Thursday, October 9, 2008

Thoughts for an ignorant citizen

I got some comments from some anonymous blogger who appears to be totally at bay as far as facts are concerned. I have put in a small effort to gather critical facts for enlightening such people.
Dear Anonymous Ignorant Citizen from Jalandhar,
The reason for the sad state of Kashmir affairs today is ignorant people like you – Unaware of history, blind-eyed and deaf-eared towards present - vociferously shouting irrelevant facts.

First, you must read History of Kashmir and of your own motherland. Your grandfather might not have told you, but we were not even under British Occupation. Not even like your 500 princely states. We were an independent state when India and her 500 princely states were fighting for Independence. Do you know that even today, J&K is the only Indian state to have its own Flag, and its own set of laws? You might have never heard of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) (and not Indian Penal Code (IPC)) that is still being followed in all courts across J&K.

After India got Independence, Nehru and Jinnah decided to divide (and thus fulfill the wishes of the British Crown, by falling to their policy of divide and rule) the great nation into India and Pakistan. About 12 million people were displaced and about 1 million killed in the aftermath of partition. However, personally I feel that millions of people who were killed till date in innumerable riots across India and Pakistan, and the Hindu-Muslim divide that exists today are primarily because of the seeds of hatred that were sown by our leaders by enacting the unique and most dreaded partition of people.

Even after the partition, Kashmir was independent. Seeing a weak neighbor with no military power, Pakistani tribesmen attacked Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah, who was then the Prime Minister of Kashmir, had no option but to ask India for help. India agreed subject to the state of Jammu & Kashmir acceding into India.

J&K was the most peaceful country and that is the reason why it didn’t even have its own army. It was a symbol of peace. Hindus and Muslims lived in absolute harmony, just as they did in India before partition. Shiekh Abdullah, having seen the dreaded partition did not want that hatred to flow into J&K. That is the reason why he negotiated for Article 370. To insulate our motherland from the hatred that had spread across India and Pakistan, but only till such time an independent plebiscite of the State was conducted as per the UN resolution.

"Led by Britain and the United States, the U.N Security Council passed another resolution (Resolution 47) on April 21, 1948, which enlarged the membership of the UNCIP from 3 to 5 , called for cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan, withdrawal of all Pakistani troops and tribesmen and bulk of Indian troops(except for a minimal number required for maintaining law order),allowing return of refugees, release of political prisoners and holding of a U.N supervised Plebiscite in the (Princely)State of Jammu and Kashmir to determine the aspirations of her people. The Plebiscite was to be held by a U.N appointed Plebiscite administrator. The U.N Security Council passed another resolution on June3, 1948, which reaffirmed the previous resolutions and asked the UNCIP to proceed to the "disputed areas" to carry out its mission as stated under Resolution 47 of April 21, 1948.”

“The U.N involvement in the Kashmir Conflict largely lasted for 17 years (1948-65).After the Indo-Pak war of 1965, the U.N engagement with Kashmir continued at a very nominal level till the 3rd Pakistan-India war of 1971 and completely ended with the signing of the Simla Agreement in 1972, an Indo-Pak peace agreement, which laid emphasis on adopting a bilateral framework to solve the Kashmir imbroglio and kept the U.N out of the picture afterwards.” .

For more on Indian stance on Kashmir during this period click here

What had happened had happened and could not be changed. People of J&K had reconciled with the fact that they were better-off with India. (If you are meek and weak, you need a big brother). However, when our big brother started bullying us the unrest started all over again. Election rigging was the main cause of hatred against India.

"From 1953 to 1975, Chief Ministers of that State [of J&K] had been nominees of Delhi. Their appointment to that post was legitimised by the holding of farcical and totally rigged elections in which the Congress party led by Delhi's nominee was elected by huge majorities." B.K. Nehru, who was Governor of Kashmir from 1981 to 1984, in his memoirs published in 1997.

Now, that you have some background, let us come to your 1-2-3 Agenda.

1. “Stay with us, i.e. INDIA.we`ve all ways treated you like our misbehaved/rotten brothers. We`ll continue to feed you with essential commodities, food supplies, money, central packages, developmemtal work etc. ( All for our motherland HINDUSTAN)”

The fact that you have treated us like your rotten brothers is a justification enough for what is happening today in Kashmir.

2. “Fight with us, leave us and goto the Mighty Pakisthan - the country with ISLAMIC rules. ;)We would be more than happy to see our rotten brother happy. But come to think of it, how and where would you sell those apples, those shawls, those carvings, or nights at dal lake? whom? i bet pakishan with its poor poor people would be more than willing to pay.Fact: pak population 144 million.Poverty rate 35%Ref: CIA Factbook.I`m sure how big a buying power Pakistan is. BIG BIG Industrialised economy of pak. :)”

I have already said that we are weak and cannot fight India or Pakistan militarily. But whatever voices we are raising are against the ill-treatment by our elder brother.

You may like to see how our elder brother treats us:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTNBB94hDBw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gbWI8QHitA

If you have a weaker neighbor, or a brother, do you help him come up or do you stamp upon him with all your might and beat the hell out of him? As far as I have read no religion preaches that. The sad part is that we do everything in the name of religion but never bother to see what it actually preaches.

3. BE independent of INDIA & Pakistan. - This one is a real joke.If you are independent of us, then:you get no subsidised essentials, no telecom, no tax breaks, no cheap food, no cheap labour, no access to our vast capital base, no army protection, amogst others.China, a dictatorship, is more than willing to attck u, to show its superamacy in the region. Pak, with nothin to show off really, would still try n attack, to salvage pride.kashmir would be the worlds biggest terrorist school, a haven for al quidas and SIMIs..America would be more than willing to attck and invade you. The best base america can get, seeing the approxmity with CHINDIA.So, while u decide, i`ll have to get back to work, as you are my liability rite now, if i dont earn, how you get subsidised food, great rail, air, road connect, huge central packages, subsidies for haj ..etc…etc..

Some disgusted people have been raising this point these days. I am happy though that such people a small bunch - uninformed, immature and naïve.

Thoughts for you from another blogger:

“Kashmiris are happy to take the money…’ he (Vir Sanghvi)mocks. One may ask why extend special rights and billions of rupees if there is no justification for them in the normal functioning of the State of India. Or is it that these are given with an insidious intent- a purpose to appease, to numb, to help forget.”

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

i am soo saddened to see, that you, my brother, dont understand the difference betwwen jalander and jammu,

such a shame!!

Anonymous said...

haha .. ure relyin on software that are incorrect!
since NIC is the national backbore and has a pan india precence, they assign static IPs to certain regions. Since, we are in North, it isnt uncommon for such things to happen.
Pls brush up your knowledge on this.
Ohh I forget. You people like to see/ understand facts as you like them ..

Anonymous said...

Pls dont divulge to trivial issues..

Dont post irrelevant and inconsequential things here..

Anonymous said...

they will post only inconsequential things..they fought for inconsequential things recently, compromised for the status quo and celebrated the "achievement"

Dogras are dangars is no hidden fact!

Out of a hundred points from your post the fool could only spot the most trivial thing..Who are we trying to preach?

Take a guess on this guys IQ..I bet it's negative!!

Anonymous said...

Kashmirs are the most intelligent people in the world.

Fact: more than 12000 deaths since 1947.

Anonymous said...

all your answers are here. \http://jammuregion.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/reply-to-many-confusions-of-kashmiri-people/

Anonymous said...

Please remember that whole of J&K acceded with the dominion of India, as it was called then. What worries most people is why only Kashmiris have alienated themselves from India and not the people of Jammu and Ladakh region. Remember, J&K consisted of J,K,L, POK, Azad K prior to accession. J,K,L remained with India and now only K has a feeling of alienation. Even people of Jammu region feel angry on the central government but they do not talk of going to Pakistan or shout Pakistan Zindabad. Why is it that these voices are heard only in K. Pakistan is no way better than India in any respect. Yes people of K share a link via the religion. That is the only link. But can religion be the only reason. Being a non Kashmiri, i do not have the inputs to comment on this. But please understand, lets not throw mud at each other. And it is time to introspect and see what went wrong objectively.

Blogger said...

This is the problem with you:

1. What percentage of people shout Pakistani slogans? Not even 1%. But since you prefer to label all Kashmiris as Pakistanis, this perception is quite common outside the state, and is a major reason for discontent within the valley.

2. Majority of people shout slogans of Azadi. Azadi has different meanings for different people. Yes, for the hard-liners it might mean an independence from India. Such groups are present on the other side of the table also, who want a pure Hindu Indian society. one of such extremists recently commented on my blog saying we kashmiris were rotten liabilities for India. So such responses from valley have more so to do with retaliation rather than being seen as an absolute opinion.

3. Azadi for most of the people in KAshmir today means peace, ability to move freely, to move without fear - fear of death or of being kidnapped by militants or of illegal detention by army and police. Azadi for people means avenues for growth, impartial and corruption-free government, free and independent elections. Much more than you can even comprehend because you would never have lived under the shadow of gun. You would never have seen your near and dear ones getting killed at the hands of either side.

4. More than One lakh of peple have been killed in the valley in the last 20 years and roughly half the number if not more are missing. How do you equate then an opinion of a Jammuite with that of a KAshmiri?

5. During recent protests at JAmmu the whole world saw Hindus carrying our most respected tricolor and killing innocent gujjars, destroying their homes and blocking the highway. Do such killings and destructions become legitimate if you carry the tricolour. Being an Indian I see it as the biggest disrespect to our National Flag and to Our Great NAtion.

6. Just browse youtube and search for KAshmiri clips that have exposed the highhandedness of Police and army in KAshmir. I have put links to a few on my blog. Just see how we are being treated. What is the justification for this.

7. During recent protests, police and army killed more than 40 people in KAshmir (half the number of all KAshmiri Pandits killed till date). What justification does police have for such planned killings?

8. Coming to districts, they have been bifurcated on the basis of topography, language, culture and religion. A detailed explanation was put on your blog which you didnt consider apt on your site and you "moderated" it.

9. And another point. After accession you ask why only KAshmiris have been fighting. The answer may be a bit hard for you to digest.
Reason 1: Jammu community is predominantly a business community and they have gone to any and every extent to protect their business interests. Recently also, when SASS called for protest against KAshmiris, the Jammu Chamber of Commerce distanced itself from them. Because to a common JAmmuite, rightly or wrongly, business is the top priority. Everything else, including honour and self respect comes later.
Reason 2: Jammuites never faced what KAshmiris have faced. When just 1 or 2 people were killed during protests recently in Jammu, you would have seen the anger. Now on the same scale of anger just try to juxtapose 1,00,000 kashmiris losing their lives to guns from either side.