Madhav’s ‘War and Love’ remark legitimises a crime: Altaf Bukhari

A senior PDP minister today took exception to BJP’s national general secretary Ram Madhav’s ‘war and love’ statement, made to defend the ‘human shield’ act of the Army.
Minister for Education Altaf Bukhari went to the extent of accusing Ram Madhav, the architect of the PDP-BJP government, of issuing the statement as part of a move aimed at “legitimising a crime that is internationally abhorred under covenants of human rights.”
The Education Minister also condemned the remarks made by BJP minister Chander Prakash Ganga, saying that ‘bullets cannot win the battle of ideas’.
“One fails to understand against whom Madhav has declared a war. Is it a war declared against Kashmiris who despite all odds casted their votes, reaffirming their belief in democracy? Or it is a war declared to satiate the sanguine electoral interests of a particular political party in the country?” Bukhari asked.
He said: “Modern nations operate under the presumption that in the case of an armed conflict, the state must do everything to ensure civilians are not hurt.”
“However, Madhav seems to be justifying what is unjustifiable under law. Almost all general legal approaches consider human shields illegal, both in domestic circumstances and international conflicts,” the minister added.
Bukhari said some people in the country had unfortunately started arguing that using humans as shields in military operations was a justified response to Kashmiri protesters who hurl stones to give vent to their political aspirations. “These statements smack of a hyper-nationalist environment in the country. Let Madhav be reminded that no civilised society can afford to use its citizens as shields for military operations,” Bukhari observed.
On Ganga’sstatement, he said his remarks “speak volumes about the intellectual bankruptcy of a person who is holding the responsibility of a public office”.
“The PDP believes that dialogue is the only way out. Unfortunately, instead of initiating a dialogue as a confidence-building measure to reinstill a sense of belonging among bruised Kashmiris, some BJP insiders are trying to sabotage the whole peace process initiated under the Vajpayee regime,” Bukhari said.
“If Kashmiris are perceived as enemies and anti-nationals, why did the BJP agree in principle to the Agenda of Alliance, calling for dialogue with all stakeholders, good relations between India and Pakistan, status quo on Article 370, steps for revocation of the AFSPA, opening of new cross-LoC routes and settlement of issues of refugees.”
“Instead of sitting together and helping in the implementation of the Agenda of Alliance, which was perceived as a key to bringing Kashmiris out of the political quagmire, the BJP unfortunately seems is shying away from its responsibilities as a coalition partner,” he said.