A Strategy to Deter Terrorism continues....

The second lesson for combating the terrorism that we face today is: since demoralizing the Hindu and undermining the Hindu foundation of India in order to destroy the Hindu civilization, is the political goal of terrorists in India we must never capitulate and never concede any demand of the terrorists because that would encourage them further. The release of three hard-core terrorists from jail in December 1999, including Mohammed Azhar of Jaish-e-Mohammed, for release of hijacked Indian Airlines passengers in Kandahar, in Afghanistan is a example of such a disastrous capitulation.

Terrorists are encouraged by appeasement but never satisfied by it. Therefore, no matter how many Hindus have to die for it, the basic policy has to be: never yield to any demand, however, small of the terrorists. That necessary resolve has not been shown in our recent history. Instead ever since we conceded Pakistan in 1947 under duress, we have been mostly yielding time and time again to threats
and violence.

In 1989, to obtain the release of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s daughter, Rubaiyya, who had been kidnapped by terrorists, five terrorists in Indian jails were set free by the V. P. Singh’s government. This made these criminals in the eyes of Kashmiri separatists and fence-sitters as heroes, as those who had brought lndia’s “Hindu establishment” on it’s knees. To save Rubaiyya, it was not necessary to surrender to terrorist demands. There were other ways. But the then government were of capitulationists in outlook, they did not explore them.

In 1991, when Chandrashekhar was PM, and I was his senior Minister also handling the Law and Justice portfolio, the former Water Resources Minister at the Centre, Saifuddin Soz’s daughter, was similarly kidnapped by the JKLF. They too made the same demand [release of four terrorists in jail] but we refused. We also took some secret retaliatory action which frightened the JKLF and hence Soz’s daughter was put on a auto-rickshaw and sent home unharmed within two days of our counter-threat that which would have set back their political aims.

To be continued....