Letters: Why we need AFSPA

Apropos the letter “AFSPA is redundant” (December 14), this story explains the opposite proposition neatly. A human rights activist, a TV journalist and a soldier were captured by terrorists in Kashmir. The leader granted each one last request. The activist said, “I’d like a plate of tandoori chicken.” The leader nodded to an underling, who left and returned with the chicken. The activist ate it all and said, “Now I can die content.” The TV journalist said, “I want to record the scene here and what’s about to happen. Maybe, someday, someone will see it and know that I was on the job till the end.” The leader handed over a video camera and the journalist filmed as he spoke. He then said, “Now I can die happy.”

The leader turned to the soldier and asked, “Havaldarji, what is your final wish?” The soldier replied, “Kick me.” So the leader kicked him. The soldier rolled to his knees, pulled a hidden pistol inside his vest and killed the leader. He emptied his sidearm on the shocked terrorists and with an AK-47, from an already dead terrorist, sprayed the rest. In a flash all of them were dead. The activist and the journalist asked him, “Why didn’t you just shoot them all in the first place? Why did you ask him to kick you?” “Because,” replied the soldier, “if I had shot first, you two would have reported that I was the aggressor and the root cause of all the bloodshed in Kashmir!”

T R Ramaswami, Chennai