DK Kotwal
For the last two months there has been unrest in the valley. Protests, demonstrations and stone pelting are continuing unabated. At present it seems that the return of normalcy to the Valley is elusive. This time unlike the unrests of 2008 and 2010, the infection of Azadi or Islamization of Kashmir has reached the countryside as well. The angry youth, who is post 90 generation, it won’t be out of place to call them grenade and gun children as they have born and brought up in the lap of gun culture, they are not scared of death and are generally the children of families living below poverty line. The Chief Minister – Ms Mehbooba Mufti and the minister – Mr Sajad Lone, separatist turned politician are of the firm belief that 95% of the population wants normalcy to return whereas only a handful of population was creating trouble in the valley. The question arises if it is so then is it not possible to bring 5% of the people to the terms of the majority? It appears that majority of the people have been fully indoctrinated with the philosophy of separatism based on religion. Much more ground work seems to have been made on war footing.
In the valley it appears that every individual is mentally prepared to face the turmoil, the curfew in the valley has changed the schedule of Amina Begum 50, who lives in the congested locality of Nawab Bazaar in Srinagar. Before security personnel take control of streets at 5 am to impose curfew she makes sure to buy milk and vegetables for a day or two from the vendors in the locality who come from various places. This has remained the norm for the 60 days of curfew in most of the localities in old Srinagar city. The people get up early in the morning to buy eatables. Women like Amina might not be at the forefront of street protests but makes sure that there is food at home, sacrifice their sleep and suffer silently. “I always say that we (Kashmiris) will never die of starvation. We will mix salt with rice and eat. The last 20 years of trouble, we have learnt to survive and the situation has made us resilient. I manage with whatever little I get”, she says. Women in the Valley are slowly becoming the victims of mental disorders. A research released by medicines Sans Frontiers in May this year has revealed grim picture of the mental health of women in Kashmir. The report says that 50% of women suffer from mental disorders. Valley’s leading woman enterpreneur Gazla Amin says that in the present circumstances, which has already consumed 75 lives, she does not care about economic losses. She thinks it is high time for the Government to come with a political solution to the Kashmir issue. Many women who had high hopes from state’s first woman chief minister say that she has failed them and has failed to safe guard their children. “When I heard in the news that there is a chance that Mehbooa Mufti will become the Chief Minister, I was happy and prayed that only she should head the state. I rejoiced as a woman but the real test of any leader is in difficulty. She has totally failed us,” says Khalida Wani, a home maker.
The meeting of state opposition parties with PM and President of India in the month of August has hastened the efforts of the State and Central Governments to bring the situation under control. In a clear effort to soften the political rhetoric of the past days, Mr Modi sought to hold out a healing hand expressing ‘deep concern and pain’ at the violence in the Valley, and saying that all those killed, protesters and police persons were part of us. In this he drew a distinction from his strident colleagues in the cabinet. To be sure the authorities are still struggling to bring under control the cycle of violence, police reactions and thereby death and injuries. Over the last 2 months 77 lives have been lost, more than 100 have sustained eye injuries and about ten thousand injured-inclusive of civilians and security personnel. The drift to alienation is palpable. The PM also expressed that there were two things lacking in Kashmir i.e. vishvas and vikas. The APD had a visit of Kashmir valley to study the situation on spot and interacted with people of various walks of life-main stream all state political parties, academicians, members of civil society, traders, boat owners and many others. They gathered their views about how the normalcy could be brought back to valley. A breakaway group of parliamentarians tried to meet the separatists but their doors remained closed for them (members of delegations). One encouraging thing emerged out of the APD deliberations on Kashmir issue that the delegation was unanimous and concordant on the opinion that the integrity of the country could not be compromised and that Kashmir was an integral part of India and it has insisted upon the start of the dialogue with all stakeholders.
Many a time MS Shabnam lone, sister of Sajad lone -separatist turned politician-minister for social welfare and Animal Husbandry, appearing in TV discussion on ‘Times Now’ channel minces no words in saying that MS Mufti’s cabinet colleagues (PDP members) are militants and she too herself(Mufti) had and has good relation with the HM militant outfit and this utterance of Shubnam, Supreme Court lawyer can be verified by giving a reference from ‘Kashmir The Vajpayee Years’ a book of A.S.Dulat in which he has stated that it was ISI and HM who created PDP and supported it in 2002 election to come into power. As of now why she is not using her good office to revive her old relations with ISI and HM outfit to bring normalcy and peace back to Kashmir? What is she waiting for? But if we go through 70 years state history it is easier to find out that the intention of so called main stream state political parties secular and nationalist credentials are question marked. So long as these parties remain in power they are with India and Kashmir for them is an integral part of India but the moment they are out of power, the tone and tenor of their language changes. If we have an analytical look at the statements of the valley opposition politicians, we find without any ambiguity that they have a tactical support for separatism for instance Omars remarks over Buhran’s killing are provocative. He has got this instinct in legacy. If we go by Dulat’s book ‘Kashmir The Vajpayee Years’ which says, “After all why was Sheikh Abdullah dismissed as Prime Minister of J&K in 1953? One of the allegations in the conspiracy case framed against him and Mirza Afzal Beg and 22 others in 1958 was that he was getting money from Pakistan”. Sheikh was in jail for 11 years and then he was released for diplomatic reasons, as the court was told. He and Prime Minister Nehru reconciled and the latter sent Sheikh to Pakistan to see if a solution of J and k was possible. Nehru died while Sheikh was in Pakistan and not long after he returned he was again thrown in jail. This time, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shatri’s Govt. said that Sheikh had had contact with CIA. Therefore it is natural for Omar to speak the language of his family.
It is alleged that rupees 950 crore have been released to fund the separatist elements in J&K by the centre and the state governments in the past 5 years. . Money in Kashmir goes way back, even Sheik Abdullah’s time. It is pertinent to ask the Governments (J&K and center) why the tax payers’ money is being spent lavishly over separatists for creating anti-Indian spirit, disharmony, communal violence to break the secular fabric of the great country. The separatists who are responsible for the current unrest in the valley could no way get state patronage in the form of travel, hotel and medical expenses besides ‘Z’ category security cover by 950 security personnel. Release of funds to such persons without Parliamentary approval and keeping the general public in dark amounts to criminal breach of trust and correct practice, besides being unconstitutional
PM Modi batted well at two international forums – one at G20 Summit in China and at ASEANS in America against terrorism and urged the world community to isolate one terror spreading country and he went to the extent of saying that sanctions be slapped against such a country. India has opened Baluchistan and PoK fronts to mount pressure upon Pakistan to stop fomenting trouble in Kashmir. To bring peace and normalcy in Kashmir some confidence building measures are immediately required to be taken such as complete replacement of pellet guns though pava (chili shells) are being used. Eye injured people must be got treated at the nation’s expenses. What I feel that unconditional task with all stakeholders must be started forthwith without any further procrastination as it was done during Vajpayee’s time. The Hurriyat members must be made aware of the facts that Kashmir cannot be liberated from India and in this context they must be aware of the meeting they had with Musharraf in 2007. In this context I cannot resist the temptation to quote from Dulat’s book ‘Kashmir the Vajpayee Years’ that reads, “One of the telling episodes about the Mirwaiz took place in early 2007. He and the other Hurriyat members met Pakistan president Perveez Musharraf, who told them a few fundamental truths: that no one could remove India and it would not compromise on its sovereignty and that boundaries cannot be changed; and that he had found a formula for Kashmir. Then, it is said, Musharraf told the Hurriyat leaders to go back to Kashmir and prepare for elections. This diktat to the Hurriyat by Pakistan to get out of its comfort zone was a shock to the Hurriyat”.
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