Amit Kushari (IAS Retd.)
The whole country is horrified today reading in the newspapers as to how Pakistani soldiers/infiltrators dressed in Pak army uniforms had entered Indian territory in the dead of the night to kill four Indian jawans who were caught unawares. The same gruesome story which started in 1989 (immediately after the death of Zia-ul -Haq in August 1988) is continuing even now. During all these twenty three years Pakistan has remained a sworn enemy of India and I cannot notice any sign of any improvement in the relations. I was living in Srinagar those days when the rebellion of Kashmir unfolded itself. The defence forces of India were not prepared for this sudden onslaught by Pakistan and the line of control was not properly guarded. Governor, Shri Jagmohan, was also caught unawares. The situation became so bad in Kashmir that it appeared that Kashmir may slip away from India. Hundreds of young boys went to Pakistan to get arms training and there was nobody to stop them at the borders. They came back fully armed and trained to fight the police and the Indian security forces. Very ordinary boys — the boys living next door — became terrorists over night and the situation was very alarming ,indeed. Our office electrician, gardeners, plumbers and even stenographers became hardcore terrorists. Kashmiris started believing that ‘azaadi’ was round the corner. Our employees started withdrawing their Provident Fund and Durbar move employees, who had bought ‘Indira Vikas Patras’ in the post offices of Jammu started selling them off at cheap prices.The Kashmiri employees panicked that they may not be able to return to Jammu again to retrieve their money and that they would need a passport to visit Jammu later on.
One of my respected colleagues, who lived in a village in the outskirts of Srinagar, used to tell me, “We are going to be independent by August 1991. My ‘Mamu’ (mother’s brother) has assured that Pak army would actively push out India from Kashmir by that time.” The Mamu was actually a dreaded terrorist, working as Chairman of a big militant group, evading arrest for a long time. One evening my colleague, Dr. X, came running to me, highly perturbed. ” What happened to you, Dr. Sahab?” I asked. Dr.X replied almost out of breath, “The army surrounded our village last night. Somehow they came to know that ‘Mamuji’ was in that village that night and early in the morning they arrested him, tied him with a thick rope and took him to Srinagar for interrogation. Now we have information that he is in ‘PAPA 2’, the dreaded interrogation center. Can you please ring up Mr. Mukherji to find out what is his fate?”
Mr. Mukherji was a good friend of mine who belonged to the intelligence department. He would visit me often in the MLA’s hostel of Srinagar like a few other Bengali officers. We would often get together and chat while enjoying fish cooked with radish in the Kashmiri way. One day he asked me, “What is the meaning of ‘moje’ in Kashmiri?” “Why do you ask that?” I queried. He said, “The kashmiri terrorists cry ‘, ‘moje’ moje’ when we try to extract information from them.” ‘Moje’ means mother,” I told him. “They must be remembering their mothers out of sheer fear and pain.”
In the beginning I refused to call Mr. Mukherji. I said that would be highly improper on my part to do so. Dr. X begged of me with tears in his eyes. Then reluctantly I called Mr. Mukherji to find out whether he had received any ‘guest’ by such and such name in PAPA 2. Mr. Mukherji confirmed and asked me, ” How on earth do you know this dreaded man?” “He is the mamu of a dear colleague of mine who is in great distress,”I said. Mr. Mukherji helped a lot in the matter to give some physical/medical relief to the ‘Mamuji’. After this incident my colleague never bragged about ‘azaadi’ again.
All these incidents come back to my mind because of the heightened tension today between India and Pakistan. In reality nothing has improved in all these 23 years. Our relations remain as bad as ever. There is a semblance of peace in Kashmir today. But I donot know how brittle this peace is. Have the Kashmiris really reconciled themselves as a part of the Indian union? Or are they only waiting for another opportune moment to revolt against the center?
(The author is former Financial Commissioner J&K Feedback to the author at 09748635185 or amitkus@hotmail.com)
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