We’ve failed to build on the gains in Kashmir: Army chief

NEW DELHI - The “basic reason” behind the flare up in the Kashmir Valley is the failure to build on the gains that had been made by the security forces in the troubled state, Indian Army Chief General V.K. Singh said Sunday.

“The Kashmir situation has been tense for quite some time and the reasons are many. The basic reason being that we have not been able to build on the gains that have been made,” the army chief told NDTV.

Singh said the army had brought the situation under control to a certain level from where other steps should have been taken to carry forward the process and bring peace in the Valley.

“So far as the army is concerned, I think as security forces, a lot of work has been done. The situation has been brought to a particular level when other initiatives should have started to make way for betterment,” he said.

Elaborating on the steps required to contain the volatile situation, he said: “First of all, there has to be concerted efforts to identify the miscreants behind the violent protests.”

“There are few. There are people who are passing instructions on phone. They have to be identified. There are people financing the protests. They must be identified,” Singh said.

He said it was for the local administration and elected representatives to win the confidence of the common man and convince him to stay away from the protests.

“How do we connect with the common man and build confidence in him so that he can stay away from all this? This is both an administrative measure as well as it depends on the elected leaders out there at various levels,” the general said.

He said the army was deployed in parts of the Valley as a deterrent to curb the violence that has rocked Kashmir since June 11.

“I think there was a sort of loss of confidence and they thought that army should be seen more prominently. We said yes, as we are as much concerned as anyone else,” he said.