“A stone pelter is pelting stones for his nation.” Farooq Abdullah
“Indian government should resume talks with Pakistan or be ready to lose Kashmir.” Farooq Abdullah
“Valley is losing faith in Indian Democracy.” Karan Thapar
It has become a fashion for the elite intellectuals of India to lambast every policy of the government or every action of the Indian Army in Kashmir as a fascist approach. And on top of that now they have started warning the government of India and its citizen that they are on the verge of ceding Kashmir to Pakistan. The first thing that I want to say to these pseudo seculars, pseudo intellectuals and pseudo nationalists is that they should stop looking at India as one big sized cake which can be sliced and distributed to anyone who comes with a knife. The thread of this nation which was united with the efforts of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, may be multicolored but should not be, under any circumstances, considered weak that anyone can break it.
Today everyone is concerned about the hard stance of the government against cross border terrorism, and action against people trying to disrupt the peace in the valley. But where were these voices when Kashmiri Pandits were forcefully evicted from their homes. Farooq Abdullah’s lips were sealed at that time. Even now when he is asked to comment on Buhran Vani, he has nothing to say. Today Kashmir is burning because of false pride and vested interests of three men, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, who took Kashmir issue to UNO, Sheikh Abdullah, who instigated the people of Kashmir and back stabbed Nehru in his quest for being the uncrowned king of Kashmir and much later Farooq Abdullah who has always acted as a voice of Pakistan sitting in India.
Now I would like to take up some points made by Sagarika Ghose in her column in The Times of India. I would rebut her understanding of the situation in Kashmir and would try and expose the effort of some media personalities and politicians to destabilize a government that is working for the national pride. Allow me to take one point at a time.
- The image of a Kashmiri strapped to an army jeep has been compared to the lone figure confronting a Tank in Tiananmen Square. This is one of the most absurd statements that I have come across in the Indian media. Where the brave act of the lone person in Tiananmen Square was in protest against the Chinese suppression of the protests, the Indian Army tied that man in front of the jeep to ensure that the polling booth staff can be taken to the booths safely before being beaten to death along with the escorting party of Army by hundreds of stone pelters who were ready with stones in their hands. Indian Army personal although one of the bravest, are not foolish. A soldier of Indian Army would not even think twice when asked to attack the enemy even when odds are 100:1. But they do not consider people of Kashmir as enemy, as opposed to the picture painted by media and politicians. At any cost Army would want to avoid blood shed whether it is of a kashmiri youth or one of their men. The question should not be why the man was tied to the army jeep? But rather why there was a need for the army to tie a man to the jeep and why the poll booth officers and staff required protection from the very citizens for whom the polls were being held?
- A question was raised asking why the pallet guns are being used against kashmiri youth only and not against Jats and Gujrati Patels during their stirs? It is also perceived that every kashmiri protester is seen as a closet Jihadi or an agent of Pakistan. It seems that this statement and the above question have been raised just to give more ammunition to the so called human right activists all over the world. Let’s try to answer the question first. First of all the Jat agitation in Haryana and Patel stir in Gujrat were for the reservation for their castes in the government jobs and not for the “Aazadi.” Even during the Jat protests when situation went out of control and local police was not able to rein in the violent elements, Army was called in. However, as soon as the Army was deployed agitators ran for covers. In case they would have continued the rampage I am sure the army would not have hesitated in using the Pellet guns on them. Moreover, in Gujrat and Haryana, the protesters never gathered to pelt stones at the security forces as is the case in Kashmir. I have said above and will again state that a soldier of Indian Army never wants to shed blood of the civilians. But at the same time army would not want to loose its brave soldiers to the stones pelted by misguided, deluded and foolish youth of Kashmir who abandon their studies and take to streets with covered faces with stones in hand to attack their protectors.
Now about the perception about the Kashmiri Protester, I would like to raise a few questions here. Why is it that the public is only pelting stones at the security forces? Not a single stone reached the doorstep of the Chief Minister of the state, or any of her ministers, or in fact any of the politicians of the state who for years just sat in their lavish houses and watched Kashmir burning and on whose orders the army was called to the state. Why do the Kashmiri protesters have a need to cover their faces when they are true nationalists and are doing this for their country? The answer to the above two questions is common. It is because of the presence of Indian Army that the Pakistan trained terrorists have not been able to operate freely in the valley. Frustrate the army and force the government to withdraw troops from Kashmir and that’s it. Kashmir is as good as Pakistan’s. Organizing mobs of stone pelters systematically through social media services is the doing of Agents of Pakistan and if this title offends anyone, so be it.
- Vajpayee was willing to speak to separatists and spoke about ‘Insaniyat.’ However, Modi is trapped in “tourism vs. terrorism” binary.
Would somebody please answer a simple question? What has been achieved in the past by talking to Separatists? These separatists are the true agents of Pakistan. Not even once have I seen any of these champions of cause of Kashmir leading any protests on the streets of Kashmir. They remain confined in the security of their houses and send the common man of Kashmir to face the Army. They say whatever Pakistan wants them to say. They incite the youth of Kashmir to take up arms against their own country and when these youths are killed by army, they further fuel the fire in the hearts of public against army. The day their real faces are revealed to the public of Kashmir, half of the problem would be solved.
And what’s wrong with the statement of Tourism vs. Terrorism. It is for the people of Kashmir to decide now whether they want to support terrorism and keep facing off violently with the armed forces or they want to bring a change in their lives as well as the lives of their children by embracing development and constitution of India. It is a choice between Gun and Tulips, Fire in the streets or fire in their stoves, raining bullets or raining tourists, destruction or development. Because one thing is certain, Kashmir would continue to be a part of India and our Army is more than capable of fighting the Pakistani terrorists as well as stone pelting kashmiri youth.
- It is being touted that with the advent of Narendra Modi at the centre and overall resurgence of BJP across India has lead to a rise of Hindutva Nationalism. A call for Hindu Rashtra has been given and minorities are being targeted. This may be true to some extent but stating that beef eater, rationalist and slogan-shouting student are unacceptable to Hindutva Nationalism is an exaggeration. First and foremost, the slogan shouting student who are being referred to are the ones who were talking about breaking India. Just because Constitution of India gives everyone a Right to Speech, it doesn’t mean that you can use it to weaken the nation. And about rationalists, who is a rationalist? Just crying foul in the name of Human Rights whenever a terrorist dies at the hands of soldiers and not caring a bit when our jawans are slained by the same terrorists. Appeasing minorities at the cost of majority population just to create a vote bank. Is that rational? The truth is that we have become accustomed to the corruption in our system and do not want to change the status quo. Now that there is a government and a leader who wants to challenge and break this corrupt system, the pseudo seculars and pseudo rationalists want to stop this change at any cost.
According to me the problem of Kashmir has had been mishandled by successive Indian government. India and its leadership have always been trying to project itself as a peace loving nation and a victim of terrorism. But they failed to realize that the very nations whom we are trying to convince are the ones supplying arms and money to Pakistan to continue its proxy war against us. United States’ New York Times has can come up with an article on the actions of Indian Army in Kashmir terming them as Cruelty and cowardice. It can, even at a time when hate crimes and mass killings are at a all time high in USA, because it knows that Indian leadership has been weak and would not retaliate. It is therefore, high time India should shed its soft image in international arena and starts acting tough on the issue of Kashmir. It needs to be shown to the world that Kashmir is an integral part of India, and we are capable to handling our internal affairs. India does not want any interference from a superpower of the world in its domestic issues. And those who want USA to intervene should pack their bags and look for homes outside India.
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