Kashmir is a troubled territory for very long and we have been hearing and watching stories of terrorism and violence related to Kashmir for almost 3 decades now. But never before I felt so disturbed as at the moment with what is happening in Kashmir and of course also in Jammu. It is not a question of who is right and who is wrong with regard to Amarnath yatra land row but it is a question of whether government is right to allow this issue to become so huge as it is today.
I have never heard of 1,00,000 plus Kashmiris thronging the streets to protest against government and walk to Muzaffarabad. It's a huge problem and I don't know how the Army can bring peace in the valley if the scale of protests continue at this level. Some might say, just shoot and people will run away. For heavens sake, remember they still are part of India, officially, and how can an Army shoot at its own civilians who are fighting against economic blockade. Army does shoot at protesters but every life lost in this way makes me feel more guilty as an Indian.
There were protests in the past but the scale of protest in Kashmir, this time, looks huge and terribly troublesome. Militancy was controlled to a great extent and there were signs of local support waning. They claimed, people are tired of terrorism and militancy. After a very long time elections were held with good degree of success and a democratic government was in power. When everything looked good all things that can go wrong have gone wrong. This will provide the fillip for militancy and act as necessary tonic for the Pakistani hawks.
In the first place the Government, both central and state, lacked the vision and failed to picture the consequences when they allotted and later revoked the land allotment. They failed miserably to gauge the sentiments of both sides and laid red carpet for protesters on both sides to walk in to complicate the situation. They failed to foresee Jammu reaction when so much was made out in media and in public when the state government did a 'U' turn. At least they should have sprung into action to guard and clear the highways, after Jammu erupted. Both governments have failed comprehensively on all fronts. With the general election nearing I don't see any honest effort by the instigators to calm Jammu. Kashmir cannot be kept calm till they get their food and medicines. After all it is just not 1, 2, 3 alone. Governance is much beyond that and is for the people of this country. Alas, we have politicians who have lost their conscience.
God please help Jammu and Kashmir, after all it is for your sake that Jammu and Kashmir have turned against each other.
This is the cost of living together with people who do not want to live with you, i suppose.
ReplyDeleteBitterness and animosity get spread about.
I think we should rationally sit and consider the cost of keeping kashmir with us as against the unmentionable solution.
This is too big for me, anyway.
So i don't want to comment on this any further.
Bala, there is Jammu and there is Kashmir, and never can they meet anymore. What you see today is a culmination of the oppression a certain section has heaped upon another over the past 50 years or more. land transfer is just an excuse...enough, no more, is the call here.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, a section didn't expect a reaction at any point of time from the other.
They were always different and will remain different. Wasn't it what one section was constantly hankering after all these decades?
As a mute Indian, I am sad about what has happened, especially after we have invested, the country has invested the best of itself in J&K. From hard lives to cold cash. Either you break the alien hand forever and throw it back into their territory or keep facing this situation where JK retards every progressive step you take forever. JK contributes nothing but unrest and disaster to the nation...they take and contribute nothing to a land they do not percieve as their nation.
I speak after hearing hard facts from people who have returned from action there and Kashmiri refugees who have taken over Delhi over the past decade and a half. I have some friends among them now!
Then there are also Kashmiri friends belonging to a different following who also express their views. Division is inevitable.When and how much is the question.
You may recall from my post at CMS on the same topic that I have visited Kashmir during the first elections after a long time of terrorism there and returned after our contingent was bombed by rocket fire from across the Dal Lake. The story is too old and too long to narrate again here! :) This was in 1996 I think.
ReplyDeleteSB, your comments on this carry more value than ours. Thanks for coming forward with your views. Thanks a lot.
ReplyDeleteSB my complaint is not on the protesters but on the Governments, both State and Central. It is the Government that had failed to control the situation. Separatists should be dealt with firm hand but then without local support it will be difficult for us to lay down the terrorists and other separatists. But this failure by the Governments mean a renewed vigour to the separatist movement and will also realign the locals with them and their cause. That is what is highly concerning. People must be occupied with their daily routine. When that is affected they will go only one way.
ReplyDeleteI remember your Kashmir account SB. Also you will be having a different perspective about what is happening in J&K as you have more exposure to it. To me J&K problem would have never happened but for the initial pampering and later mis-governance by our politicians. Also our past mistakes in not capitalising on the advantage have emboldened our enemy.
No proxy war can be brought to an end without the support of people who matter. So our primary focus should be to bring Kashmir into the mainstream and make Kashmiris value their life more than supporting the terrorists and separatists. Gun for terrorists and caring hand to civilians is the way forward as only that could bring in a lasting solution to J&K problem.
I see your point SB. You certainly have brought in a fresh perspective for me to see. But we can't win over Kashmiris by starving them. It only helps the cause of separatists. It further alienates Kashmiris from India.
ReplyDeleteI share your sentiments certainly but still I would say that Governmens of the past and present should take the blame for what J&K is today.
I never knew that all payments to Kashmir is made in Hard cash and also to A&N islands. Why the hell should they do that? I don't understand this. If something like this is happening for a long time and the Governments did nothing about it (including the one that agreed to such a nonsense) then what else to make of them?
I'm sorry for the unparliamentary language which has crept in that rant-ish post of mine. The issue troubles me for the situation has been a cleverly and brazenly managed by one group of people thus far. It has nothing to do with religion...religous division was a mater of great convenience fro this group...and they push and pull on it as per need and situation.
ReplyDeleteMy family...the glarger extended one which includes cousins, neices, nephews, aunts and uncles etc..is a highly mixed one now. Nationalities, religions and Indian regions and castes are well represented in it. Afro-American, British, White Irish Americans, Germans, Parisians, Japs, Spaniards....Christians (of various denominations), Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Hindus (of course), Bangla, Punjabis, UPites, Gujjus, Marathis, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayali...and all castes you can find in India are well represented in my family forest....I might have missed some back there! We also frequently interact!
My own case is of regional and caste differences...my wife was a descendant of Baluchistanis who made home in UP 200 years ago!
I even have close friends from long who represent all of that from India.
Every political view is represented in my family - whether it is Bush-McCain-Obama-Hilary, or Lal Salaamists or Saffronist or Akalis or Congressists and the like. The rest of the world doesn't matter (wink) in the sense there aren't any outstanding issues among the rest...at least ot many wich grip the imagination other than the racial/religious persecution in French schools.
I speak from that background of family discussions on such topics...we often disagree among ourselves but agree to disagree :)
I have no fixed views...there is only one thing which guides my views and that is India. Maybe it has something to do with the fact I also work for it or there is so much variety in the family that only India is the identity one can hold on to...whatever....religion, castes, regionlism, nationalities are less important to me in shaping my views other than Indianism. They do not motivate me as much in forming my views...so I'm often in supposedly strange situations in discussions among friends and people.
I just had to explain where I come from after using strong language earlier.
There is no fresh winning over Kashmiris anymore Bala. We have been doing that since thy kingdom come till now.
ReplyDeleteThis is, to use that word again, "attrition", to readjust the grounds for talk. To show the fellows who have been taandaving on our heads...fine...you have been craving and calling and killing for an Independent kash...take a taste of it now.
Take a taste of where your importance will lie when Pakistan and China have sorted, sliced and diced you Muftis, Hurriyats, Geelanis,Abdullahs amongst themselves...sometimes you need to let reality permeate rhetoric, and all we have had is virulent back-and-forth rhetoric since the days of Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah.
Add Jinnah, Bhutto and every Khan (yahya,ayub etc) who headed the Pak Army in the to-and-fro rhetoric group.
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ReplyDeleteSB I understand your emotions and the anger. You mentioned that there can be no more winning of Kashmiris. But atleast we shouldn't be losing whatever ground we gained in the last 5 or so years.
ReplyDeleteWhat can be a possible solution for Kashmir? We certainly can't let it go. It can't drag on forever as it saps our energy and resources. No can be happy with the current state. It's baffling really.
Now with Mush gone (just quit) Pak will play much more active role in stoking the Kashmir fire. Mush is no angel but at least US could make him listen and toe their line. Politicians will be difficult to handle with huge vote banks to cater to.
SB I was surprised to learn how diverse your extended family is. Surely your family gatherings and the inevitable debates got to be intense and stimulating for the brain what with totally different perspectives. You must be enjoying them all.
ReplyDeleteBala, It can be stimulating if we all get together at one time, which is not very often. I have a large brood of cousins on either side due to the large families from earlier generation who in turn came from large families of their previous generation themselves. As a result, it can be quite a crowd!
ReplyDeleteThe summer vacations, when was young, at my grandparent's houses in Chennai and Vijayawada used to be like wedding gatherings. You could spend an entire day in one part of the house with a group without catching up with the rest of the family...it used to be that large! Some of the best moments of my life were spent in the largeness of the family....the cousins themselves have exhibited a diverse range of ages! Now such gatherings are fewer, especially with the demise of all my grandparents by 2002.
And peeps have expressed their individuality in various ways. Choice of partners appears to be one such means. But the bulk comprises those who carry on in the traditional way.
The hurriyats are a waste of time SB. They are puppets in the hands of ISI and terrorists. They project themselves as moderates though they don't act in the interests of Kashmir or Kashmiris. They fear their back and always serve to protect their interests.
ReplyDeleteKashmir is a stigma on Indian democracy. It is one place where only our guns can speak. Now that Pak is in a political turmoil those buggers will further stoke the fire in Kashmir. Only the Israel approach will work but then India don't have the guts to do the Israel act in Kashmir. I am afraid we may have to live with this stigma as we can't afford to let Kashmir slip.
I feel it is time to get above the obsession with maps and borders. Somehow we have to find some way to make maps irrelevant. I don't know how. I know it won't happen. But finding at least a theoretical solution is better than playing the blame game and making ourselves feel powerless. Sorry if i have said anything hearless, insensitive and wrong.
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