We can prosper in Peace, not in Hatered

From Greater Kashmir (Also read Behind the Scenes)
So far the state of J&K was immune from communal onslaughts after the massacre of 1947. The people of these two regions were sharing good and bad days with each other like brothers. Many more ugly events took place in other states of the country since partition but it did not affect the harmony. But unfortunately the Amarnath Land Row created abrupt wedge between these two partners and created so much distance between them which seems very difficult now to bridge. Kashmiris fully know that the people of Jammu are tolerant race and have seen many ups and downs during last sixty years but have never reacted in such a harsh way against other sects of the state. This time they have entirely forgotten the past sixty years close association with their state mates of Kashmir and have used drastic and unlawful measures against them which were beyond expectation. Thus the Kashmiri Muslims and the Muslims of surrounding areas of Jammu had to sustain irreparable loss of precious lives and huge property and have become unwanted within a short burst of time. They have crossed all the limits and have not even hesitated to block the National Highway leading to Kashmir from Lakhanpur and stopped flow of essential supplies to Kashmir for days together. Wherever they spotted any loaded truck with goods bound for Kashmir, they got hold of the drivers and beat them to the pulp and hurled petrol bombs on them which made them half dead during the course of travelling. After words two drivers of Kashmir breathed their last in Srinagar. These harsh steps are taken at the last stage in the battlefield when all logic fails to work and when the two sides are to part company from each other for good. Therefore it appears that the Sangrash Committee may have some other aims in their heart of hearts, as such the land row seems a mere beginning. These agitating rioters gave communal color to the crusade launched against the Muslims at the behest of Sang Parivar, thereby crossed all the limits of humanity. In spite of such a big upheaval against a particular sect, the authorities at the corridors of power took it very lightly, thereby giving more time to goons of the fascist forces to continue their deplorable acts against the Muslims. The saddest part of the agitation was that the Kashmiri Pandits affiliated with so called “Panun Kashmir” and “Kashmir Samiti’, spewing venom against Kashmiri Muslims and the Muslims of surrounding areas of Jammu. They are the persons who used iron rods, chains, tridents and petrol bombs against Muslims and hurt their religious sentiments in a very crude manner. This they are doing contrary to the sincere efforts of Kashmiri Muslims for their homecoming. The wounds inflicted upon the said community during the upheaval may heal up in due course but the scars of the wounds will remain visible for all times to come and may revive the scuffle if the demands of the Sangrash Committee are beyond Amarnath. Thus the communal divide has turned the two communities poles apart. Now the land row agitation has come to halt in the wake of a recent accord reached between the Government and the Sangrash Committee on 31st August 2008. But it is one sided. Therefore it would be ever lasting and credible agreement only when Kashmiri Pandiths will take up the management of the Yatra.
S M Qadiri

"what is sad is that the focus in kashmir, especially of the Pundit community is not on the human shade of the dispute but on the geographical side. they want thier land back, the land which they were forced leave, but they refuse to see that this land also belongs to the common kashmiri who has spent a lifetime in a troubled land, who has seen his family die at the hands of the militants as well as of the army"- Anonymous, on Planforindia