In India there is a new attempt to create a communal based division as it was in 1947, in Jammu & Kashmir state. If we give an ear to the persons having separatist thoughts, the condition is worse than 1947.
It was hoped that the flame of separatist thought would rise high one day. All the governments of Jammu & Kashmir, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) of the centre, previous National democratic alliance (NDA) and congress governments in the centre have been taming the separatist leaders under the pretext of discussion for the last 20 years.
It is unfortunate that the separatist leaders have talked of freedom of Kashmir just for a trifle that is a piece of land to be given to Amarnath shrine board. Talk of an economic blockade of Kashmir valley is simply talk. If they are thinking of preventing the sale of apples by the apple producers in the valley, the goods can be sent to other parts of India by air.
The Home Minister of India, Shiv Raj Patil asked the Indian Army, Jammu Kashmir police and local institutions such as the schools of Jammu & Kashmir to purchase these apples. But as the separatist leaders talk more about the economic blockade and incite Kashmiris to move towards Muzzafarabad in Pak occupied Kashmir, it has become obvious that the separatist leaders want separation of Kashmir from India and nothing else.
The question that now arises is how far will a handful of separatist leaders go, misguiding Kashmiri people in the name of religion? Will the government of India be cheated for article 370 in J&K? A small number of people are playing this drama of Kashmirism and Kashmir culture after tens of thousands of Kashmir natives had to leave Kashmir valley.
They had to leave their hereditary houses and now spending their lives as homeless people in other parts of India. The crowd that is being incited near the border today should look at the events on the other side of the border. They must look at the internal circumstances of the countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh that came into existence on the basis of religion. They should specially look at the circumstances of Pakistan towards which they want to move.
Undoubtedly there are difficulties regarding the problem of Kashmir. The basic difficulty is about status of the problem. Is Kashmir an international problem or it should be considered a national issue. Neighboring Pakistan considers it an international problem. That is why it raises this problem on international platforms and even in the UN. The separatist movement of Kashmir has always been supported by Pakistan. Even the spread of terrorism has been given a back up by Pakistan.
A major use of Pak occupied Kashmir is to nurture terrorist training camps. While India may try to improve Indo-Pak relations, Pakistani politicians appear to go on supporting Kashmir separatist leaders. But it always appears that the reality behind the policy of Pakistan politicians is that they cry about Kashmir problems just to divert the attention of the people of Pakistan from the worsening condition of their own country.
The people of Kashmir must understand that since 1947, the government of India has given more importance to this state in comparison to other states in India. For this, the central government has to face the accusation from the Indian hindutvawadi organizations. India and Indians think of Kashmir as the pride of the country and the natural map of India shows Jammu & Kashmir as the forehead of India.
India, unlike Pakistan, considers Kashmir an international problem. India considers it only a national issue so the central government from time to time talks to the Kashmiri leaders. The government of India has spent billions of dollars, giving additional help to Kashmir whereas the government has not given equal attention to other parts of the state that are Jammu & Laddakh.
If we talk about the number of voters, we see that there are more in Jammu than Kashmir. But the Kashmir valley has more seats in the assembly than its counterpart Jammu. The government of India has given help for the development of tourism, railway, trade, roads, transport, energy, education employment health etc to Kashmir valley. The tenure of the assembly in the country is five years but it is six years in Jammu & Kashmir.
The residents of other parts of India cannot fight an election in Jammu & Kashmir even for municipal committee or District board. They can not purchase property there. They cannot get government services there. They cannot trade there. But a person from Kashmir can become the Prime minister or the President of India.
In winter, many poor people, especially from the Muslim community of J&K are seen doing labour or trade in north India. The people from the non Muslim communities give the proper regard to them and are helpful to them by giving them worth. The citizens of India understand it as their duty and not an obligation. But with great sorrow, division of the society is being started due to some separatist leaders. Is this not a deceit?
The start of separatism in the valley was inspired by the family of the Home Minister. The weakest ever Home Minister of India, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, who released the hard core terrorist Masood Azhar to get his daughter Rubaiya Saeed released from kidnapers. If his second daughter Mahbooba Mufti talks in the language of the separatist leaders then our thought is not wrong that this family is in favor of separatism and terrorism.
So our central leaders and all the political parties of the country and the nationalists of Jammu & Kashmir should remain watchful o the policies of the separatist leaders. Now the need is to crush the poisonous snake and not to tame them. They should not be nurtured. If some persons want to go out to Pakistan or towards Pak occupied Kashmir, they should be thrown out.
The Kashmiris who have become homeless because of these mad, thankless, separatist leaders should be rehabilitated. There should be provision to resettle the Kashmiri refugees.
The Government of India should be clear in its policy that J&K is an undividable part of India and those who want to break it are hypocrites. They must be dealt with severely in the way the hypocrites are dealt with.
