Prof A N Sadhu
With the spread of violence, on a large scale, across the world, many a people have been displaced in the recent years from their places of origin: they may constitute a mix of several ethnicities or some exclusive ethnic groups; the fact is that they have lost their homes and hearth andthe very sense of belonging. In the fast changing world, does there exist a hope of redemption for these people, is a big question. Hope sustains life and it is universally true. As long as mankind lives, the candle of hope will burn so that, in the wake of any deviations from normalcy, harmony and peace, the good days will return back and these rich social values and norms will be restored to let the civil society live in the best of its traditions. In the evolution of world social order, numerous life cycles with peaks and troughs have passed , may be with variable periodicity, and nothing has remained permanent, manifesting an unending flow of time and tide till eternity. The history is replete with situations when the human societies were at their zenith and also the ones when these touched the lowest ebb; but these structures crumbled with the passage of time and new ones got built in their place. These ups and downs are not unusual and the history is a testimony to their recurrence from time to time.
The world is passing through a crucial stage of its evolution where, on one side, we witness outstanding scientific advances and, on the other, a large scale nasty violence putting the entire globe on a turbulent volcano. Millions of people have been rendered homeless. Millions have got displaced. Millions have lost their lives. Perhaps, even during the dark ages of social evolution such a large scale destruction of life and property might not have occurred. The world also is witnessing economicslowdown, an environmental degradation and as a result an alarming climatic change which has the portent of threatening the very existence of mankind on the earth’s planet. Is the world sufficiently alive to these upheavals? What is being done to stall the adversities starkly steering into our eyes?
No part of the world is there without one or the other kind of strife- some natural and some manmade. The South-Asian region, particularly the area close to Indian sub-continent is strife torn for a long time now. Terrorism, the most dreaded enemy of mankind, has played havoc in this part of the world during the last twenty five years. The state of Jammu & Kashmir has been hard hit by the terrorist violence during this period. The most unfortunate part of this situation is that our neighbouring country is abetting this violence against our country without realising that this uncontrolled Demon may ultimately devour them.
The state of Jammu& Kashmir is geographically very sensitively placed in this part of the globe- both geo-politically and geo- strategically as well. Politically turbulent Afghanistan, instable Pakistan and expansionist China are permanent destabising factors in the region and the northern most state of our country suffers its brunt perennially. Unabated terrorist violence has driven out a whole community of Kashmiri pandits from the valley and undermined its thousands of years old cultural heritage of religious co-existence and harmonious living. The chances of these ab-origins to regain their share of sun and shade in the place of their origin will have to be viewed in the light of developments taking place in the region.
The American pull out from Afghanistan will directly contribute to the revival of Taliban strife in the country and pose serious threat to the stability of democratically elected government. This will usher-in a new phase of internal strife spreading its tentacles to the neighbouring countries. India and Pakistan, both, will have to suffer adverse consequences of this resurgence. The state of Jammu & Kashmir is always on the receiving end. The perennial political instability in the neighbouring Pakistan has always remained cause of concern. Much as India would wish to see a stable Pakistan with a robust democratic set up, things have gone wayward and it has hit the normalisation of bilateral relationship to the disadvantage of both the countries. The state of Jammu & Kashmir has been the worst sufferer of the adverse fall out of political instability in the neighbouring country. The home grown terrorism in Pakistan is posing an added threat to its political stability and the leaders of these militant outfits and terrorist groups are thwarting all efforts of normalising the relationship which could have helped the two countries to work for speedier socio-economic development in a peaceful atmosphere. The political instability in the two neighbouring countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan as also the terrorist networks therein are likely to destabilise the entire region extending up to Central Asian Republics and Russia, with China not remaining unaffected. The rise of religious aborigines is a serious threat to the entire social fabric all across the globe which is a real challenge, the humanity is faced with.
The terrorist violence in Kashmir is reduced as per the official records but it has not ceased. The terrorist infiltration continues unabated and gun battles are routine phenomena. The 26 years that have gone by have witnessed quite a few changes on socio-cultural as also on political fronts. The ethos of ” Kashmiriyat” has been invaded and it has served a serious blow to what all Kashmir stood for. A generational gap has occurred and there have been no visible efforts to bridge this gulf. 26 years may not be a long period in history but it is certainly a long period in the history of a community in turmoil. It stands uprooted having lost its roots. The talk of their return and rehabilitation has been there ever since the exodus took place but nothing substantial has happened. It is not going to an easy task either.
The community is rightly asking for a commission of enquiry to find the truth and identify the elements responsible for its exodus. The coming to power of NDA government led by the BJP, raised high hopes of a resolution of the concerns of the community but no headway has been made. New forces raise their head, new controversies are thrown up, new debates emerge and in the din of these debates, the attention deviates from the main focus and things are left where these were. The displaced persons must be returned to their homeland not as much only to safeguard their fundamental rights as in the larger interest of the country. However, the displaced persons have shown their forte, the courage and the capability of fighting the odds and surviving with dignity. The country should be proud of them as even in the extreme conditions ridden with hardship and depravation; they served the nation as best as ever before. They have an inalienable right to their place of origin and they will not rest till it is achieved. The hope for redemption is always there.
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