The Before and Beyond of “Kashmir Files”-Part 2

 

Part 2- Don’t take the name of Lord in vain and don’t give up your land in pain

A lot of trouble mongers from across the border saw themselves cool their heels in jails due to an efficient security grid that the Indian Army and Police provided. India saw a PM whom I cannot claim to have been my namesake without a sense of contempt. Nobody would have a doubt that he had his blinkers on but was it by purpose or ineptitude can be debated. Proof of the pudding, he left India in an extraordinary foreign exchange deficit and crisis.

No debate on the fact that the first Home Minister of India from the ROP (Religion of Peace) was placed strategically to augur well for the mayhem to follow. Into a peaceful Kashmir, were released some of the hard core, fiendish and imprisoned terrorists clearly playing to an agenda by the honorable HM. The Centre was looking the other way. The daughter of this Union Home Minister, a medical intern, on her way back gets kidnapped by JKLF. Beat that for a make believe.

 Gallons of ink and acres of papers have gone into untying this staged kidnapping and release. Release not just of the daughter but dreaded terrorists too. Regent Abdullah cried foul over this act of the Government but did not blink an eye when it came to his turn to release few more of the devils into the Kashmir civil society. Such dots connect themselves.

Not a page of history needs to be read to understand this enigmatic kidnapping. When the same transpired in the case of Saifuddin Soz’s daughter not a rat was released to secure her release.

The Chandrashekar Govt. with the able hand of Dr. Swamy, the then Minister for Commerce and Law refused to agree to demands for release of 5 terrorists by J-e-I. Is anybody guessing what this would stand for? Please don’t strain your neurons. Not worth it.

This in spite of the fact that the father Soz, belonged to ever reigning Abdullah’s party and literally, no imagination mind you, rolled on the floor in the PMO. I am sure a knowledgeable reader would have now connected the dots to the effect of a Rangoli.

 Immediately thereafter targeted killing of Kashmiri Pandits and unholy acts with them increased exponentially. Doctors, Judges, Lawyers, Govt officers, Businessman and even Air Force officials were not spared. They were just not killed but brutally done so as to cause fear in the hearts of the Kashmiri minority population, notably the Kashmiri Hindus.

Demands for Azaadi rang from where once call for prayers would emanate. This is where the entire narrative got hijacked right under the nose of the conniving Govt. Kashmir is made up of Muslim majority, Hindu minority and Buddhist minority (around the Ladakh region). So Azaadi for Kashmir was never asked for by the other two communities. How then could a slice be sliced further?

The movie talks enough about what was the crime of the Kashmiri Hindus. Being so.

Given that the moderates from the aggressor community were also put to rest would not exonerate the sin, isn’t it?

 Conservative records talk of 44000 families having to displace into decades of poverty and test for survival. Now convert that into what number of population it would quantify to. I choose not to narrate the lined-up killings shown in the movie. The director gets his credit here.

While much water has flown around Article 370, not as much has been discussed around the sinister Article 35A that gave the Govt of J &K to decide who would be permanent residents of the state and provide special rights and privileges to them.

Do I hear a question who got the benefit of this? I hope not. The Kashmiri majority community.  Note majority and minority are not the same everywhere in India. A huge scam in itself to award minority status across the country even in states when they are an overwhelming majority. Maybe my Kerala brothers can speak volumes on this.

To keep this blog away from legal riddles, will put to rest saying that this article too was good riddance along with Article 370, but the damage caused by it in 70 years would take generations to reverse.

 How does life in a Refugee Camp look like?

 I would request everyone who can spare some time and money to visit the camps in Delhi and Jammu and let me know if it is anything other than shambles.

Imagine these were the educated, peace loving, partaking in festivals of their brethren turned aggressors and low profile citizens who have been made to prove they belong to this country.

 What is happening in the Kashmir of today?

 After late wisdom and face-saving measures, Rashtriya Rifles of the Indian Army was created under the Ministry of Defence and like always the Army had to do the cleaning for the mess created by it’s political masters. Operation Sadbhavana has been going with elan and the number of trouble mongers are ever dwindling today. Should not be more than 200 in the valley when this post goes live.

More importantly the average life cycle of a terrorist in the valley has plummeted to minutes from a daunting months once in not so distant a past.

Life is still not as throbbing in Bangalore, but public opinion is not a small catalyst by any measure in making that happen even if there is a congenial Govt. at the Centre.

 I want to leave the reader with a thought in the mind. If I were to take up arms to evict you from your house would you not do the same to defend yourself? Mind you, it would still be within the horizon of Section 97 of Indian Penal Code.

The Before and Beyond of “Kashmir Files”-Part 1

                                            

                                                    Part 1- The Melting Pot

Agnihotri needs accolades for staking his life and pointing to a time in history when everything around somebody from this very land stood still in the wake of unprecedented horror unleashed on them. He had his limitations while directing a movie. The blood-soaked rice scene, an example, of how moderately it can be shown. He could not have shown a 6-hour movie either. The ordeal for that woman lasted 10 days and not just restricted to cooking blood-soaked food. Now, I have my limitations too. I am leaving the graphics to the reader’s imagination. Wild as it can be, the less real it would be still.

 The preamble to the story goes thus. USA and USSR had been through the cold war era and waited with bated breath as to who would do the first sin. For all it’s ills US is a democracy and always had the backing of its people, even if divided in private they would be united in public. Contrast that with USSR-people were silenced with doles or jails. At best a quasi-democracy at that time. Even worse now. So, anything inimical would invoke public resistance and riots.

Lo and behold USSR made that first wrong move. An old birdie has that the intentions of this behemoth of a nation were not virtuous. The idea was to recast the map of Soviet Union to include Afghanistan, Pakistan and eventually, yes, India. In that order.

 As USSR made it’s foray into Afghanistan in 1979, they had bitten more than what they can chew. Perfect opportunity for the west to bring down it’s oldest rival. While the Afghans adopted shoot and scoot, the west designed the most diabolical weapon ever seen. A radical version of the “religion of peace” (ROP).

Overnight, books, pamphlets and insinuating speeches reached Afghanistan. Probably the single most lethal move which would come back to haunt its creator and the rest of the world.

Peacemakers from the religion of peace with Kalashnikovs trooped in from the rest of the brother countries which made the situation in Afghanistan a cocktail.

 After 10 years of burning their stocks, USSR did in Afghanistan what US just did. Evacuate and leave behind the big guns. Eerie coincidence?  Time log 1989-90. Rings a bell?

Now for 10 years the rabid Kalashnikov holders knew nothing other than pulling the trigger. They had to be a spent force or force that can be spent elsewhere. Not in their dreams were ISI going to miss this opportunity.

Move the theatre to India-Pakistan affairs now.

1971-Pakistan had received a bashing of their lifetime. 90000 troops led by Gen Niazi had surrendered to Lt. Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora. That they were released with increased girth in contrast to Capt. Saurabh Kalia is a matter for another day. In comes Gen. Zia-ul-Haq and frames the infamous “Bleed India with a thousand cuts” policy, knowing well he would be a sitting duck in a conventional war.

 The first cuts were tried in Punjab in the late 80s and to their curse they met a wall called Kanwar Pal Singh Gill I.P.S, yes, the “Supercop” KPS Gill. Rightfully or not Operation Blue Star marked the finale to Pakistan’s devilish attempt in Punjab, though at a dear cost of life of Gen. Arun Kumar Vaidya.

 Close to 2 decades of peace in Kashmir. Business did well. So did tourism. ISI shifts the “to be spent force” to Kashmir. Remember there were no electric wired fences back then at the border. Porous as paper. Hundreds of radio sets from Pakistan reach deep inside Indian borders to disseminate orders to the “innocent astray youngsters”. Now, no enemy thrives without the doors of the fort opening from inside. Indian polity did not disappoint them.