Author: M. V. Kamath
Publication: Free Press Journal
Date" September 26, 2008
In an unprecedented development the Jammu
& Kashmir Government permitted on July 18 a massive pro-Pakistan meeting
in the heart of Srinagar held by known Islamists, ignoring warnings from India's
Intelligence Services that such a step could lead to a disempowerment of state
authority. A weak-kneed government in Delhi has to be called to order. It
has, for all practical purposes, allowed the situation to get out of hand.
With the departure of over three lakh Kashmiri Pundits from their homeland,
Kashmir has, for all practical purposes, become a totally Islamic province
and evidence of the Islamisation of the province is now becoming increasingly
blatant.
Consider some of the disturbing events that
were largely ingored in the past but are now becoming public knowledge. It
is believed that conspiracies for removing all Indian symbols in Kashmir are
now under implementation such as renaming oftowns and roads with Muslim names,
"assalam valekum" replacing "namaskar" as greetings by
Srinagar Doordarshan, burning of the Indian Constitution and the tricolour,
and time zones synchronising with Pakistani time zones.
The Kashmir language apparently is also being
`cleansed' of words of Sanskrit origin.
Islamisation of the Kashmir Valley obviously
is being undertaken at a rapid pace. The rest of India is being blissfully
kept unaware of what is going on in the Vale. Kashmir Vale, it is important
to remember is hardly one eighth the total area of the state of Jammu &
Kashmir, but in all these sixty odd years it is the Vale that has been hogging
all attention. The State never in all these six decades has had a Jammu or
Ladakh leader as `Prime Minister' of the state.
It is as if Jammu and Ladakh are of no consequence
and can be conveniently ignored. This is one of the reasons why there was
such a flareup over the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board and the 40 hectares of
forest land given to it to meet the needs of pilgrims on a temporary basis.
The slow Islamisation of Kashmir was well planned and carried out step by
step. We now learn that in place of the Sanskritised Kashmiri language, Persianised
Urdu has been made the official language. One hears visitors to Srinagar saying
that they frequently had to listen to insulting slogans like `Indian dogs,
go back'.
Mehbooba Mufti has been quoted as saying what
is wrong with using dual currency in Kashmir which is a not-so-suitable way
of doing the groundwork for accustomising Kashmiris to the Pakistan rupee.
Mehbooba has been quoted as saying that there could be nothing wrong with
permitting the return of former militants from across the border back to Kashmir
and rehabilitating them and in asking for the reduction of Indian troops.
There is nothing subtle about Mehbooba's demands
but then one can very well ask what is wrong with re-settling migrant Kashmiri
Pundit families in the homes they had been forced to desert. Even without
the presence of militants, Kashmir is on fire now.
The tragedy is that both the Centre and the
Kashmir state government seem to be clueless while the Separatists are allowed
to run havoc in Srinagar and elsewhere.
And the blame rests fair and square on the
UPA government as indeed on past Congress governments for giving in to questionable
demands made by past Kashmir governments in shameless acts of appeasement.
If in 1942 a British government could take the Congress heads on over the
Quit India issue arresting an entire band of leaders starting with no less
than Mahatma Gandhi and get away with it, surely the UPA government can handle
the separatists limited to a small land area which is the Vale of Kashmir?
What is the UPA government afraid of? How
far are we to watch secularism being turned into a standing joke? Mehbooba
Mufti wants Delhi to reduce the strength of its Armed Forces in Kashmir which
surely it would do if there is an understanding that the separatists will
give up on their demands and act as responsible Indian citizens.
One of the Hurriyat leaders made the point
that all that the Kashmiri people want is to govern themselves. Isn't that
what they are currently doing? They have more autonomy than they deserve.
Delhi is doing no service either to Kashmir or to the country at large by
giving in meekly to separatist demands. It is not that all the Kashmiri Muslims
want separation.
The leader of the Socialistic Democratic Party
of Jammu, Darakshan Andrabi is quoted as saying that she will "help Jammu
forget all feelings of hurt and launch a rally from Lal Chowk to Lal Qila
with the Tricolour". Leaders of the Rashtriya Muslim Front in Pathankot
have urged Muslim leaders not to object to the handing over the land to the
Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. On the night of August 6, the Governor had set
up a panel for holding talks with the Shri Amarnathi Sangharsh Samiti. One
of its members, prof. Amitabh Mattoo, vice chancellor of the Jammu University,
put forth some steps to defuse the situation. He suggested (a) the need for
the Kashmir civil society to introspect and reflect on the Amarnath Yatra,
a part an parcel of the Kashmiris and their composite tradition for over a
century (b) recognition by the civil society of Jammu, of the substantial
contribution of the Kashmiris to the sanctity of the yatras and the harmonious
manner of the conduct of the pilgrimage for so many decades and (c) the launching
of a dialogue between representatives of the Yatra Sangharsh Samiti and Kashmir
Action Committee so as to bring about real reconciliation of hearts and minds.
Meanwhile, the separatists must be told firmly
that no matter what terrorism they indulge in, the state of Jammu & Kashmir
will remain part of India, that at no time will the state be trifurcated to
form three separate states, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, that the Indian Armed
Forces will continue to stay in large numbers in the state until such time
peace is established not only between India & Pakistan, but inside Kashmir
as well and that any violent revolt will be firmly put down. And Delhi must
show by positive action that it means what it says.
Delhi should not hesitate to arrest any trouble-inciting
leader if that is called for. Importantly, Delhi must warn the United States
that it is incumbent on its part to rein in Pakistan which is known to be
behind most of the trouble-making in the Vale. The UPA has been a miserable
failure all through, during the last five years it has been in power. It must
demand the sacking of fundamental Islamists many of whom run the Administration.
A White Paper on Jammu & Kashmir is called for to clear all confusion
in the running of the State. The disorder in the state can be brought under
control, if the Government is serious about it. The time for action is Nos.
