If India is true democracy why then it has miserably failed to prove its democratic credentials on the soil of Kashmir?
Irfan Ali
At present the people at the helm in the government especially the chief minister is finding himself beset with crisis. The reasons are not too far to seek.
For the chief minister certainly a realization seems to have dawned upon that a political organisation that at present will succeed in identifying itself with the Kashmiris aspirations and wishes than merely representing them at the centre will be more effective against the external political competition and potential rivals in future.That’s why he is not resigning! Moreover PDP is not at present in the good books of New Delhi and is in no mood of taking the reigns of government in its own hands neither as a single nor as a coalition. The centre has no choice but to stop Omar Abdullah from stepping down and at the same time giving him full fledged support. Congress very well understands that a political power vacuum in Jammu and Kashmir at this critical juncture will prove disastrous for them in the state and will have its effects at the centre as well.
New Delhi has oppressed us with the help of bullet and now they are trying to hoodwink us by believing in their hollow sympathies, calculated dichotomous statements and speeches. They have over the years changed colours like chameleons. The trust in democracy has been betrayed and has completely vanished in the mists of tyranny and oppression. Time and again politicians of the state have proved themselves as opportunists and power hungry who have always played the divisive games of religion, populism and regionalism. It looks like they will never rise from the political mire they love to indulge in. The opprobrious manner in which they have behaved with the Kashmiris in the last twenty one years and especially since the last two months of violence, mayhem and killings is a standing example of the unethical and true face of their ugly politics. Their big smiles and their visibly optimistic and constructive tones are meant to make sure that the Kashmiris are lured into the honey-trap of carefully woven words and they think it is their birthright to do anything and everything on the names of the people.
The euphoria with which the atrocious use of force in valley has been greeted in the power corridors; by the political elite of the world’s so called youngest democracy is ridiculous and full of shame. To me it signifies naked barbarism and ruthlessness. The reasons given by the peace coordinators and so called law enforcers is the “deteriorating security environment” and fanning of the flames by the anti-nationals but surely there must be flames to fan in the first place. Those who put our homes on flames deserve public hanging but they have never been brought to book! Kashmir today certainly represents deeper and perilous trouble which has the potential to gravitate towards becoming Vietnam of India. It cannot and will not be solved by pointing fingers and nuclear missiles at those across the ceasefire line. Neither will the assertion work given the ground realities that if we allow Kashmir to secede it will result into the balkanization of India. This assertion is supported by the hollow theory of plural society, which supports the colonial argument that independent societies are not viable. Indian nationalists sought to counter this colonial myth by giving it the name of ‘national integration’ which from time to time has proved itself as a cynical farce.
As if the seven lakh army personnel were not enough now New Delhi has out of desperation and panic send twenty more companies of central forces here in valley. The trouble is that once India sends troops it can’t very well return without having fought one. If it does not find enemy, for the sake of enraged political elites in New Delhi, the ruler of the state facilitates the manufacture of one and once they come a new war begins, it will develop a momentum, a logic and a justification of its own. What we are witnessing here is the spectacle of the world’s third largest army reaching reflexively, angrily to the people protesting oppression and hegemony.
The present killing is the final act of betrayal by the political elite who have failed its people miserably. I am not only talking about forty innocents who were lynched and hacked to death but I am also talking about the millions of people who live in Kashmir.
This is our land. We have the right to make informed decisions about its fate. Reconciliation, certainly, is a fairy tale dream now. At the end of the day how many will India kill, spy upon, how many conversations can you eavesdrop on, how many emails can you intercept, how many phone taps and how many sms bans? How many curbs on the fourth estate? How many journalists will you beat? How many news channels will you ban?
The successive regimes have here often been seen in Kashmir speaking as many tongues as a whole corsage of tridents. It can say several contradictory things simultaneously. This time they have declared war on unarmed civilians. They will not resign. Criminals are not meant to resign. Did Modi resign in Gujarat? Did Hitler resign in Germany? Did the brute George Bush resign in America? Did the infidel Ariel Sharon resign in Israel?
All kinds of unpredictable unheard of chaotic forces have been unleashed in valley but nothing can silence the genuine cry for freedom. Every soul in Kashmir is craving for freedom. Listen to the whispers of the chinars, analyse the rays of morning sun on Dal Lake, listen to the songs of freedom which birds sing to each other. They are all saying yes freedom is possible as it is our birth right.
We Kashmiris are fighting for our right to self determination but what is India fighting for? Territory or the hearts and minds of the people of Kashmir! Certainly India never bothered about our bleeding hearts and souls and instead left no stone unturned in rubbing salt over our open deep wounds. Peril is looming large. Whatever remains to be said, must be said quickly. After all is this war for democracy and peace? Democracy and peace for whom? Is it for those whom India killed in custody, in state managed fake encounters or for those who disappeared in custody or those whom they raped in Kupwara, Kunanposhkora and Shopian? What exactly is India avenging here? How many dead Kashmiris will it take to make New Delhi a safer place to live? How much is that which will quench the thirst of India for the blood of Kashmiris? If India is truly a democratic nation why then it has miserably failed to prove its democratic credentials on the soil of Kashmir? If India was the largest democracy on the planet then how come they hang on to a people who have no desire to be part of them? We Kashmiris have no issues with Indians but what we are opposed to is the Indian government’s policies in Kashmir in the name of fighting terrorism, peace and democracy! So to call Kashmiris are anti-India is simply the failure of imagination. An inability to see the world in terms other than those the establishment has set out for you. If you do not love us you hate us. If you are not good you are evil. If you are not an Indian you are Pakistani. Indian government is today condemning violence by Kashmiris but why does not it come to their grey matter that there is a long road the Kashmiris have journeyed on before they have arrived at this destination!
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