Editor in Chief : SARAH WILLIAMSCONTENTSRESOURCES    EXCLUSIVE STORYNow that political alienation has been redressed to some extent by democratic changeovers, the presence of the Army in Kashmir can be more boldly reduced. The coming year is one of many possibilities, but it will be followed by an even more important year, and the opportunities at hand now must not be lost. General J J Singh ('JJ'), India's Army chief, wrote recently that the inspiration for his humane doctrine on counter insurgency has been the ailing Field Marshal Manekshaw - affectionately known as Sam Bahadur. When JJ was a live wire subaltern, he served the inevitable tenure in the Eastern Command, which looks after India's troubled North East and was then under the tutelage of Manekshaw from Calcutta. There is enough evidence that humane-ness isn't exactly a new policy for the Indian Army, only it has never had the decided imprimatur of the Chief. With JJ being so closely identified with it, he would do well to push it through in the forthcoming year to ensure his place in history. The hard-line school is presently claiming to have done its bit in pushing back the militancy to low levels. It is therefore time for the 'healing touch' to make itself more evident on the ground. With the right alignment of attitudes and stars, such a change in the manner of interface between the security forces and the citizens in Kashmir could even hold the potential to wrap up the militancy in the near term. The main impact of the softer approach would be to remove the rationale for jihadis to make their ...

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