Time for Introspection...

Recently, I read an article (Will the Jhelum Smile Again?) written by Col (Retd) Anil Athale on rediff. Although he has written nothing relevant or even worthwile in the article (For example he says the Indian Govt. sells rice at Rs. 3 a KG to Kashmiris!!!), it became a discussion board for me to explain to my fellow brothers the actual state of affairs in Kashmir.

I was more shocked than surprised to see everyone attacking me in a synchronized manner. And the sad part is, not even a single person talked anything relevant about the Kashmir issue.

Most of the readers appeared to be inspired by Sangh-Parivar-like-stories with base neither in reality nor in history.

People talked about "Islamic Terrorism", a term coined by God knows who (Since Islam preaches peace, equality and justice more than anybody else), about Pakistan, about all Muslims being terrorists and even about a new strategy of minorities in India whereby an author, Ashish commented that minorities were playing victims in India and were planning to divide-and-rule India. I quote, "Currently the strategy is simple. Single out the strongest part of the body from it, which can fight or protect the body. And then work on and target the weaker parts and eat them all away eventually."

God knows where such ideas come from! However, he was not the only one. Many others rhymed with him.
People even talked about Muslims taking a weekly snan (The only one in a week!!) on a Friday. Having heard such things for the first time, I didnt have ready answers to many of these questions, Since being a Muslim, I know that Islam teaches us to keep highest level of personal hygiene.

The point I'm trying to make here is that Islam has been grossly misunderstood by our fellow brothers and sisters. I dont however blame ignorant people asking irrelevant questions. Blame for such an image of Islam today equally rests with us as well.

We as Muslims have not only failed to create a correct perception about ourselves, but have also allowed the perception to become synonymous with terrorism and backwardness.

While I was trying my best to restrict the discussion to Kashmir, all others kept on raising questions about Islam, terrorism and Pakistan. Some even went to the extent of quoting what Islamic Terrorists had been doing across the globe.

Another friend even went ahead to suggest a partition of population. Unfortunately, we have a short-term memory and nobody in our generation remebers that more than 1 Million people, Hindus and Muslims, were brutally killed in the worst ever partition of our country, not very long back. People seem to have no compassion left for each other.

Since rediff has auto comment moderation, a fellow brother even went ahead and coined a slogan for us (Muslims), (albiet written backwards!) "ak hsed hey aran ah "MILSUM ORAM HSED OOAHCAB"

I wonder why our brothers and sisters, on the other side of the Pir Panjal cannot see Kashmir issue independent of these inconsequential doctored fables. I wonder why nobody wants to address the people of Kashmir instead of land of Kashmir. I wonder why nobody realises the value of human lives. I wonder why there is no compassion left in the world. I wonder.....

What went wrong...

We have been treated as property and not as individuals. In the 19th century, Gulab Singh purchased us for a discounted price of Rs. 75 lakhs (Since the original demanded amount was Rs 1.5 Crore), at less than Rs. 2 per person!!

Today is no different. India and our brothers and sisters in India do not realise that they are dealing with people, not with property. I am an Indian and would want each Indian to introspect and try to listen to our grief, pain and sorrow, that has worsened over the years due to alienating policies of the government and indifferent attitute of the people.

Unfortunately, the face of India in Kashmir is the Army (Including Paramilitary Forces). The uncontrolled and unlimited power given to such entities has resulted in more than 1,00,000 killings over the years. (Both by terrorists as well as security forces)

How does a common Kashmiri see India under such circumstances?

Now a possible solution to our problems that comes to my mind is that India should adopt a compassionate policy towards us, and much more than that, our brothers and sisters in India must start respecting us. Every individual deserves respect and so do we.

Many Kashmiris have lost faith in the Indian system and the reasons are not very difficult to find.
How do you expect someone to trust you when more often than not people start doubting your allegience?
When you are looked upon as a synonym of terrorism?
An outcast?
A Pakistani?
By your own brothers and sisters?
In your own homeland?
I wish someone had answers for these questions.
We need a major shift in the attitute of government and people towards us.

The world has been hearing echoes of Kashmir being an integral part of India.
Has somebody ever heard anyone claiming "Kashmiris" to be integral part of India?
I bet no one ever has.

Time for some introspection brothers!

BEHIND THE SCENES

Current state of affairs:
Jammu is on fire. The state of Jammu & Kashmir is on the verge of a final breakup. These and many such pronouncements are seen and heard every where these days. Perhaps this is either a reckless exaggeration or a product of wishful thinking.

Understanding the basics
First let us try to understand as to what constitutes Jammu. Again most of its definitions in fact define the ideological perceptions of those who attempt the definitions. The definers wish to have a Jammu of their own wishes or beliefs and are not bothered to see the ground realities as they exist today and shall continue to exist in the days and years to come unless of course something spectacular takes place in the political geography of this region.

For a pucca Hindu brigade nickerdhari, Jammu is the land of temples, temples and temples, most of them erected on state land without any formal permission or authority. To such perverted minds the Jammu region which is now spread over ten districts means only the kanakmandi and areas surrounding it. The whole Jammu Pradesh or Rashtra is thus colored saffron and no other colors exist in the vibgyor of the human society, of course in addition to the exalted humans there are some exalted animals also to provide the spiritual company in this land of bliss. This type of insane mental disposition can and does conveniently overlook the demographic disposition of the region called Jammu. Such perverted minds wish to dub all people living in these areas as dogras and ignore that dogras constitute a small minority of the population of this region.

The majority of the population is composed of scheduled tribes (gujjar & bakerwals) non-scheduled tribes fighting for their scheduled tribe status (paharis) scheduled castes (harijan) and other ethnic and racial groups like Kashmiri, Sikhs, pothoharies, and punjabies etc.Even on religious lines the region is anything but a monolith. We have Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists in the population. On the basis of geography and climatic zones again the region shows extreme diversity. Languages, culture, customs every area of human activity is marked by differences and these differences can neither be surmounted nor ignored.

The Heterogeneity
This being the case what then is this Jammu which is supposedly on fire and ready to be torn asunder as a result of an agitation launched for restoration of 800 kanals of land far away in Kashmir valley to an organization which has to look after a cave shrine at best for two months a year. What then are the unstated motives behind this ruckus? Jammu can not aspire to be a separate state for it lacks linguistic, cultural, ethnic and religious homogeneity. The carving out a separate heterogeneous state can not be a solution to the perceived problems created by heterogeneity itself. You do not treat a person bitten by a snake by injecting venom.

The Hidden Agenda - Killing many birds without throwing a stone!
Then what is the agenda? Unfortunately even best minds among us, so called Jammuites do not know .We seem to be too pathetically carried away by the din and noise on the streets of Jammu to understand and analyze the situation in a rational and reasonable way. What is happening on the streets of Jammu city is in fact an unfolding of an agenda least known to us, the jammuites.The agenda is laid by those who have been enjoying the hospitality of people of Jammu for the last two decades now. Our very own Kashmiri pundits are at the bottom of this game. They are killing many birds with one arrow but they do not carry a bow. The innocent, good at heart people of Jammu are carrying the bow and shooting the arrows. What is the Kashmiri pundit leadership up to? The answers are not too far to seek. From the days of migration Kashmiri pundit leadership has been trying in every conceivable way to pay back the Kashmiri Muslims for the perceived genocide, exodus and what have you in the dictionary. It is another matter that the genocide involved not more than 100 people dead as per official data released by home ministry. The KP leadership crisscrossed entire globe with fake tales and opposed Kashmiri aspirations on every platform. They did everything they could to malign their compatriots and now they have used the last agniban(offence intended, Dr Agnishekhar) They are not interested in amarnath shrine or the land. Had it been so they would have demanded full control over amaranth shrine affairs by demanding an exclusive Kashmiri management of the shrine? Everyone in Kashmir would support a Kashmiri management of this and all other Kashmiri pundit shrines. Such a management would perhaps find it much easier to improve the facilities for pilgrims as the goodwill of local Kashmiri Muslims would stand guaranteed.KP leadership on the other hand inducted remove Vohra slogan in to the agitation for it fears advent of Vohra on the scene in Kashmir. Governor Vohra is not new to Kashmir politics and Kashmir problem. Having played an important role as an interloculator on Kashmir he has his own advantages. Our KP friends do not want any movement whatsoever towards conflict resolution in Kashmir. They would definitely love to have a novice at the helm and if that novice has any bhagwa leanings, so much the better.

Our responsibility as Jammuites
The present agitation in Jammu has to be seen in e above perspective. It may still be possible for us Jammu’s good at heart people to see behind the scene. It goes to our credit that we maintained very good relations with Kashmiri Muslims even when things were very difficult. We maintained peace even when there were grave provocations such as an attack on raghunath temple. Who is then today asking Kashmiri Muslims to leave Jammu? It can not be us, the people of Jammu. It is in fact the perverted KP leadership who has already begun rejoicing on the possibility of taking revenge. But those among the KP’s who know people of Jammu, also know that we are capable of seeing the whole game and will rise to the occasion and not allow to be used as bows for shooting someone’s arrows. Jammu has a stake in peace. We can not and will not allow to be treated as pawns in a dirty game. Jammu has over the years seen a new growth on every front. It is fast emerging as a hub of great economic activity. It is on the threshold of a new and modern age. It is poised to be a centre for excellence in every sphere of life, a cultural and intellectual capital perhaps next only to Delhi and Lahore in this part of the subcontinent. We can not fritter our energies for the sake of satisfying the ego of a handful of irrelevant political orphans. Those who feel and preach that a total separation from Kashmir shall cure all the ills, should remind themselves of the economic, political and social fallouts of such an utopian dream. The sooner the futility of this exercise is realized the better for all of us. Jammu will survive, thrive, grow and prosper only as long as it remains firmly wedded to Kashmir. It has a great future in case it allows a pluralistic society on its land. The moment Jammu loses its multiethnic character it shall cease to grow. The state of Jammu and Kashmir shall continue to be an inseparable part of Indian union as long as Jammu remains inseparable from Kashmir.

Response to Planforindia.blogspot.com

Reply to a discussion on http://planforindia.blogspot.com/2008/08/truth-about-holy-amarnath-cave-and.html
1. The shrine was discovered by a Kashmiri Muslim.
Response: According to a legend….
Reply to response:
Definition of Legend Oxford Concise English Dictionary: A traditional story popularly regarded as historical but which is not authenticated; Oxford Pocket English Dictionary: A traditional story from the past which may or may not be true
Definition of Puranas : eighteen ancient books consisting of legends and mythological narrations dealing with creation, recreation and the genealogies of sages and rulers
Definition of Mythology (Oxford Pocket English Dictionary): Set of widely held but exaggerated or false stories or beliefs.
2. The Yatra has always been conducted by Kashmiri Muslims
Response: Yes the yatra has been supported by the Malik family descendents but not conducted by them
Reply to response
Supported by Malik Family agreed. But who are the pony owners? Who give shelter to Yatris during storms? Who carry the old on their backs? For your information, they are all Muslims since you seem to have seen Kashmir only through the internet and through “mythological” stories.
3. No Yatri was ever harmed by a Kashmiri Muslim.
Response: Yes, numerous. Even this year some were killed at Bus Stand (5), grenade attack at Gulmarg, etc. Here are only some of them from previous years, it is a long list but i have taken only 3 years
Reply to response
Total No. of Kashmiri Muslims Killed (as per Govt. of India Statistics) since 1988 – 31,000
Total Number of Kashmiri Pandits Killed (as per your own blog): 361
It is grossly incorrect to term Kashmiri Muslims as terrorists. The statement “All terrorists are Kashmiri Muslims” can to an extent be a valid statement. But when you take the converse statement it is an utter violation of logical reasoning. The total Terrorist population by exaggerated estimates would be no more than 1% of the entire population.
Hence if you say Yatris were killed by Kashmiri Muslims, I suggest you go back to school and take a class in reasoning.
By the way, terrorists have no religion and have been misusing religion/race/creed since time immemorial across the world.
4. This year, we had record number of Yatris (more than 300,000) visiting the holy Shrine.
Response: Yes, that is good but it has nothing to do with the valley as the arrangements are done by the SASB. Generally Yatra’s world over are matter of faith and people endure great hardship to complete them. Kashmir being part of India, 300,000 or 3 million is no big deal.
Reply to response:
SASB had only 8 Hindu members - Justice (Retd) G D Sharma, Prof Vishnu Murti Shastri, Sunil Sachdeva, Manoj Gaur, Dr Vimla Dhar, Professor Neerja Mattoo, Raghu Modi and Dr Arun Kumar. The people who did the actual work on field were all Kashmiri Muslims. Thus, to say that just 8 people managed a gathering of 3,00,000 people is absolutely ridiculous.
5. Each and every Yatri had praises for the locals who fed them in spite of scanty supplies due to the economic blockage of the highway
Response: Well, that is what was the great sufi kashmiri culture that Paki’s wanted to destroy. This was the culture of Lal Ded and Rishi peer….
Reply to response
I absolutely agree with your statement. The primary aim of Pakistan is to destroy any and every system in India. They had been trying to disconnect the Valley from the rest of India for the past 20 years. When they didn’t succeed people in Jammu came to their aid. For God’s sake stop communalizing the whole issue.
6. Entire country including the 300,000 Yatris are fully satisfied with the arrangements
Response: Well, the arrangements were done by SASB.
Reply to response
As in point No 4
7. A handful of communal elements at Jammu have a problem.
Response: It is not as our P.M say “an issue of modalities”. It is a decision of how people will be treated. 400,000 pandits were forced out of their land, 361 were killed, their temples destroyed and sahbir shah, sajjad lone, yasin mailk and their likes are saying that Jammu has communal elements. Well it is like Pakistan accusing India of supporting Taliban
Reply to response
I’m sorry but I’ll again say that Jagmohan was responsible for the unfortunate uprooting of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley. He planned to “cleanse” the Kasmiri separatists in an indiscriminate planned attack. He along with his agencies spread terror amongst the KPs and they used to send Military Trucks to aid the migration. Even today, 1100 KP families still live in the valley. Why did anyone not touch them?
Coming to issues at Jammu, we have heard all voices coming from Jammu and from Kashmir. The voices and actions from Jammu are categorically against Muslims to the extent that even houses of Gujjars are being destroyed and supplies to the valley have been stopped.
On the contrary, Kashmiris made all attempts to make the Yatra successful by all means. Who is communal?

8. The local Jammu Dogra has never in history protested like this.
Response: Well that is the point, their patience has now broken and the last straw in the camels backs was Omar Abdullah’s speech in the parliament. It is he who shouted “it is OUR LAND and we will die but not give it away”….
Reply to response
Excuse me; the land belongs to the people of Jammu as well, unless they choose not to associate themselves with the state. They have an equal right being state subjects. I agree that Kashmiri Pandits are also inhabitants of the land and Omar never disputed that in his speech. However, many of the Pandits chose to leave their homeland. I have read the other story about your childhood on your blog. But tell me how were Muslims different from Pandits. More Muslims who went against the terrorists were killed than Pandits. I will again reiterate that Jagmohan was responsible for the migration. Why did Sikhs and Christians never leave? Even after Chhati Singhpora incident? As I have already stated more than 31,000 Kashmiri Muslims have died due to Militancy, and the number excludes the number of Kashmiri Terrorists.
9. Some of the people who migrated from valley more than decade ago see this as an opportunity to take a revenge to rout out Muslims from Jammu
Response: Well again you are missing the point. Surely 20 years is a long time to take revenge. It is akin to agreeing that temporary structures 13000 feet at Baltal can be used for changing the demographic’s of the valley
Reply to response:
Well, if 20 years is a long time to take revenge, you would not have been blogging hatred today!
It is not about demographics. It is about pollution and contamination of ecology. The SASB started a helicopter service to add to the pollution. They were constructing permanent structures thereby destructing ecology. For evidence you may check their site at http://www.shriamarnathjishrine.com/amarnath-shrine-board.html
Moreover, if the Yatra is going on smoothly, isn’t it immaterial whether the land is transferred or not?
10. The Jammu Dogras have fallen prey to the game plan.
Response: same as above. Sadly, you are missing the point.
Reply to response
Same a/a
11. Who is benefiting from the protests?
Response: Sometimes, protests are done without immediate gains. What will be gained is that the fact that Kashmiri’s have got too much without doing anything. .…
Reply to response:
Pakistan & ISI are benefiting from the protests and from the economic blockade. Wake up!
12. Our soldiers have laid down their lives fighting militants to keep the National Highway open for the past 20 years.
Response: Yes, that is the point. The Highway is a scared piece if land for all and we cannot allow it to be used to pump in secessionist elements. Just for your information, an R.O.P (road opening party) of the army clearing the….
Reply to response:
Our soldiers died to keep the link open but our fellow citizens- brothers and citizens succeeded!
13. Whose cause are people at Jammu supporting?
Response: They are fighting for the cause of India and the right of an Indian over secessionists.
Reply to response:
By blocking the road they are supporting the plans of secessionists
14. Kashmiri Leaders want a unified state including Jammu/Kashmir/POK/Ladakh
Response: Sorry but that is not a consolation. It is and will remain unified as per the 1947 agreed boundaries. It is the writ of the Parliament that the P...
Reply to response
We want a unified state under India. Recent developments in Jammu aim at further dividing the state.
15. Protestors at Jammu want separate Jammu, Separate Kashmir, Separate KP Land, Separate Ladakh and maybe further slices of the flesh of our motherland.
Response: Haven’t heard that but there will always be multiple view points and that is the corner stone of democracy. People in valley who have been following nizam e Mustafa cannot and will not understand what a pluralistic….
Reply to response:
I’m sorry but Sikhs and Christians still continue to live in harmony with us. They, like us, never bowed down to terrorism. We have some of the leading schools run by Christian missionaries. Churches, Gurudwaras and temples and mosques continue with their religious proceedings.
If you now say that temples were destroyed, I would like you to find out how many mosques and shrines were destroyed by terrorists? Remember the destruction of one of the holiest shrines at Chraresharief? I again reiterate, terrorists don’t have any religion.

It is very unfortunate that sometimes ill informed individuals start to "blog" half-truths encouraging communalism. In the world today when everyone is striving towards peace, please use your efforts to contribute for a better tomorrow. Dont sow seeds of violence and hatred!