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‘Indian communalists are buttressing Jinah’s two-nation theory’
Farooq lashes out on ‘anti-Kashmir’ Centre
‘Enough is enough, I won’t reconcile any more’

From Ahmed Ali Fayaz

SRINAGAR, Oct 24: Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah today lambasted New Delhi for ‘anti-Kashmir bias’ and warned the Government of India that it should get ready for the creation of another Pakistan as communalists were ruling the roost and destroying the secular fabric of this nation. He warned that communal overtones and the demand for trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir would inevitably lead to India’s fragmentation on the basis of religion.

In his hard-hitting speech against the Centre — perhaps the first of its kind since his return to power in 1996 — Dr Farooq Abdullah was all fire that communal elements with blatant anti-Kashmir prejudice in New Delhi were creating all possible hurdles in the economic development of the Muslim-dominated Jammu & Kashmir state. A fiery and furious head of the National Conference Government, while making his speech at the Foresters Conference-2000, exclaimed with grief and sorrow that a many people at New Delhi were "dead against our progress and development". "They take pleasure in making us beg. They think that we can beg, always and every day. But, I tell them all that Farooq Abdullah has never learnt begging. I have no weakness for power", he said.

In pin-drop silence at the crowded SKICC auditorium, Dr Abdullah took strong exception to Indian bureaucracy’s criticism — that there was ‘non-governance and corruption’ in Jammu & Kashmir — and alleged that it was all aimed at blackmailing and suppressing the State leadership and establishment. Citing a typical example, he said that the Planning Commission had with-held the Central financial assistance on the ground that there had been irregularities in Dal Development project. He admitted that there were some complaints of misappropriation in the project which were being investigated by the state Vigilance Organisation but argued that finalisation of the State’s annual plan could not be delayed on such ‘irrelevent’ grounds.

"They (Centre) say our officers are good, yours are bad. Ours are efficient, yours do-nothing", Dr Abdullah said and asked New Delhi, rather bitterly: "You destroyed the State for seven years (of Governor’s and President’s rule). You collected revenue worth Rs 100 Crore. We collected only Sales Tax worth Rs 700 Crore in four years. You realised just Rs 58 Crore of electric tariff for seven years. I have target of Rs 300 Crore this year alone. Still, you teach us governance and taunt us with non-governance!". He referred to his father late Sheikh Abdullah’s one-time famous advice that Kashmiris should partake potatoes but not bow and rely on the Centre.

Dr Abdullah lamented that some "vested interests" in Jammu and New Delhi were crying hoarse that every pie of the Central assistance was being swindled by the State politicians and officials. He said that Rural Development Department had been the main target of such elements. He said that three years back, a Central team had asserted that bunglings were galore and works existed on papers alone. Then Rural Development Minister Mr Abdur Rahim Rather spread the map of all executed works and asked the Central minister to personally visit the sites of the latter’s choice and check the progress. When the team returned after a random inspection of the works, it observed that this kind of progress was nowhere else in India.

"Sometimes they raise the bogey of discrimination against Ladakh. Sometimes they cry of our excesses against Jammu and bias against the minorities. But, Prophet of Islam has taught us respect and equal rights for minorities", Dr Abdullah said.

"Those who believe in discrimination are sitting there (in New Delhi). They have always stoked the fire (of communalism). Woh aaj bhi aag laga rahe hein ki Ladakh ko alag karo, Jammu ko alag karo", the Chief Minister grumbled and warned: "The day this State is divided on communal lines, Jinnah’s spirit will laugh on you. We have never accepted two-nation theory nor shall we accept it ever in future. But, they (communalists) vindicate Jinnah. In case they have to divide this State on religious demarcations, they should get ready for (the creation of) another Pakistan and India’s fragmentation on communal lines".

"I am not a Pakistani or Chinese Muslim. I am proud of being an Indian Muslim. But, don’t test our patience every time. You have already given us a many stains. Beware, don’t lit a fire. It won’t stop then. Enough is enough. I won’t reconcile any more", an irate Dr Abdullah addressed New Delhi and turned to his audiences who listened with rapt attention: "Don’t bow your head. A many people will be sold and bought here".

A cynical and contrite, Dr Abdullah regretted that he had chosen to be too obsequious to the Centre. "I wish I had worshipped and prayed to God for the time I served them obediently", he said with a note of repentance.

RSS high command irritates minorities
Shahi Imam opens direct line with J&K Hurriyat

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Oct 24: In a dramatic turn of events, a new leaf has been turned in the crisis-ridden political history of Kashmir. A top non-Kashmiri politico-religious personality has opened a direct line with the controversial All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in Kashmir. He is none other than Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the newly-installed Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid.

Political and official circles in the Union capital have been taken by surprise with Syed Ahmed Bukhari going a step ahead of his father, who "coronated" his son as the Shahi Imam of the all-important centre in Delhi, the Jama Masjid, a few days ago. Syed Ahmed Bukhari, soon after taking over as the grand priest, called for a meeting with Kashmir’s Hurriyat Conference.

And the invitation from the Shahi Imam in this regard was promptly accepted by the All-Party Hurriyat Conference. President of the Awami Action Committee(AAC), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is considered a prominent leader of the Hurriyat Conference, personally contacted Syed Ahmed Bukhari in Delhi on Sunday. This information was divulged by the Shahi Imam himself.

The meeting between the two politico-religious leaders, which lasted about an hour, covered various aspects of the Kashmir situation, including possible cooperation between the two. The two leaders also discussed the alleged human rights violations in the Valley by the Indian security forces.

Syed Ahmed Bukhari is not prepared to divulge all that transpired between him and Mirwaiz Farooq. He described as "very satisfactory" the session he had with the Kashmiri leader. The Shahi Imam has found Mirwaiz Farooq "very keen" for a peaceful dialogue between the Kashmiri leaders and Delhi.

The Shahi Imam declined to be drawn into discussion when he was approached for his position on Kashmir. All that he chose to state was that it was for the Union Government and others to hammer out a solution. "I am concerned only about the innocent lives being taken by the militants on the one side and by the Indian Army on the other", he said in reply to a question.

The Shahi Imam will continue his contact with the Hurriyat Conference. This assurance was given by him to the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The Shahi Imam has also accepted the Hurriyat’s invitation to visit Kashmir. No date has been fixed in this connection, as Syed Ahmed Bukhari wants separate sessions with other Hurriyat leaders, particularly the APHC chairman, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat.

Establishment of a direct line with Kashmir’s Hurriyat Conference by the Shahi Imam has come at a time when the RSS high command’s increasingly belligerent tone has necessitated the think-tank within Delhi’s Jama Masjid to strongly recommend setting up of a new broad-based political party for Muslims.

And if there was any doubt about it, it was set at rest by the Shahi Imam himself when he said that he would play a "direct" role in forming the new political party for his co-religionists. He has planned to convene a meeting of Muslim leaders for an in-depth discussion on various issues, before the new organisation comes into being.

The Shahi Imam has held the Sangh Parivar, the BJP included, responsible for the circumstances leading the average Muslim to think of having a new effective forum for the preservation of the minorities’ rights and privileges and interests. The Shahi Imam, in an interview, regretted that the Muslims residing in the vicinity of Jama Masjid were being projected by the Sangh Parivar as anti-national.

"It will be my religious responsibility to counter this image and to make it clear that we Muslims are as national as anyone else", he asserted. He offered clear hints about his enhanced political role in the changing situation. Well before his installation as the Shahi Imam, Syed Ahmed Bukhari (as the deputy to his father when he was the Shahi Imam till the other day) determined the political line of the Jama Masjid.

At one time in the past, Syed Ahmed Bukhari created a stir when he formed the "Adam Sena" as a counter to the Shiv Sena. The "Adam Sena" petered out with the passage of time. In the changed scenario, he has no plans to repeat the "Adam Sena" experiment. He revealed that the new political party for Muslims , which would work within the framework of the Constitution of India, would challenge the BJP and others who used Muslims for their own ends since the country’s Independence.