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

[S. Jabbar]

Rashneek,  I misunderstood.  Thought those were your comments and did not
realize that it was a news report that speculated on Omar Abdullah¹s
motives. I¹m so sorry.
sj 


On 5/16/08 4:19 PM, "rashneek kher" <rashneek at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Sonia,
>  
> I have posted what was there on the Times Now Website.That I posted completely
> without any changes.So in my part I have been fair.
> I agree that this is the first step towards truth and reconciliation.This one
> coupled with Rekha Chaudhary's recent findings should atleast put an end to
> the Jagmohan conspiracy theory now.It has to be acknowledged that there was a
> mass frenzy coupled with insurgency and selected killings which led to Pandit
> exodus.
>  
> Regards
>  
> Rashneek
> 
>  
> On 5/16/08, S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 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.
>> 
>> 
> 
>