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THE YOUNG MAJOR

The debate on media including social media on the action of a young major in Kashmir is unending. A large number of politicians, socialists, liberals, pseudo intellectuals and such like others have commented that the young man is guilty of using human shield to save his skin and colleagues. Some have even labelled it as an act of cowardice. Interestingly, everyone seems to know what a young major should not have done while encountering a hostile, offensive and armed crowd of over thousand people. A stone is also an arm when it is being or intended to be used as one. However, sadly, none of them has a clue or suggested an alternate course of action that was available to the officer to tackle the vexed situation he confronted and its contingent fallout.
   Here, there is an inherent problem. Illiterate and grossly unfit people know whether, when and how a doctor should operate. Masons and Mechanics know better designs of bridges than engineers. Street paddlers can give tips to an aircraft pilot. Of course everyone; Tom, Dick and Harry know how to govern the country. It is thus no wonder that those who are capable of wetting their pyjamas on hearing the sound of a gunshot are so vocal on human rights. People with combat experience limited to causing domestic violence have strategic plans to combat insurgencies.
   In an insurgency prone area where the Army has been deployed and Armed Forces Special Powers Act is in enforcement, the life is obviously not normal. The dilemma is very often to identify the lesser evil. The decisions have to be taken at the spur of the moment, under extreme mental and physical fatigue with exceptional moral and physical courage. Please appreciate the mental presence of the Army Major that everyone involved in the incident is alive today. The human rights of the dead are limited to decent and honourable burial. At macro level the insurgency may be economic, political, racial, ethnic or territorial dispute but for the man at ground zero, it is war.
  There is an old dictum, ‘Nothing succeeds like success’. This was a successful operation by all accounts where the officer managed to rescue all hostages without causing injury or damage to anyone including the hostile crowd. This itself vindicates the action of the officer. Secondly, the officer is answerable only to his immediate superior commander in particular and the organisation, in general. When the Army and no less than Chief of Army Staff has endorsed and lauded his action, others must applaud the officer. Therefore, all criticism hurled on the officer is null and void ab-initio as the commentators lack locus-standii and jurisdiction to express an opinion. The nation and its entire citizen can only be grateful to these young men and women who risk their lives no end, day in and day out for safe guarding and ensuring our peace and prosperity.

   Well done Indian Army, we are proud of you.

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