Author: J. N. Raina
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: August 30, 2002
Many headed General Pervez Musharraf
of Pakistan pretends to be natty; mocking at his own fanciful ideas with
a squint eye on restoration of democracy at home.
In as period of sulking, he awkwardly
moves to and fro like the bob of a pendulum, putting on the mantle of a
demigod to kill at will his known detractors; teaching India lessons on
holding clean elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
Having played fraud on his people
by proclaiming himself as President and Chief of the Army Staff for the
next five years, Gen. Musharraf has the gumption to describe the forthcoming
elections in Jammu and Kashmir as farcical, invariably rigged and boycotted
by the Kashmiris.
He hardly seems to realise that
he has fallen from the grace of many a well meaning world leaders of the
consequence and Islamic nations, on whose help Pakistan has been banking
upon critically.
Following the footsteps of Pakistan's
last dictator Gen Zia-ul-Haq (who had orchestrated Operation TOPAC, to
destabilise India by engineering proxy war), Musharraf has intriguingly
vested in himself all powers to dismiss the National Assembly and appoint
the three Service Chiefs. What else is there to dream of? This has been
done just ahead of the October general elections to Pakistan's national
and provincial assemblies. He has completely reshaped his country's constitution
on Zia model to suit his mission - bleed India - and made series of constitution
amendments.
But all this bungling by the US's
close ally does not bother the Bush Administration. On the contrary, praises
have been showered on the stalwart ally, presuming : He is still right
with us on the war against terror.
Instead of waging war on Islamic
terror, with its epicentre in Pakistan, the US is obviously playing its
own game plan. Whether it is democracy or autocracy in Pakistan, it hardly
concerns them. Perhaps the Americans are interested in perpetuating trouble
in South Asia? This trend has been more discernible after the September
11 violent attack on the World Trade Centre, grievously hurting US pride.
May be, the US feels that destabilised Pakistan, headed by a mendicant,
will serve their purpose better and allow them to interfere with cogently
to drive away 70,000 Al Quaida operatives in Pakistan, who were given a
free passage from war-torn Afghanistan while hunting down Osama bin Laden,
because o,f Pakistan's manipulation. Many hundred thousand AQ activists
are trenched in PoK and Jammu and Kashmir on their universal Jehad campaign,
Jihad against infidels. The US is of the opinion that it is easy to handle
a rogue client that influence civilian Government which will think twice
before leasing on a platter military bases to the US.
Ipso facto, jehadis have now recoiled
on Gen. Musharraf, who has been imprisoned in his own re-fortified security.
Three major attempts have been made on his life for siding with the US.
For the first time since Pakistan's
independence, the leader of Pakistan did not hoist the national flag on
August 14, Pakistan's independence day, according to papers and web newspapers
in Pakistan. Believably, Musharraf has sought assistance from ISI to help
negotiate a deal with Jehadi elements for a ceasefire.
Maintaining that infiltration was
still on in Jammu and Kashmir (there might be some rogue elements and renegades
he would say), as opposed to his earlier stand that there was no activity
on the LoC, Musharraf continued to hold his invidious position: Pakistan
will not accept responsibility for developments inside Kashmir.
The rogue elements have been pushed
into Jammu and Kashmir to disturb elections, considered by many as a turning
poijnt in shaping the destiny of the troubled state and rectifying past
mistakes as told by the Prime Minister. The jehadi groups have paralyzed
moderate separatist leaders who had some better sense and wanted to jump
into electioneering fray. The Hurriyat Conference is terrified following
the diktat from the militants, who have been mercilessly killing people
to disarray them from participating in the elections. Strangely enough,
the mendicant, who is on the stretcher, has guts to tell India that Pakistan
would not accept responsibility for developments inside Jammu and Kashmir.
Nor should India shift onus of the failure of elections to Pakistan. He
has even warned India that no one could dare think of adventurism across
our borders.
Dismissing the forthcoming elections
as unrepresentative, he has equally warned : His country is prepared not
only to defend itself, but to carry on the fight across the borders. In
the same breath, he continues to harp on the right of self-determination
for Kashmiris, praising Islamic militants in Kashmir for waging a principled
struggle.
Enough of coaxing has been done
by Ram Jethmalani's Kashmir Committee, to persuade the Hurriyat leaders
to take part in the elections. So far, the Hurriyat, terrorised by the
Pakistan-based extremists has been dodging on one pretext or the other.
For the Hurriyat, hen has only one leg (murgi ki ek tang) and continued
to toe the Musharraf line. The separatists have taken the usual stand as
dittoed by Pakistan that wishes of the people should be ascertained through
a mechanism, to be agreed upon by India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir.
They are repeating the same old tale, as told by an idiot.
Although the Kashmir Committee has
maintained that these elections were historical and crucial to identify
the real representatives, and that these representatives would be the interlocutors
in talks leading to a permanent solution of the problem, the separatists,
being remote controlled by ISI, continue to dupe Jethmalani. Initially
he believed those who fail to participate in the poll process will be sending
wrong signals to the people that they were dancing to Pakistan's tune and
did not enjoy popular support. Astoundingly he has now asked the Centre
if it did not postpone elections to give more time to the separatists to
decide, he would tell the world that elections were rigged, thus exploding
his own bombshell.
After all, why should the Hurriyat
should be interested in creating a new future in Kashmir's relationship
with India? They are not unemployed like several lakh educated Kashmiri
youth. They are on Pakistan's pay roll and know it well that they lack
mass support. The Prime Minister has asserted that it is secularism which
holds India together. Rightly so, but one would like to prick his conscience
and ask what measures are being taken to restore secular character of the
Kashmir valley, which has been made bereft of the Hindu minority community.
The Election Commissioner, James Michael Lyngdoh has stalled election in
Gujarat on the plea that one lakh people (Muslim minority community) were
displaced by communal riots. He has however allowed elections in Jammu
and Kashmir, from where nearly five lakh Hindus have been hounded out,
over 2.5 lakh of whom are huddled in refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi.
What kind of secularism do we adopt?
Is it different for different ethnic groups? Are thousands of houses of
Kashmiri Pandits, burnt by the separatista, been constructed again in the
valley? Can the Hindu Pandit community get back their paddy lands and apple
orchards, grabbed by the separatists? Has not the community been disfranchised?
These are some the basic questions the Election Commission needs to answer.
What is the difference between Ahmedabad's Shah-e-Alam camp and Jammu's
Pukhroo camp?
In fact, the reality bites. In a
special report titled "A tale of two elections', published in a leading
national daily, there is hardly any mention about the [plight of Kashmiri
Pandits, who were the first victims of militancy. Has any one been punished
for committing atrocities on the Hindu Pandit community? If the Muslims
in Gujarat are today victims of communalism, the Hindus have been made
victims of communalism and terrorism and need added attention from the
international Human Rights activists.
India should repeatedly ask Pakistan
to vacate occupied part of Jammu and Kashmir it has grabbed illegally.
Instead, we only talk defensively about this side of Jammu and Kashmir,
Pakistan has been internationalised because of terrorism.
