*Of Army 'Excess'* One of the remarks made by Mr Wasbir Hussain in his column entitled "Men with weapons must have accountability" (The Sentinel, May 19, 2007) could not help but catch my eye. A direct quote, perhaps, would carry the right flavour: "The action of the Army, police or the paramilitary in eliminating any innocent civilian... is unacceptable." True, checks and balances are necessary, and accountability on the part of the security forces must be established and responsibility fixed. However, one must understand that the problem of terrorism cannot be tackled gingerly, nor can it be equated with the delicate act of delivering babies. The counter-insurgency operations are a lethal game that entails quickness and keenness of perception. It is a killing field where the Army has to fight an invisible enemy, who hides amongst the common masses and does not wear uniform. It is the terrorist who decides when, where and how, while the soldier is at the receiving end. In order to overcome this disadvantage, a soldier must be swift-reacting for which lightening reactions are summoned into actions, whenever and wherever there is an iota of doubt. By being fast and unpredictable, a soldier garners the ability to alarm the terrorist before the latter unnerves him. Time is not on the side of the soldier, and he lives only if he reacts swiftly. Under this circumstance, human errors are bound to occur occasionally. The Army, in essence, is a well-oiled killing machine, who are taught to annihilate the enemy. Its mathematics is simple: ''anti-national'' means ''you have to eliminate''. Ideally, the Army is not a force to be unleashed in civilian space. When they are marshalled into a troubled spot to help civil administration to curb violence, a soldier does not differentiate between a foreign enemy and a home-grown separatist. His only objective is to erase the foe. Since the terrorist almost always hides amongst the common people, the security forces must treat everyone with suspicion and that keeps the soldiers on their toes. This may cause harassment to the public, but it is the price one has to pay when the security forces are fighting an invisible enemy. This is precisely why we get to read the news of innocent civilians being killed mistakenly by the Army. But then, these cases are exceptions rather than rule. It would be worthwhile to keep in mind that the terrorists are certainly not normal human beings who harbour sentiments such as compassion and love. Had they been so, they would not have been able to stand to shoot at another human being's head point-blank — that too, that of a non-combatant civilian. And this speaks volumes of their mental make-up. The fact remains that brutes only understand brute force. Kamaljit Deka, Sugarland, Texas.
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