We should allow our Army officers to take a decision on the spot: Jaitley

NEW DELHI: Reiterating its strong defence of Major Leetul Gogoi, the Army officer at the centre of a controversy over tying an alleged stone-pelter to a jeep to rescue trapped polling staff and local police in Budgam, the government said military officers should be allowed to take decisions in war-like areas.
“Well, military solutions are to be provided by military officers, not through comments of politicians.How a situation is to be dealt with when you are in a war-like zone... we should allow our Army officers to take a decision. They don’t have to consult MPs on what they should do under these circumstances,” defence minister Arun Jaitley told the media on Wednesday.
The minister’s remarks are a political message as they come in the context of criticism that the “human shield” episode was a violation of human rights and that the government was “politicising” the incident.
The government, however, seems keen to signal that it is committed to security measures in dealing with violent protests in the Kashmir Valley. Jaitley delivered this message unambiguously at a press conferences in Srinagar last week when he attended the deliberations of the GST Council.
Though the Army court of inquiry into the episode of April 9 is yet to be finalised, a clean chit to Major Gogoi is in the offing since Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat has held that the officer did not commit any offence and took the right call in handling a situation that could have easily spiralled out of control.
Gen Rawat has already awarded Major Gogoi with the chief of army staff commendation card for his “sustained efforts in counter-insurgency operations as well as his presence of mind and initiative to prevent bloodshed” during the April 9 incident at Beerwa in Budgam district, as reported earlier by TOI.
Army officers, speaking privately, said it was a one-off incident and the result of dealing with an extraordinary situation. Jaitley underlined the point by referring to the situation as “war-like” and has previously said the government’s focus was on normalising south Kashmir and countering Pakistan’s tactics of funding and directing terrorist and separatist proxies.
The political aspects of the incident have been debated as well ever since former CM and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah made the video public. The government inquiry, said sources, pointed to the “human shield” Farooq Dar being associated with Abdullah’s party. Local accounts in Srinagar claimed that NC was active in fuelling stone-pelting and other protests that painted its rival PDP in a corner. The actions are also intended to deepen the tensions between PDP and BJP who are coalition partners in the Jammu and Kashmir government