Srinagar, Dec 16: Stating that stone pelting was not always related to public services or bad governance, Director General of Police (DGP) RashmiRanjan Swain Saturday said that 30 years of violence would not end abruptly and silencing the last gun would take time.
Talking to a selected group of reporters during a public grievance redressalprogramme, which he chaired at the Police Headquarters (PHQ) here, R R Swain said it was for the better that there was no stone pelting now.
This was the fourth event in a series of such programmes launched by the DGP.
“If you ask me this in the security situation measurement, we all acknowledge that the law and order on the roads is a part of the security situation,” he said.
“J&K High Court has said that stone pelting is an act of terrorism because here the stone pelting was not always related to public services such as water, electricity, road, or bad governance, or poor services,” he said. “It was more about the other thing. So, if we see it that way, then, there is an order and everyone is living life with ease. Students are going to schools to study, shops are open, tourism has increased, there’s trade and commerce, and industrial activities, have increased the income of the society. These are very important aspects of security management.”
Without any reference to terrorism, Swain said that the three-decade-long violence would not end abruptly.
“The 30 years of violence will not end abruptly,” he said. “As somebody said, to silence the last gun, it will take time.”
The phrase “to silence the last gun will take time” suggests a metaphorical or symbolic meaning rather than a literal one.
It implies that achieving peace or resolving conflicts, represented by the metaphorical “last gun” is a gradual process that requires time, effort, and likely a series of actions.
Swain said that there was a need to fight some people to safeguard the lives of the public.
To a question whether former stone pelters or trouble mongers come for mercy during his grievance redressalprogramme, he said, “We have to check whether he (trouble maker) is doing anything good now so that it is mitigating. We say yes, he had wronged us, we check and place on record everything. It is not like that we see the face and then decide. We want to go into details, objectively.”
The J&K Police chief said that there is a message in this as well.
“Everyone in this room will say that violence should decrease but no one tells us how it will decrease,” he said. “They only tell us not to do this or that, let go him or someone else. How many to arrest, how many to let go, I finally am only concerned with your safety. To do that, there is a need to fight some people.”
The DGP said that there is zero stone pelting now when asked about 52 percent decrease in violence compared to last year.
“You have only counted physics in it, you should analyse it in chemistry where we have secured 90 marks. We have zero in stone-pelting, the number of people either dead or injured during stone-pelting, whether security forces or civilians, you should count that,” he said. “That is mathematics and you will have to give us 99 marks in that. Wherefrom have you come up with these 52 marks, we need more marks.”
Giving credit to the masses, the top cop said that they realised that the Police would not be able to do anything without the support of the people.
“We also realise that we cannot resolve everything,” he said.