[Reader-list] 'Men in uniform are Kashmir's problem, not solution'

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear Kshamendra

My response is as follows:

1) My arguments are not for linking the Army and the Shopian incident in the
way you are reporting. Yes, we are talking about Shopian, but I also talked
about the issue lying beyond it as well. Therefore, while I welcome your
argument that AFSPA should be removed, I equally welcome the point that
until the Army is proven guilty in this particular incident, one should not
forget the kind of violations the Indian army has indulged in Kashmir.
Therefore, my straight point is that AFSPA should go and sooner or later,
the army must also go.

And I haven't stated that Army has done Shopian, so please refrain from
giving me tags or labels. Please don't assume things I never stated.

2) You have mentioned about Azadi activists and jihadis. Killing of
innocents can't be termed jihad, and this is something many Muslim scholars
have often repeated in different statements at different times. Any kind of
violence or human right violation, whether it be unleashed by the JKLF, the
Army, the jihadis, or any other organization is wrong and must be condemned
in the strongest terms.

Therefore, there is no question of any double standard. Anyways, as I see
it, members in this forum have often repeated the fact that violence against
any innocent can't and shouldn't be tolerated. But for some, it seems that
they forget this message which has gone on this forum again and again in
different threads. May be they should think about reading past threads on
this forum.

3) Communal is also political. It's one of the forms of doing politics.
Therefore, the problem is still very much political, though now you have
mentioned the character of the politics being played. Any political problem
can be based on environment, on rights and freedoms of people, on issues
like bijli-sadak-pani etc. etc. You are saying the issue is based on
religious communities. Even then, the issue remains political.

And political issues require political solutions. Simply conducting state
elections in J & K with 100% voting can't solve the problem, if after 6
months again a certain section of people (who are relatively large in
number, though may be not in majority) come out on the streets demanding
azadi. Why not talk to them, instead of jailing them or imposing curfew?

4) For your question. After the word 'secular' was added in the Indian
constitution (I think at the insistence of Indira Gandhi), we have had more
communal riots in India, than after independence but before this incident.
Therefore, we dont' need to be secular constitutionally, we need to be
secular mentally. More importantly, secular is the problem of the elites.

Let us be generous enough not to fight with each other in the name of
religion. Automatically we turn secular. Is that a big deal? And if you want
to know when, I don't know when it will be added in the J & K constitution.
And I hardly care if it's not added. But I have problems if the society is
not democratic and tolerant.

Regards

Rakesh