GANDHINAGAR, May 4: A commitment to raise a barbed wire fence along the ``border'' in Jammu and Kashmir may be easier to make than implement. The BJP National Council included this commitment in the resolution it adopted today, to prevent infiltration of militants and smuggling of arms and ammunition from Pakistan.The resolution raises the tricky question of defining the ``border'' in a disputed state. The original resolution did not mention this. Bashir Ahmed, a delegate from Jammu and Kashmir, who was the first speaker on the resolution, moved an amendment for fencing. He argued that it was necessary if Jammu and Kashmir was to be saved from Pakistan-backed militants.
The amendment, along with 24 others, was incorporated in the resolution before it was adopted unanimously. However, acting on the resolution is going to be a tricky business for the BJP government. The international border in Jammu and Kashmir is very small and ends somewhere near Akhnoor in the plain of Jammu. Beyond Akhnoor, right up tothe freezing heights of the Karakorams in the north, is the ``line of control'' where Indian and Pakistani armies have been locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation since 1947.
Does the resolution mean fencing of the international border? That was certainly not the intention of the resolution's mover, who dwelt at length on the violence wreaked by militants coming from across the border. The traffic of militants is mostly across the mountainous ``line of control'' in Kashmir region and the higher reaches of Jammu, not the international border.
Therefore, the fencing should be all along, right up to the northern-most point of the ``line of control''. But can a fence be raised and maintained across hundreds of miles of mountains, many of which are criss-crossed by torrential streams, or are frozen, or avalanche-prone? Even if this is possible, can a fence be raised when Pakistani bullets keep raining regularly?
Above all, there is the question of implications of such a fence on India's claim that itis the rightful owner of entire Kashmir, including the Pakistan-occupied portion.
Interestingly, Bashir Ahmed's amendment was incorporated in the resolution in the presence of the top BJP leaders, including Atal Behari Vajpayee. Bashir Ahmed blamed Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and his National Conference for the rise of militancy in Kashmir.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
