Army Chief rues lost chances

Army Chief said that the local administration had failed to build up on the gains made over the past two years.

Things would have been better in Kashmir if the local administration had not frittered away the opportunity and instead built up on the goodwill created by the armed forces over the past few years,Army Chief General V K Singh has said.

While he emphasised that the current crisis in Kashmir was being instigated from across the border,the Army Chief told The Indian Express that the local administration had failed to build up on the gains made over the past two years that saw a record drop in violence levels in the Valley,leading even to the withdrawal of troops from towns and cities.

We had created a lot of goodwill and if the local administration had built up on it,things would be better. Over the past two years,after the Army was pulled out of the cities,the state administration should have reached out,but instead has frittered the opportunity away, General Singh said.

He also stressed that the need of the hour was to identify the miscreants behind the current trouble in the Valley and to take strong action against them. The way forward is to identify administrative measures and identify the people who are creating mischief. They need to be dealt with strongly, Singh said.

In reference to the criticism that the state government was only making half-hearted efforts,the Army Chief said that any action should be backed with administrative will. Not all people are behind the mischief,only a few are. Whatever needs to be done has to be done wholeheartedly and with a lot of administrative will, General Singh said.

He said that elements based across the border were instigating the crisis,and it had been taken over by separatists,who do not have the support of the common man. The separatists are taking advantage of the gullibility of people and are instigating them. But the truth is that the common man actually wants peace, General Singh said.

Referring to the decrease in terrorist attacks and militant activities in the Valley over the past two years,he said that the Army strategy of building goodwill and engaging the people with activities like the Sadbhavana project have shown effect,but regretted the local administrations failure to build on that.

Story continues below this ad

The Army has engaged in many projects like building mini-hydel power projects in the state but these have not been carried forward by the local administration, General Singh said.