An open letter to Mr Geelani
Sir,
Geelani Sahib, I
have to say with anguish that your rigid
political posture is doing more harm than good to
the peace-loving people of Kashmir. I think
Pakistan played the most cruel joke with the
people of Kashmir by foisting a proxy war on them
and now you are shooting your darts. Instead of
placing computers and loptops in the hands of the
youth of Kashmir to prosper, you are placing
stones in their hands to perish.
When you came out
of your detention from Chashmashahi hut, you
advised the people not to resort to violence. You
said to them, ‘‘If you have taken out a
procession and you are stopped by the police, you
adopt the strategy of the sit-down protest in the
Gandhian way without having a violent
confrontation with the police. ’’
Everybody welcomed this change in the mode of
protests. But, unfortunately, this change did not
last long. Again, there was the vicious circle of
stone-pelting, firing, loss of a valuable life, a
funeral procession, again stone pelting....
If you swore by
Gandhian ways of non-violent struggle, you should
have halted your agitation at this juncture. The
moment there was violence, Gandhiji would
withdraw his agitation. He would not wait for 100
youth to die to take this decision. Starting an
agitation is easy, but withdrawing an agitation
when it is going in a wrong direction, needs
courage.
Why are you asking
for azadi so passionately ? The dignity and
honour of the people of Kashmir are safe in
India. Moreover, a Muslim majority State becoming
a willing part of India will strengthen the
secular character of Indian Democracy which is in
the interest of the Indian Muslims. Your stance
of azadi gives the impression that Indian Muslims
are in India on account of compulsion because
they have no other choice. Where they have a
choice, they want to opt out of India.
The greatest
casualty of the disturbed situation in Kashmir
has been the education of the children. And as an
educationist I feel concerned about it. During
militancy in 1994 I went to Srinagar once. As I
passed through Lal Chowk on my way to the
Secretariat, I saw children going to schools in
their uniforms with bags on their backs. I
thought Pakistan had not been able to kill the
spirit of the people of Kashmir. What Pakistan
could not achieve, you have achieved. The schools
and colleges are closed and studies of the
students are suffering. Many of them are roaming
about in Jammu with their parents and knocking at
the doors of local educational institutions
seeking permission to attend the classes. What a
pity !
And now, Geelani
Sahib, I seek a personal favour from you. When I
was Director of Colleges from 1973 to 1975, you
were an MLA you used to come to me to seek
favours for your voters. Now, in turn, I seek one
favour from you.
I am told
Assalam-o-Alaikum means ‘peace be upon
you’. I request you to just say
Assalam-o-Alaikum to the people of Kashmir.
Yours
etc...
Prof M R Puri
Vice Chancellor (Retd)
Jammu University
8 point initiative
Sir,
The 8- point
initiative rolled out by the Cabinet Committee of
security to deal with the raging issues in
trouble torn State seem to have no takers.
The Jammu based
parties, have totally rejected it on the grounds
that is Kashmir-centric aimed at appeasing the
separatists and other anti-national forces.
After All Party
Team visited the State and met a cross-section of
people, it was expected that the Central
Government may this time come with a concrete
proposal to mitigate the grievances of all the
three provinces of the State. The package
announced by the Central Government has once
again ignored both Jammu and Ladakh province- a
move that has invited sharp criticism.
It is better for
the Government to understand the situation in
totality, and address it accordingly. Piece meal
approach has failed to resolve the issue so far.
All the three provinces deserve to be given a
fair deal. The people living in these regions
have equal rights to employment, and other
resources. You cannot pamper one section at the
cost of other.
Yours
etc...
Manish Manhas
Jammu
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