Back to school

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) met in New Delhi today and took the first steps to address the problems in Jammu & Kashmir. As always, there will be criticism but for a Government that seemed flatfooted for months, it has, to its credit, followed up the All Party Delegation visit with a package that tries to rebuild public confidence, while staying focused on the security situation on the ground.

However, a significant other step has gone unnoticed in the midst of grand gestures and some hard-nosed thinking. As INI blogger @pragmatic_d tweeted today:

“An astute political move this to focus on education. Let separatists say to Kashmiris now that they don't want their kids educated”

One of the casualties of the vicious cycle of stones, strikes and curfews has been the potential loss of an entire academic year for students in the affected areas. It is in Mr.Geelani’s interest to exhort young people to keep up with the protests but eventually, it is up to citizens to think for themselves, and for students to return to classrooms when schools and colleges reopen on Monday.

One generation of Kashmiris has been lost to terrorism and blunders by successive governments and the loss of trust, the disillusionment is understandable. But the world has changed on in the last 20 years, and education is the currency to freedom, not slogans, stones, guns or bombs. This generation needs to realize that neglecting education will only result in the loss of another generation, this time irrecoverably, as every stone thrown will push them away from a stake in the future and closer to the stone age.

 

"Uthana khud ko padta hai, thaka hua jism apna FARAZ, Ke saans rukne se pehle koi kandha nahi deta"

Manmohanostrich

I know.. always the same guy. I will try and stay away from the PM for a while but it’s hard to ignore his (in)action.

Amber is for caution

Home Minister P.Chidambaram’s comment on “Saffron Terror” last week led to uproar in Lok Sabha. Spilling out into the streets and TV studios, discussions ranged from objection over use of the term “Saffron” with terrorist incidents, to its political impact, and the search for a politically correct term. While labeling under-investigation terrorist incidents as terrorism belonging to a certain community is a stretch, framing the debate around semantics would be missing the point entirely.

One could convincingly argue that the threat of Saffron terror is being exaggerated, especially in comparison to Islamist terror - based on number of incidents, intensity, geographical reach or lack of state support. However, terrorist movements often begin on a small scale, and denial of this extremism and its dangers act as a catalyst in the transformation of fringe organizations into destabilizing forces.

For its part, the Government of India must take swift steps to nip violent extremism in the bud. In the meantime, we can either be in denial of the ability of extremist Hindu groups to turn into deadly terrorist organizations, or recognize that one death is one too many, and by being sensitive to it, we will not treat millions as a statistic.

Manmotionomics