[Reader-list] Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal: India is multiplying its debit account in Kashmir

[Aditya Raj Baul]

Thrown to the wolves
By Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal on Saturday, July 10, 2010
http://www.kashmirawareness.org/Item.aspx?id=2994


India is multiplying its debit account in Kashmir by
using familiar crude tactics to muzzle genuine discontent

It is now clear beyond doubt that New Delhi which is synonymous with
‘India’ in Kashmir has no appetite for learning from history. The
crudeness of the central government’s rough and ready treatment of the
entire population of Kashmir over the past few days once again proves
that those at the helm of affairs at the centre are more interested in
‘teaching a lesson’ to Kashmiris than extracting the country from the
mess created by successive governments in New Delhi and their obedient
favourites in the state. The attitude and behaviour of the union home
minister and home secretary demonstrated in the past four days,
following virtual surrender of its authority by the state government,
has a striking resemblance with the conduct of their long-time
predecessors of 1960s who happened to be handling the aftermath of the
theft of the Holy relic from Hazratbal shrine in 1963. Then, as now,
political wisdom was put away on the shelf. The language and
terminology adopted for handling the situation smack of colonial
mindset. Nothing in that respect seems to have changed over the past
nearly half a century.

The inhuman manner in which the entire population in the capital city
and major towns of the Valley have been locked indoors, local press
completely gagged, essential services like hospitals immobilised and
threatening statements are being issued from New Delhi shows that it
is futile to expect any worthwhile improvement in the situation.


State apparatus has been practically put out of action presumably for
lack of confidence in its allegiance. Duly authorised persons have
been barred from exercising their judgement in issuing curfew passes.
Instead, wherever one goes or approaches for a curfew pass one only
hears ‘Pillai Saheb ka hukum hai kih koi pass mat do’. That is exactly
how it used to be when present home secretary GK Pillai’s that time
predecessor Vishwanathan happened to be New Delhi’s choice as master
of Kashmir’s destiny on the ground in 1963-64. The worn out term
‘anti-national elements’ was the most favoured description then as it
is today. Vishwanathan brought his country to brink of disaster by
stretching it too far and declaring that anyone demanding proper
identification of the mysteriously lost and mysteriously found Holy
relic was ‘anti-national’ and that he would be ‘shot dead’. A number
of protestors and innocent citizens lost their lives because of that
madness. But when the situation was about to get out of hand, wiser
sense prevailed and Jawahar Lal Nehru rushed Lal Bahadur Shastri to
takeover. That type of healing political touch is missing today. Total
reliance on crude methods to‘set right’ the local population are once
again bound to prove a costly bargain for the country and its larger
interests in this state.


Gimmicks like phone intercept to backup the official version that the
ongoing trouble was the handiwork of ‘anti-national elements’ are worn
out over-used tactics. An obliging ‘national’ media might fall for the
trick but it has no takers where it matters the most—in Kashmir.
Perhaps that is why the local press and pressmen have been subjected
to shameful gag. They are the people who have braved militancy and
lost some precious lives over the past three decades. Today the whole
lot of them is treated as suspects and dealt with shamefully. Movement
of the press persons has been curbed, obviously with a clear cut
design to put the local media out of action. Professionals including
doctors are also being treated in the same crude manner. Patients in
hospitals are suffering for want of treatment. Large scale arbitrary
arrests, among them many children, are being carried out.


What all happened over the past three to four days seems to have
pushed the ground situation back by more than three decades. Simmering
hatred for ‘India’ is more than palpable. Yet there is not a word of
realisation, much less sympathy or understanding from those who matter
in New Delhi. Looks as if Kashmir has virtually been thrown to wolves.
Voices including that of the beleaguered chief minister Omar Abdullah
calling for a political approach have got drowned under the noise of
jackboots strutting about the length and breadth of Kashmir. This
stifling atmosphere provides a fertile breeding ground for deeper
alienation that lies at the root of India’s troubles in Kashmir.
Instead of addressing the real issue and mitigating its manifestation
the central government seems to have embarked upon the same old
disastrous path that has caused so much bloodshed on either side. The
attitude has got to change, if anyone is still listening out there.