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Guest post by T R Ramaswami
Opponents of ASFPA must read the autobiography of an ex-IPS officer, Shri E.N. Ram Mohan, titled Simply Khaki. Mr. Rammohan was last DG of the BSF (1997-2000) and had served for extensive periods in the North-East and J&K. In the book he states that every political party, particularly in the North-East and Kashmir has a militant unit which comes into play when that party is in the opposition. Insurgency is therefore a political issue which ALL political parties are responsible for creating and nurturing.
Instead of asking for the ASFPA to be repealed, why doesn’t anyone, including human rights activists, central/state governments and the media have the guts to ask for withdrawal of the army in toto from internal security duties? Or let us have another alternative – if any state wants the army for insurgency operations, without ASFPA, the Home Secretary and the DG Police of the state will be sent home for incompetency and the army commander will function in both those offices. Or better still, President’s rule will be declared in the state and martial law declared. Done? Every political party wants ASFPA to be repealed when in the opposition but needs the army to hold their pants when they are in power. Will media even have the courage to state openly that using the army internally signifies failure of all politicians, police and bureaucrats? I challenge anyone to counter my views openly. I am of course assuming, but am open to correction, that media has the courage to publish this letter. It is lack of this courage to express true public views, that has led to “hate sites” which are now clownishly attempted to be censored.

Guest post from T.R.Ramaswami
I write with reference to the article “Fighting Terrorism: Time for Deeds, Not Words” by Vice Admiral (Retd) Arun Kumar Singh. He has stated that not a single Home Minister or Home Secretary or the NSA, IB or RAW Chiefs have even offered to resign after terrorist attacks that reveal a signal failure of intelligence. The fact is that these bodies have ceased to instruments of national security. Why should these chiefs resign? Every government from Nehru to Manmohan Singh has misused them for purposes other than what they are supposed to be doing. So they have lost the credibility to sack any of these officers. Let alone resignations, all these chiefs are after retirement made governors or some other ministerial level appointment to reward them for the good work done, not for the country but for the party and the individuals therein. None of these bodies are accountable to anyone except the PM and there isn’t even a Parliamentary Oversight Committee. No party or politician wants this because they also want to misuse these organizations when they come to power. How will you otherwise win a trust vote that requires safe houses and a secret budget?
The establishment mafia has ensured their own security at our cost and is least concerned if a few aam aadmis are victims. Contrast the reaction for these bomb blasts with that when Parliament was attacked and the entire western army was mobilized to satisfy the egos of our MPs. 400 army personnel died with not a single shot being fired by Pakistan. In fact even the identities of the attackers have not been made public leading many to justifiably believe that it was a stage managed affair. That’s why there is a hesitation in hanging Afzal Guru.
The media too is equally guilty as it has shied away from asking these questions.
– T.R.Ramaswami