INDIAN Army’s Northern Command Chief Lt Gen BS Jaswal makes an error of judgement. He compares the provisions of Armed Forces Special Powers Act with the injunctions of a holy book. He holds it sacred like a god-attested testament. But fundamentally there is a confusion in the very comparison itself. Reading the text of the Act rarely gives a sense of holiness. Holy can only be restrictions, here we find a set of exemptions. Violating a curb can invite punishment, liberties are only to be availed. Holy scriptures seldom give you unaccounted powers like this document of impunity does. Those implicated in the killing of civilians find a good pretext in the provisions. Hence the very attribute of holiness can’t stand ground against the very freedom which men in uniform enjoy.
 Now to lend it a holy touch, Gen Jaswal should have instead suggested some amends. Why till now AFSPA has been considered as the most draconian legislation to have been ever passed in the history of Indian Parliament. Why  suddenly an army officer wakes up to an unattended aspect and discovers a holiness lying so far in the obscurity. True, that any area declared `disturbed’ offers a different setting for armed forces to operate in. But the question is  do you really love to see that particular area, according to your definition, `disturbed’ so that your forces enjoy an AFSPA approved license to kill. As long as the region is disturbed, the book is holy. So the holiness of the book depends wholly on the disturbed texture of the area.
 Was this legislation born to be clamped once for ever or it’s subject to change as the situation changes for better. Going by the holy logic of Gen. Jaswal, scriptures are not open to change. So even if conditions improve, even if the `disturbed’ nature of a particular area (Kashmir or North East)  is put to a debate, AFSPA is there to stay. This is perhaps the reason that for 500 invisible militants operating in the valley, there are seven lac visible troops breathing down the neck of the whole populace.
 Accepted, violators can be punished, but the book per se, as officer believes is sacred. Good point. But just measure the scale of devastation it has done so far in Kashmir. See how many cases have been registered, how many entertained, and how many concluded. The crime file of fake encounters is the blessing of the same Holy Act. If, as the officer believes, AFSPA does not put a soldier above law, but makes him accountable under a different set of laws, then how many have been tried genuinely so far.
 Besides, a lot of politics has been played in the name of this `Holy Act’. Whichever the party that comes to power promises its revocation. And it earns them a good support in turn. North East apart, mainstream political parties in Kashmir have been thriving on the fodder offered by this Act. They talk to Delhi and bring home the good news that AFSPA will soon be over. That is what made the moderate school of resistance take birth. Demilitarization, not accepted practically, was also not completely rejected by politicians in Delhi. That is the bait Delhi has been holding for so long. That is what formed a part of four-point formula offered by General Musharraf. AFSPA from an Act of emergency has gradually become a bargaining chip for any negotiation Kashmir holds with Delhi or India holds with Pakistan. So this has been the force behind the  slogan of normalisation in Kashmir. By declaring it holy, you are once for all blocking all chances for a peaceful existence to take roots. No democratic system will love to see abnormal legislations rule. If you expect things to return to normal, your very desire to carry on the abnormalcy in the form of this Act exposes the  intent at the  outset. The result, for sure, is violence which you want to continue to see this holy act maintain its holiness.
 Holy books keep from killing. This one lets you kill at will. So the difference is too simple and too obvious to be missed.  Holy is restraint, not impunity.

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