[Reader-list] Solving Amarnath: New Hope in Kashmir

[radhikarajen at vsnl.net]

 Hi, none of us hold brief for BJP, but the real threat is not BJP but Con-gress which is supposed to bedissolved after freedom, but retained for the game of dividing votes on caste, language, faith and region.

 Regards.

----- Original Message -----
From: inder salim <indersalim at gmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008 4:49 pm
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Solving Amarnath: New Hope in Kashmir
To: reader-list at sarai.net

> now, the real threat is BJP
> which is trying its best to manufacture Ayodhya like crises for a
> fradulent return to
> power
> 
> 
> 
> On 7/2/08, Kashmir Affairs <kashaffairs at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Solving
> > Amarnath: A New Hope in Kashmir
> >
> >
> > Murtaza
> > Shibli
> >
> >
> > [www.kashmiraffairs.org]
> >
> >
> >
> > The bold decision of the Congress government
> > led by Ghulam Nabi Azad in Srinagar must be commended. By 
> revoking the land
> > order to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) that was illegal 
> at the first
> > place, Azad has not only shown great courage and decision making 
> skills to deal
> > with a crisis that was spiralling out of control, a la 1990, but 
> also taken
> > both the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the fledgling 
> separatist movement of
> > the Hurriyat Conference off the guard, who were using the land 
> issue to
> > manipulate public mind. Though the order came late; it has, 
> however, not only
> > diffused the crisis, but also shown for the first time in recent 
> decades, that a
> > crisis in Kashmir could be solved through bold and timely 
> political action. It
> > also demonstrates to the Kashmiris that by resorting to non-
> violent action,
> > there is a room for manoeuvre and things can be changed through 
> peaceful means.
> > Baring few incidents of stone pelting and burning of tyres, the 
> massive> demonstrations were totally peaceful, without any 
> involvement of the militant
> > groups, and without any communal flavour despite propaganda by 
> various quarters
> > including mainstream Indian media. Sadly, the state response was 
> not that peaceful;
> > five innocent lives were lost during the ten day demonstrations. 
> However, by
> > Kashmiri standards, it could be classified as measured and 
> therefore a change
> > from previous years, when the paramilitary forces would kill 
> dozens on small or
> > no provocations. Incidentally, this is first such massive crisis 
> in the last
> > two decades that has been solved peacefully and decisively, in 
> public favour, taking
> > everyone by surprise.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Another very positive aspect that emerged
> > from this stand-off is that the Pakistani government maintained 
> a studied
> > silence on the issue, thus not only keeping the spirit of 
> reconciliation> between the two countries alive, but also showing 
> maturity by not succumbing to
> > the pressure from the traditional hawkish elements within the 
> establishment when
> > the temptation was real.  This also
> > prevented any wild claims within the Indian government or Hindu 
> militants to
> > blame Pakistan for a role in the crisis. Though, the Pakistani 
> silence> irritated the United Jihad Council chief Syed Salahudin, 
> who called it as 'surprising',
> > it was in the right spirit of peace that the two countries have 
> embarked upon.
> > Successful dealing of the crisis demonstrated that if the right 
> and positive
> > decisions are taken, keeping in view the aspirations of the 
> Kashmiri people, it
> > is possible to deal with crises without involving Pakistan. It 
> also bought
> > another stark point to the fore – that Pakistan is not always 
> involved in all
> > the crisis in Kashmir; a paranoia that has swept across the Indian
> > establishment and offers an alibi to the politicians and 
> security establishment
> > for their systemic or judgemental failures or biases.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The peaceful outcome also shows that if the
> > promises and commitments are followed in the right spirit, there 
> is a room for
> > massive improvement in the situation without employing more than 
> half a million
> > troops and two dozen secret agencies.  If
> > the promises like 'zero tolerance for human rights violations' 
> made by the
> > Prime Minister Manmohan Singh more than two years ago would have 
> been observed,
> > the Kashmiri population would not have felt so distanced or 
> disconnected from
> > the peace process that is now running in the fifth year. In 
> addition, the economic
> > development of the Kashmir valley suffers massively either due 
> to the massive
> > presence of the Army and paramilitary forces or the unspent 
> millions that lye
> > wasted in the government coffers mainly due to the political 
> rivalry between
> > the coalition partners – People's Democratic Party (PDP) and 
> Congress; the
> > tussle added vitriol to fire caused by the current crisis, as 
> the PDP tried to
> > capitalise on it despite being an equal partner in 'crime'.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > In a classic act of political opportunism, the
> > PDP that was part of the cabinet decision that allowed the 
> illegal transfer of
> > land to the SASB, decided to withdraw the support and blame its 
> coalition> partner Congress for the whole issue. Only days ago, 
> Kashmir's Forest Minister,
> > Qazi Mohammad Afzal, who belongs to the PDP openly boasted about 
> his role in
> > effecting the land transfer. But when the public reaction grew, 
> the PDP not
> > only withdrew support, but also issued public statements that 
> sounded like
> > racial epithets designed to inflame the public opinion and hence 
> provoke and enlarge
> > the constituency of protests and violence.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The use of religion for political ends is not
> > new in south Asia. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the patron of PDP, has 
> previously also
> > been accused of creating communal tensions for his electoral 
> gains. In 1986,
> > during his time as Congress chief of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti 
> Sayeed allegedly engineered
> > communal riots against the Kashmiri Pandits in Anantnag district 
> in which half
> > a dozen temples and homes of Hindus were damaged. This afforded 
> Congress a
> > plausible reason to withdraw support from fledgling Ghulam 
> Mohammad Shah government,
> > which was manufactured through defections from the National 
> Conference at the
> > first place courtesy of Mufti Sayeed. Later, in 1990, when the 
> massive public demonstrations
> > engulfed the Kashmir Valley, Mufti, as the Home Minister in the 
> VP Singh government
> > deliberately sent Jagmohan as governor making it difficult for 
> Farooq Abdullah
> > government to function. Farooq resigned and Jagmohan got a free 
> ride employing state
> > terror that gave rise to massive militancy – a phenomenon that 
> still costs
> > lives in Kashmir. Perhaps Mufti Sayeed was wishing to witness 
> the repeat of
> > 1990 to feed his insatiable desire for power, but the timely 
> action by the Azad
> > government diffused the situation successfully, leaving him lost 
> and vulnerable.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Buoyed by the success and free from the
> > fetters of PDP conditionality, the Azad government has a huge 
> task ahead. The
> > winter capital of the state, Jammu, has been virtually taken 
> over by the Hindu militant
> > groups who have been attacking the government buildings, offices 
> of the
> > political parties and threatening economic blockade of the 
> Kashmiri Valley. The
> > government should not only deal with situation wisely, but also 
> make sure that
> > no anti-Kashmiri rhetoric or action is allowed that will feed 
> into the agenda
> > of extremist vision of a civilisational clash. It is hoped that 
> all the political
> > parties will discard electoral opportunism and mount joint 
> efforts to initiate
> > serious peace efforts. The successful handling of Kashmir's 
> current crisis
> > offers a hope and a chance for the Congress government at the 
> Centre to build
> > on this bold decision and work towards a final and durable 
> solution of the
> > problem.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The writer is a security analyst based
> > in London. He is also editor of quarterly journal Kashmir 
> Affairs and
> > webportal www.kashmiraffairs.org
> >
> >
> >      __________________________________________________________
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> -- 
> 
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