[Reader-list] "We were mute spectators"-Omar Abdullah

[S. Jabbar]

Dear All,
Here is the full text of Omar Abdullah's blog.  I find it a breath of fresh
air.  Rashneek I don't think you're being fair to the man.  Perhaps this is
the beginning of the the process of truth & reconciliation that I think is
vital for Kashmir.
Best
sj


The one with no title

This one has no title because its not a planned, thought out post. Its
simply my reaction to some of the stuff that has been said. While I²²²²m not
aiming any shots at any of the people who have responded or posted messages
on this blog as my mum always said ³if the cap fits wear it².

Lets start with Sheikh Abdullah - yes he is my grandfather and yes its
difficult to be objective but even a blind man can see that he had great
qualities. He never claimed to be perfect nor do we in the NC claim that he
was. He was human and carried the baggage that any (or after reading this
blog you²²²²d have to say almost any) human being carried. That having been
said he struggled for a cause and suffered himself. He went to jail, he
spent time in exile, he was interrogated but he didn²²²²t sit back and let
others do the fighting for him. He didn²²²²t hand over guns to poor Kashmiri
boys and keep his own kids out of harms way. He didn²²²²t shut down
profitable business establishments through hartals and civil strikes while
building his own big palaces. Sheikh Abdullah did what he thought was best
for his people and the people responded in kind. Some will argue that his
decision in 1947 was wrong - looking at the present state of Pakistan and
the side of Kashmir with it, I can²²²²t see how they can justify that
argument. Was independence an option? Sure let²²²¹¹s ask the tibetans about
how it is to survive as an independent country with China, India and
Pakistan for neighbours. Lets ask Afghanistan what it is like to be a
mountainous land locked country in the region with precious little natural
wealth, or Nepal for that matter. It²²²¹¹s all very well to dream and base
those dreams on theoretical models of self sufficiency looking at
Switzerland and places like that but Kosovo would be a better long term
model to look at. We had a cold war, we had two blocks and two choices -
India or Pakistan.

Sheikh Abdullah signed an accord in 1975 and disbanded the Plebiscite front.
Some will argue that this was a betrayal and they would not be completely
wrong in as much as he settled without getting what he set out to get but
look at the circumstances that prevailed at the time. We can²²t take the
luxury of looking at events in isolation and pass judgement. Yes, he signed
an accord but look at what was happening around him - Pakistan had not only
lost a war it had been dismembered, the Simla Agreement had been signed that
promised to resolve the Kashmir issue and Indira Gandhi was being compared
to Goddess Durga. Under these circumstances Sheikh Abdullah felt that he had
to get the best that he could for the people and the people agreed with him.
Any Kashmir expert worth his or her salt will agree that the 1977 election
was the freest and fairest election the state has ever seen and the people
stood behind Sheikh Abdullah and continued to stand behind him till he was
laid to rest. Has any leader in Kashmir had a funeral on the scale that
Sheikh Abdullah had in 1982? I think not, that having been said those that
are ideologically opposed to him will remain so - such is life.

Much is said about my father and by the grace of God he²¹¹s still alive and
kicking and doesn²²t need me to set the record straight for him he does it
for himself. Junaid mentioned that he danced when a Pakistani wicket fell. I
wonder why the Pakistani wicket mattered so much because he dances whenever
he watches a match and India takes a wicket. He makes no bones about where
his loyalties lie and is not hypocritical about it. Time will tell how what
he did, what he does and what he²²ll do will be judged. Lets not be too
quick to rush in and pass judgement ourselves as yet.

Politicians have let Kashmiris down - sure we have. But what of the
engineers and officials who were hand in glove with us? What of those
trusted individuals who on a meagre salary have built palaces and sent their
children to the choicest colleges paying hundreds of thousands of rupees?
Those that built roads that only existed on paper, ordered pipes that
continue to rust decades later, drew salaries as doctors from the state
while continuing to practice in the Gulf or UK - do they bear no
responsibility for the suffering of the people? Two wrongs don²²t make a
right (another thing my mum always says) but then people living in glass
houses should be very careful where they throw stones (yet another of
mum²¹¹s gems). As a politician I have let the people of my state down but I
had a lot of willing and able supporters along the way.

I am a hypocrite because I draw my salary from the Parliament of India and I
still criticise India for the excesses in my state - so be it. I²²ll live
with being a hypocrite because it²¹¹s better than living as a mute
spectator. I live with it because I am equally critical of the excesses of
the militants. If I am critical of India²¹¹s actions in Kashmir, I am
critical of Pakistan²¹¹s as well. I do a job as a member of Parliament but I
haven²²t sold my soul. I don²²t visit the Indian Home Ministry or the
Pakistani High Commission (or in some cases both together) to collect my
monthly dole. But what of those who travel the world talking about the
illegal nature of India²¹¹s occupation of Kashmir and do so on an INDIAN
passport? These are people who feel so strongly about the disputed nature of
Kashmir but will happily fill a landing card and mention citizenship of
India. I have an uncle who more often than not I disagree with but I admire
the conviction he has - he disagrees with what happened in 1947 and
subsequent events and so refuses to carry a passport. He has never applied
for one. For the longest time he never left the state and only travelled by
road between Jammu and Srinagar because he refused to travel on ²²Indian²²
Airlines.

Coming to events of the last seventeen years I will only touch on a few
things that come to mind because a lot of this blog is going to be taken up
by this period so no point writing it all in one post. That the Indian
security forces are guilty of some of the most horrible excesses is a given
and I don²²t dispute that. I don²²t condone what was done and am a firm
believer that the truth must emerge and the guilty must be punished. This
must be done in a transparent manner. I have talked about the need for a
truth and reconciliation commission and will write in greater detail about
this in a subsequent post.

While agreeing that nothing can justify the extra-judicial killings, the
rapes, the torture, I have to ask the question - was there any of this
happening before militancy started in the late 80²¹¹s? Before some of you
rush in and go for my jugular claiming that I am using militancy to justify
these things let me make clear that I am NOT. NOTHING can justify what the
people have had to go through but to suggest that the people of Kashmir have
been subjugated and brutalized for six decades is to stretch things way too
far. I don²²t recall crack downs and searches before 1990, as I don²²t
recall arrogant convoy commanders on our roads before that either. I recall
wives of Indian Army officers teaching me in school. I recall going to the
homes of school friends whose fathers were in the army and playing with
other ²²C²² type kids all day. Incidentally while it is always unfair to use
broad strokes to paint everyone and catagorise then simplistically like one
of us has done with his ²²A²² ²²B²² and ²²C²² groupings it was fun to see
the reaction that ensued. The glass houses sprung to mind again.

Its so easy to say that we²²ll lay down our lives to bring Kashmiri pandits
back to the valley and I appreciate the sentiment as I²²m sure the Kashmiri
Pandits reading it will. Pity that sentiment was missing when our mosques
were being used to drive these people out. None of us was willing to stand
up and be counted when it mattered. None of us grabbed the mikes in the
mosques and said this is wrong and the Kashmiri Pandits had every right to
continue living in the valley. Our educated, well to do relatives and
neighbours were spewing venom twenty four hours a day and we were mute
spectators either mute in agreement or mute in abject fear, more often than
not it was muteness driven by fear because the guns turned against the
Pandits found their target elsewhere as my party workers found, but mute
none the less.

And talking about mosques - what a great symbol of mass uprising they proved
to be. While I can²²t claim to have lived through it I have enough friends
who did and they tell me about the early 90²¹¹s where attendance was taken
in mosques at prayer time. If one missed a prayer in the mosque the
neighbourhood enforcement committee knocked on the door and sought an
explanation, usually with a few gun men present to ensure the message was
received loud and clear. People were forced out of their homes to
participate in ³mass uprisings² against Indian ³occupation² and the same
enforcement committees went from door to door forcing people to march. While
I don²²t deny that the overwhelming majority of people rose in anger in the
early 90²¹¹s there are two sides to every story and we need to look at both
or we risk losing our objectivity. Shop signs were painted green and white
in Islamic colours and people were forced to set their watches to Pakistan
standard time. As if these two things would make the dream of independence
any easier to achieve - amazing how quickly peeople rediscovered the old
colours when they could make a choice again.

This post has been a little more long winded than I had expected but then
Omar Khayyam once said -

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it

I²²ve written as I felt and to be honest with you I²²ve enjoyed writing
every word of it.