Indian Army's conduct in IHK worse than Israel's in Palestine
By Iftikhar Gilani
JERUSALAM: Israeli military officers facing international criticism for alleged human rights violations in the Palestinian territory were shocked to hear an Indian Army general narrating his experiences in Indian-held Kashmir.
Daniel Reisner, chief of the International Law Department of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), said an Indian general shocked him by telling that every house in IHK that was suspected to have weapons could be barged in to and were the weapons found, the residents could be treated as terrorists engaged in or aiding the insurgency.
In an interaction last week with a group of visiting Indian journalists, Reisner said he told the Indian general, "We (Israelis), although are deemed bad in the world's eyes, cannot not take this recourse."
Reisner has been a senior member of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's delegation that undertook the failed Camp David talks in July 2000.
Amongst his current responsibilities is investigation or prosecution of Israeli soldiers for civil and human rights violations during the Palestinian Intifada in the occupied territories.
While on one hand the Indian government has been officially asking Israel to observe restraint, the Indian military is teaching Israeli Defence Forces to deal strictly with Palestinians on the other, even telling them to break their (Palestinians') doors and homes, advocating unrestrained and irrational operations.
Israel is now the second biggest source of arms for India and may soon overtake Russia as its number-one arms' supplier.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) recently issued a spate of statements criticising Israel for the use of force against Palestinians.
An MEA press release said, "It is disappointing to note that the use of disproportionate force (by Israel) is resulting in a large number of civilian casualties (in Gaza) on the one hand and the escalating violence on the other. This continued use of indiscriminate force is unwarranted and condemnable. The government of India urges utmost restraint (by Israel) so as to give peace a chance as the peace process may well get derailed irreversibly."
Either the Indian Foreign Office has little knowledge of what their defence forces are doing in IHK, or it does not know what their generals are teaching in Israel against Palestinians. Reisner's revelations between Indian and Israeli generals surprised Indian journalists.
Israel, according to Reisner, stopped dealing with such attacks as a law and order problem and hardened its response during Intifada-II of 2000.
He wrote new rules of engagement when Palestinians started using guns and missiles instead of stones, which was a hallmark of Intifada-I of 1987.
Reisner said that the Israelis, from their experience, told the Indian generals that their army's policies in IHK would not work unless they wanted to cut-off their civilian adversaries altogether.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan