Introspecting Aloud

Democracy in the view of our ministers

From No dilution in AFSPA for Jammu & Kashmir (Economic Times)

While the home ministry appears to be going with the ‘liberal view’ that dilution of AFSPA could save the situation, the defence ministry was of the opinion that such knee-jerk options will only complicate matters. The Army, which has the complete backing of Mr Antony, has been maintaining that “special laws are required to tackle special situations”. Even those who are seeking dilution of AFSPA concede that ordinary laws are insufficient when the state is witnessing an Intifada-type situation.

So basically, our defense minister believes that our democratic laws are only for times when there is no crisis facing the country. Everything is hunky dory, and the government doesn't have to really break into a sweat for routine work. But when the work of the government gets tough, then, instead of working smarter and harder, you can just change the laws to make your job easier. Because you know, laws of this country are pretty flexible in view of our overlords. Now why can't we have jobs like that? When we approach a deadline at work, instead of putting in extra hours, we should be able to tell our clients to reduce the requirements so that we finish it in time. Umm, not a great analogy, but the closest I can think of at this time of the night. And I am not even getting into the completely sinister campaign in this whole issue about making this a problem about laws. This is foremost a issue about something even more fundamental and basic than laws - our fundamental rights. They are effectively saying that our fundamental rights are completely unreliable. Completely dependent on the whims of the current government. I am not surprised about the Army lobbying for the act. Who doesn't want their work to get easier? But again, in all fairness, they are doing a job which is not theirs to begin with. And I love the way Economic times added a completely unanonymously attributed statement at the end of the para("Even those who are seeking dilution of AFSPA concede ..."). That looks more like their opinion.