	Tuesday, October 12, 1999
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