Mahmooda sees it right

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Earlier last week Mahmooda Mufti’s speech was being telecast live by India TV.  I wanted to check where did she speak in the vein that she did which appeared to be highly rational. I scanned all the newspapers that I get – Hindi as well as English – but I could not find it covered in any of them. The Times of India, of course, did not report it and even The Hindu – a newspaper that reports in detail everything of national interest uttered by a person of the stature of a chief minister – seemed to have glossed over it

I do not recollect where Ms. Mufti was speaking but she was certainly addressing a public meeting. After a curfew lasting 50-odd days or so she appeared to be trying to look objectively at the entire situation prevailing in the Kashmir Valley. In not trying to throw homilies at the people collected in front, she was only trying to talk about the more-than-a-month long violence that has brought all the social, economic, educational and political activities to a standstill in the Valley.

 Wondering how the problem flared up after the killing of Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen jehadi, she said virtually every day there is some militant or the other is killed but this kind of disturbances had never taken place before. For what happened earlier there used to be a reason or two like in 2010 the alleged rape of two women in Shopian which eventually was disproved as it was found to be an ordinary case of drowning. But the Kashmiri separatists had whipped up an agitation which lasted for days and the Valley was completely shut down. This time, however, there was no reason for such an eruption. No Kashmiri innocent was killed as the man killed was a militant – a potential killer of Kashmiri policemen or Kashmiri innocents..

She thought this time it was not spontaneous as it appeared that a certain amount of preparation had gone into it. Evidently, the organizers of the violence were waiting for an opportunity to inflame passions and Wani killing provided just the right one and was opportune. Obviously it was the work of the separatists and their cohorts. She said, yes, police were also violent but what could they do against dire provocations. “You snatch away their guns and keep pelting stones on them”, she told the people assembled in front of her, making them fear for their own lives. Under such circumstances any security force would try to quell such ghastly civil violence using whatever methods they could muster. In the process, some civilians were killed but some from the police forces were also killed and a large number of them were wounded.   

What is more, she said the agitationists were using women and children as shields. Children as young as 10 years old were wounded. Ms. Mufti wondered what a 10-year old was doing in the agitation. If the child was hit by pellets the blame should go to his parents who did not take care of him by keeping him at home. Allowing the child to join violent demonstrations was not only unwise, it was also criminal, presumably, as it was abetting violent demonstrations.

She repeated the same arguments at the press conference the other day addressed jointly by her and the country’s home minister. She even got worked up and appeared to be accusatory and snapped at a reporter bringing the conference to a close. She apparently had caught on to the machinations of the separatists who were till now not able to organize a long drawn-out confrontation. This time, as is evident, a large number of militants have been pumped into the Valley by Saiyed Salahuddin’s Hizbul Mujahideen, a proxy for the ISI of Pakistan, located in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. A thousand of its trained militants were claimed to be in the Valley and another thousand were waiting to infiltrate at an opportune moment. The figures could be exaggerated as the militants tend to exaggerate their prowess. But, there is no denying the fact that it is the foreign militants, ably assisted by the mischievous separatists Jeelani and Co., are behind this stretched out confrontation.

At the back of it, however, is the ISI of Pakistan which is the mastermind of such disturbances. I have immense faith in what AS Dulat has written in his “Kashmir – the Vajpayee years” because he was one official who met and developed a kind of trust amongst the militants about his bonafides. They would come to him and talk to him about all things regarding Kashmir militancy. During one such conversation a senior and influential militant had told him that at Dubai an ISI official had told him that nothing happens in Kashmir without the ISI’s initiatives. It is ISI that “Calls the shots in Kashmir”. From sending terrorists across the borders to organizing chaos and mayhem, it is the ISI which does it all. Everyone is, therefore, aware that the whole thing is inspired by the Pakistanis and their agencies with the assistance of their proxies in Srinagar. Only innocent Kashmiris are being used as cannon fodder.

Be that as it may, one can, nevertheless, fail to appreciate the attitude of our so-called secular press. While The Times of India did not report the speech of Mahmooda Mufti at a public meeting referred to earlier, it reported in detail stretching across columns the alarming views on the present unrest in Kashmir of Musaffir Hussain Baig, a former Dy. Chief Minister and a mere member of Parliament from Mahmooda’s PDP. He has said that the local “struggle” runs the risk of becoming a (kind of) religious extremism – of losing its political goal and getting a “religious vision”. He seems to be quite ill-informed as the separatists know their political goals are never going to be achieved.

 As Dulat has recorded, even President Musharraf, whom they had met in Delhi, had told them there cannot be re-drawing of the boundaries as India would never allow that. Hence they needed to change their thinking. Besides mercifully, religious undertones are presently absent in the movement. He sees a danger of the unrest becoming a part of the “international struggle”. Perhaps, he is away from Kashmir, he seems, therefore to be utterly out of depth with whatever is happening there. The newspaper, however, has found it worthy of a long report with an eye-catching headline which, in fact, is nothing but alarming. Being a member of parliament from the PDP perhaps such a comment was not expected from him. If he harbours this kind of a perception it would have been wiser for him to communicate it to Ms. Mufti instead of airing his apprehensions in public through a newspaper column to set alarm bells ringing.

The whole thing is nothing but Pakistan’s way of inflicting those “thousand cuts” of Zia ul Haq on India. As Mahmooda repeatedly said it is the 5% of people, presumably the separatists, who create these problems. The remaining 95% of Kashmiris want to live in peace and harmony. India has, therefore, to ride out the present difficulties by being firm and dominate over the disturbed areas.

*Photo: from internet

Dysinformation leading Kashmiris astray

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Najeeb Mubarki, a former journalist with the Outlook magazine  has contributed a piece in the 25^th July issue of the magazine in which he has described Indian Army’s presence in Kashmir as “most brutal and deceptive occupations of modern times”. The Outlook magazine, in its efforts to run down the current regime in Delhi, often asks such journalists or dignitaries to contribute pieces particularly if they add fuel to an already raging fire. That, however, cannot be questioned; it is, after all, a free country and everybody including the magazine and Kashmiris have right to air their views regardless of the shade they represent. But describing the Indian presence in Kashmir as “occupation” is certainly travesty of facts. Perhaps, this has been said either out of sheer ignorance of the state’s recent history or a deliberate effort to mislead the reading public.

There can be numerous opinions on whatever the Indian security force are doing in Kashmir. The perspectives are always different depending on the side one is on. But one thing must be realized that the Army is functioning in Kashmir as a part of its duty to the country and Kashmir is a part of the country. To suggest that it is an “occupation” army is an utter falsehood as the country never fought a war against Kashmir and it was never conquered by India.

That part of the history is never mentioned and blinkered commentators never try to dig into it and bring it before the Kashmiri common man to disabuse his mind of the wrong propaganda by vested interests. At the risk of repetition, one has to bring home to the Kashmiris that the question of merging with Pakistan or enjoying “aazadi” had been decided once and for all almost seventy years ago and in this decision the then Indian government played fair and absolutely by the rule. It is all there in recorded history that the late Maharaja Hari Singh was toying with the idea of remaining independent after India’s partition. His procrastinations made Pakistan under Mohammed Ali Jinnah impatient who organized a raid on Kashmir by the tribal warriors, ably assisted by Pakistani regulars and irregulars. On feeling threatened by Pakistan the Maharaja requested for Kashmir’s accession to the Indian state. Indian government refused to accept the request until the Maharaja obtained the consent of people’s representatives. The most popular people’s leader Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah was then languishing in a jail. The Maharaja consulted him who whole-heartedly supported the move to merge with India. In the process a lot of time was lost and the raiders were almost at the threshold of Srinagar. With herculean efforts and enormous sacrifices the Indian Army pushed the raiders out of the Valley which had by then become Indian territory. That is how Kashmir became an Indian state and not a territory occupied by India after waging a war. Describing the Indian Army as an “occupation” army, therefore, is not only false, it also is sinister and seditious.

 Perhaps, in this respect the Indian administration as well as the state administration failed to inculcate in the people of Kashmir the urge to view what the truth was. In the Pakistan-inspired chaos and mayhem created from time to time Kashmiris are instigated by its ISI or its proxies to take an antipathetic, even hostile attitude towards the Indian security forces as this is in the interest of Pakistan. Kashmiris need to remember that if terrorists infiltrating from across the Line of Control and are instigating them to cause disorder and confusion the security forces would not be sitting on their haunches to watch the show. They have the duty to deal with them as effectively as they can even if meticulously collected brick-sized stones are hurled at them by the maddened, unthinking young men who are victims of whipped up emotions. 

Kashmiris seem to have forgotten that it was Pakistan which made at least three attempts to annex Kashmir and every time it was foiled by them. The first attempt was, of course, the one when it tried to grab Kashmir by force in 1947 but succeeded in capturing only half of it and, that too, because of puerile and immature policies of the then Indian prime minister. But then the fact remains that at that time it was the sovereign power of the state came seeking help of the Indian government. The second time was in 1965 when the Ayub Khan-designed Operation Gibraltar was rendered a failure by people of Kashmir who exposed and handed over the Pakistani infiltrators sent across to engineer an insurgency in their Valley. Pakistan has been relentlessly trying somehow to dislodge India from Kashmir. It unsuccessfully tried again in 1998 in the Kargil War. Perhaps, the ongoing turbulence is another effort to lead the Kashmiris astray and work up enough loathing for India to weaken its hold on the state.

Pakistan is doing all this notwithstanding the terrorist attacks it is facing from Taliban. Having sown terror it is now reaping terror. Yet, when militant Burhan Wani was killed on July 8, 2016 he was declared a martyr in Pakistan and the date of his death was declared as Black Day with Pakistan prime minister assuring the Kashmiris of his country’s help till Kashmir became part of Pakistan. Even during the Indian Home Minister’s brief visit to Pakistan for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation meeting protest rallies were organized in Islamabad and the Lashkar e Taiyyaba chief incessantly spewed venom pledging support to Kashmiri resistance. The Hizbul Chief admitted it had 1000 militants operating in Kashmir Valley.

It is a pity that many of the Kashmiris  actively participating in agitations against their own Police and the Central security forces have not read the recent book  “Kashmir – the Vajpayee years” by the top Indian sleuth AS Dulat  - now retired. He is one sleuth who talked extensively to everyone including militants of all hues trying to subvert the administration. Some of the quotes of the militants would surely act as eye openers for those who have become extremely allergic to India:

Hashim Qureishy, hijacker of Indian Airlines flight in 1971 said, “… Hurriyat people should give up accession to Pakistan, as should our people. 65 years have passed, another 500 years will pass, Kashmir will never become Pakistan. You can write it down... and people, (you) don't sacrifice your children.” Abdul Majeed Dar, another militant was so disillusioned with the ISI that not only he contrived to come away to Kashmir but also refused to take its calls. Obviously the ISI found him very precious for their designs in Kashmir and didn't want to let go him and eventually had him killed. Firdaus, assistant of Shabir Shah one of the leading separatist leaders told Dulat that each and every Kashmiri he met in Pakistan felt they were in an alien land. They also advised him to never merge Kashmir in Pakistan. When he was denied SAM missiles by the ISI he realised that it was not interested in escalating the proxy war and was not interested in the fact that the “Kashmiris had gone all out to fight their dirty war”

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Kashmiris need to pay heed to these few nuggets delivered by their own extremists as they tell all that is there to know about Pakistan’s diabolical intentions. Hopefully, wisdom will dawn on those who have fallen prey to its mischievous disinformation and propaganda and are needlessly wasting away their lives.