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COVER STORY
By: Addeti
Verma
The Ugly ‘U’
Turn!
Pak
President, General Pervez Musharraf has come out with his new solution to
solve Kashmir problem. He wants a joint control or joint management of
Kashmir on both sides of LOC by both India and Pakistan in contravention to
its earlier stand that plebiscite be conducted to ascertain the wishes of
the people of the State to know whether they wanted to concede to India or
Pakistan. He has also vociferously rejected Azadi to Kashmiris as a
solution.
Kashmiri leaders, right from the beginning have
been considering Pakistan as a true friend and following its diktats
religiously. Consequently, all the ideas including plebiscite, Azadi, self
rule and demilitarization have been borrowed from Pakistan. General Musharraf’s
frequent somersaults in recent days however have created huge confusion not
only among people of Kashmir, but among the separatist fraternity as well,
which too has started advancing different solutions for resolution of the
so called Kashmir dispute. The differences surfaced in a seminar on human
rights violations held in Srinagar last month. Whereas Geelani faction of
Hurriyet still considers the old UN Resolutions as valid, the faction led
by the younger generation of Hurriyet says that the UN Resolutions were old
and hence redundant. They want some new solutions for solving the vexed problem
that could satisfy the aspirations of the people of Kashmir. The Yasin
Malik faction of separatists too wants independence, which is not
acceptable to Pakistan. Among the mainstream political parties, PDP also is
of the opinion that the UN Resolutions on Kashmir had become obsolete. It
of late has been projecting self rule as the only solution of the dispute,
which the Mirwaiz turns down as PDP’s double speak. According to UN
Resolutions, Pakistan had to hand over POK to India before plebiscite could
be conducted in the State. Surprisingly, after fighting several wars and
after having sent thousands of innocent Kashmiris to grave yards, Pakistan
has reached a stage where he could hope to get ‘something’ as a face saving
device. And that something is the joint control of Kashmir, which according
to UN Resolutions should have been exclusive of India before going for
plebiscite. The new proposal indeed is a step towards ‘you keep your
Kashmir and we keep our Kashmir’ meaning thereby that the present
statuesque in Kashmir will become its ultimate solution!
Pakistan has been confusing generation after
generations of Kashmiris some time by advocating the cause of plebiscite,
sometimes by projecting demilitarization and self rule and now it will say
that the LOC should be changed into permanent border regardless of what
people of Kashmir exactly wanted. Pakistan in fact has its own ambitions.
It has its weaknesses too, which can be vulnerable to pressure of sorts!
Kashmiris have suffered a lot on the provocation
of Pakistan, which showed them many sweet dreams. They, by now should have
understood that instead of depending on Pakistan for every thing, they
should have organized themselves independently. Had their leaders even once
thought that what would happen of them if Pakistan withdrew at any stage of
time, the present day situation wouldn’t have come. Now Pakistan is under
pressure from the world community especially from its friend, USA to work
for peace in the subcontinent. Options are not many and Pakistan is not in
a position to dictate terms. The only way out is to withdraw steps from
Kashmir. In the eventuality, the only face saving solution for Pakistan remains
to at least maintain its otherwise illegal hold over POK where rebellion is
already brewing fast. That situation is coming fast and it will be then
that the people of Kashmir will hold their leaders especially the
separatists by their collars and ask them for the compensation of their
sons who laid their lives on their call.
How alarming is Sallahuddin’s threat?
Shubhankur.
S. Sushil
The
chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, an indigenous Kashmiri militant organization
and chair-man of the United Jihad Council operating from Pakistan has asked
India to solve Kashmir issue as per the proposals put forth by Pak
President, General Pervez Musharraf. The proposals are: Demilitarization of
Jammu and Kashmir and Self rule in the State or its joint management. He
threatened that if India did not agree, militancy would spread in other
states of the country as well. The threat is grave, but the question is how
effective it can prove to be?
India is already facing militancy in many of its
states other than Jammu and Kashmir. Indian Parliament has been attacked in
the national capital. Mumbai has been experiencing occasional serial bomb
blasts and SIMI is already active in the largest state of the country.
Also, trouble in South East continues unabated and militant activities of
Naxals are order of the day. In this back drop if Sallahuddin’s outfit also
spreads its activities in some other parts of the country how is that going
to create an alarm?
Sallahuddin wants self rule for the State. But
he forgets that none else than Mehbooba Mufti subscribes to this ambiguous
proposal. State’s largest party, NC and its tallest leader, Dr. Farooq
Abdullah says, “I am yet to understand as to what type of self rule PDP
wants. Once I tried to ask Mufti Sahib to tell me what exactly they meant,
he was annoyed”. Needles to mention, NC wants greater autonomy for the
State. Similarly, Congress which has been a major player in the State
politics wants consolidation of 370 that grants special status to Jammu and
Kashmir. “There is already
self rule existing in Jammu and Kashmir. There can’t be any better example
of self rule than this”, says Pt. Mangat Ram Sharma, a veteran Congress
leader of the State. But that is not the end. Jammu region wants its total
integration with India while as people of Ladakh have been striving for a
union territory status for their land. In nut shell, it can be said that
the aspirations of people in Jammu and Kashmir are different. In that case
how can any body expect that his or her individual proposal could be
accepted ignoring the aspirations of others who form majority? What
Sallahuddin and people of his ilk have been doing can be done by any body
with a gun or a couple of grenades in his hands, but the question is: What
for? If Sallahuddin thinks
that he can brow beat a democratic country and an atomic power like India
by his threatening then he is certainly living in fool’s paradise. The only
thing that he can do is kill innocent people and make their relatives and
friends mourn. Sallahuddin must understand that for a country, which has
the patience to bear daily loss of hundreds of crores merely in diamond
industry in the wake of flash floods and for a country which has second
largest population in the world, hell will not fall if some hundred people
are killed or some damage is done to its economy. Another thing that Mr.
Sallahuddin must realize is that if Government of India also starts doing
in Pakistan as Pakistan has been doing in India, it may not take much time
to get Pakistan disintegrated into small pieces thereby changing the
geography of that country.
If Sallahuddin has an iota of sympathy for
Pakistan and people of Kashmir, he should shun the path of violence and
unconditionally participate in the dialogue process to ensure early return
of peace in the land of Rishis and Sufis. Putting conditions is
against the spirit of trust and where there is no trust, the tree of
dialogue bears no fruit.
What others speak
Dr. Farooq Abdullah, NC
“I am yet to understand as to what type of self rule PDP wants.
Once I tried to ask Mufti Sahib to tell me what exactly they meant, he was
annoyed”
Shiv Sena for Unity of Hindus
The
State unit of Shiv Sena (Bal Thakray) has called for unity among Hindus to
save themselves from the onslaught unleashed upon them both by the
Government as well as the mainstream and separatist organizations of Kashmir.
There
is no denying that Hindus have become a discriminated community in the
State. Though they are in a minority here, but they do not get even what
they deserve as a minority. As per census reports, the ratio between Hindus
and Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir is 40: 60, but the share of Hindus in
Government services is less than 20%. The delimitation of Assembly and Panchayat
constituencies is also done in such a manner that Hindus get the minimum
representation. All slogans including Autonomy, Self Rule,
Demilitarization, Azadi and Plebiscite that are emanating from the
Valley are Muslim centric having no consent of other communities, which are
being bartered as if they were sheep and the Kashmiri Muslim leaders as Kothidars
who buy and sell sheep as their business.
However,
Muslim leaders alone cannot be blamed for selling and buying Hindus. Hindus
themselves are also responsible for their woes. They behave like sheep
therefore they are bought and sold. If they behave like human beings, no
body can ever think of selling them. To that extent the call of the Shiv
Sena is justified, but would it not be still justified on their part to
begin the charity from their own home? Yes, it would be nice if different
factions of Shiv Sena unite themselves first in Mumbai before making any
effort to unite Hindus, which would amount to mere hypocrisy.
We also want Self rule for Jammu
While
participating in a group discussion on a local TV channel, Panthers Party
MLA, Balwant Singh Mankotia criticized those advocating self rule for
people of Kashmir. ‘Before asking for self rule for Kashmir, these leaders
should ask their chief patron Pervez Musharraf to give self rule to people
of that part of Kashmir which is under Pakistani control’. He also said
that the people of Jammu region also want self rule for themselves by
getting rid of Kashmri dominance, but is that possible? ‘Jammu and Kashmir
is a state which has Kashmir, Jammu, Ladakh, POK and the Northern Areas as
its inseparable regions. The leaders of Kashmir therefore, should
understand that if they want self rule for themselves, they should also
fight for self rule for other
regions including POK, which is the worst victim of military (mis) rule of
Pakistan’.
The
leaders of Kashmir whether mainstream or otherwise are made of strange
clay. When in power they are more loyal than the king as far their loyalty
to India is concerned. But once they lose power they start knitting plots
against India obviously to mislead the people so that they voted them back
to power. Abdullahs have been doing it and so has started doing the Muftis.
How long this game of cat and mice will go on only a common man in Kashmir
can tell because it is he who becomes a tool for the leaders to get them
back to power. This will also have to be understood by the same common man
as to what in return he has been getting.
BJP wants Congress to severe ties
with PDP
The
State BJP has asked Congress to severe its ties with PDP, which according
to it is sitting in the lap of Musharraf. ‘Congress should either severe
its ties with PDP and drop its ministers from the coalition Government or
be ready to face the consequences of being a partner of an anti-national
party’.
Congress
has a considerable mass base in Jammu region. It is because of this reason
that it has maximum MLAs from Jammu. The people of Jammu are pro-India and
do not like those hob-knobbing with anti-national element. If Congress
wants to remain in power after the next elections also, it will have to
preserve its vote bank in the Dogra heart land. Otherwise, BJP will encash
the resentment against Congress for being supporter of PDP, which is fast
attaining the image of an anti-national political party. But before that
BJP should present itself as an alternative of Congress. By behaving like
APHC that is known for issuing Friday statements only, will not serve the
purpose. It will have to repeat the history of 1952 Satyagreh when Praja Parishad
of which BJP is the new avtar had become a house hold name due to
relentless sacrifices that its leaders gave for abrogation of Article 370,
which has prvded breeding ground for anti-national element in the State.
BJP
still is a popular party in Jammu region. Had this not been so, its novice
candidate wouldn’t have secured four thousand votes against the Chief
Minster in Bhadarwah despite the fact that everybody had decided to support
Azad in his first ever election from that constituency. Obviously, four thousand
votes belonged to the party workers only and a party that has such a huge
number of dedicated workers cannot be called as a weak party.
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