Author: Praveen Swami
Publication: The Hindu
Date: May 28, 2004
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2004/05/28/stories/2004052806880100.htm
Morale has plummeted in the Border
Security Force as a result of the political neglect of the victims of Sunday's
Lower Munda bombing. Twelve soldiers and 17 civilians, including six women
and children, were killed in the bombing, which targeted a bus carrying
combat troops returning home on vacation along with their families. Five
survivors are now battling for their lives in the Safdarjang Hospital in
New Delhi.
Neither the Jammu and Kashmir Chief
Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, nor any member of his Cabinet attended
the ceremonial military honours accorded to the victims of the bombing
on Monday, before the bodies were flown home. Nor did political representatives
of the Jammu and Kashmir Government visit the injured in hospital prior
to their being taken to New Delhi.
The Jammu and Kashmir Governor,
Lieutenant-General (retd.), S.K. Sinha, did not attend the ceremony either,
but sent a letter to the BSF expressing sorrow at the outrage. The Governor's
letter records that he would have liked to attend the wreath-laying ceremony,
but he did not do so fearing the security burden it would have posed for
the BSF.
Politicians in New Delhi have shown
no greater interest in the five individuals in the Safdarjang Hospital,
one of whom is struggling for his life with burn injuries. The Union Home
Minister, Shivraj Patil, who is charged with responsibility for the BSF,
is yet to visit them.
The task of representing the people
at the wreath-laying was left to a handful of bureaucrats and officers.
The BSF Director-General, Ajay Raj Sharma, attended it, as did the Special
Secretary, who is in charge of Jammu and Kashmir at the Union Ministry
of Home Affairs, B.B. Mishra. Senior officers of the BSF's sister armed
services and the Jammu and Kashmir Police were present. The occasion had
a special significance for serving uniformed personnel, since the bombing
took the largest number of lives of the families of troops ever caused
by a single terrorist strike in Jammu and Kashmir.
The political handling of Lower
Munda had a recent precedent. Mr. Sayeed bucked tradition last year by
not sending a letter of congratulation after the BSF eliminated the top
Jaish-e-Mohammad commander, Shahbaz Khan, believed to be responsible for
the 2001 attack on the Parliament House.
In this case too, the Chief Minister
did not issue any condemnation of the terrorist attack, for which the Hizb-
ul-Mujahideen, based in Pakistan, has claimed responsibility. Some observers
attribute his reticence to the ruling People's Democratic Party's close
relationship with elements of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in southern Kashmir.
Unlike his predecessor, Farooq Abdullah,
Mr. Sayeed does not attend military honours functions for Central forces
personnel killed in J&K. PDP functionaries have been in the forefront
of protests against alleged atrocities, but have rarely spoken out against
the killings of civilians by terrorists. ``There have to be consistent
standards,'' says the CPI(M) MLA, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami. ``You cannot
say you are for peace, but then refuse to condemn the killing of women
and children simply because they are related to people in uniform.''
Like other serving personnel, BSF
officers and troops are bound by service rules not to criticise the government,
but mid-level commanders contacted by The Hindu made no secret of their
anger. "We are being treated like mercenaries," one officer said, "not
like soldiers who serve a proud country. How do I explain to my men why
the Chief Minister, whose life they defend, cannot find the time to lay
a wreath?"
