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.