Was speaking at the India Today Enclave with Amir Khan. But then attended a panel where Yasin Malik was speaking. For those that do not remember, Yasin was at one time the leader of the most feared terrorist group in Kashmir. Now he is a political leader looking for peace and reconciliation with India and Pakistan, because he believes that the future of the youth of Kashmir depends upon the two nations coming to terms. But he still supports the right of the Kashmiri’s to decide on their own future, even if it meant an independent Kashmir. A few years ago if he was seen in Delhi he would been shot in sight by the armed forces. So full marks to India Today for having the courage to bring such disparate views on the same platform as Finance Minister Chidambaram, and even on the same dias as a member of India’s Parliament…
… but second, Yasin delivered a completely impassioned and moving speech about the state of the youth in Kashmir, their fears and aspirations, their desire for better leadership. He also spoke of his own life, his fleeing form the armed forces, capture, solitary confinement and of the friends that he lost in the fighting. And how he realized now that if everything needed to be achieved it could only be done through negotiation and reconcilliation. It was a moving moving speech. No one asked him any questions (after all there was Priety Zinta on the Dias too !) and so I did one :
” Have you forgiven ?”
And he said there was absolutely no other way. At the end of the speech he walked over to me and gave me a big genuine hug and said thank you. Invited me to come and speak to the youth of Kashmir, including those that were terrorists once.
As he left, a young girl came to me brimming with anger. Along with a man who worked with India Today. Both were kashmiri Pundits who had seen themselves ousted forcibly and sometimes cruelly from their homeland. I have met many Kashmiri Pundit’s- some of them my friends who believe they are truly the forgotten people. The young girl was as moving as Yasin as she held back her tears, andgry that Yasin was allowed this platform without the audience being told of the atrocities that he and his comrades perpetuated on Kashmiri Pundits. I coudl totally see her point of view.
Later as I was having tea with Priety Zinta she also expressed apprehensions about being on the same platform as Yasin. her father died in the Army and her brother has been fighting and risking his life in Kashmir.
O Kashmir ! Once the paradise without the beauty of which no Hindi film was complete. Who’s people people were once considered the gentlest and the most beautiful. The vision of kashmir was that of little girls with baby sheep in their arms waving as you drove by. And who could forget the Kashmiri Shawl wala that went from one Punjabi household to another bring news of long lost friends ? Ofcouse cleverly outnegotiating my mother while she was lost in emotion !
What happened ?
I think there will never be a solution in Kashmir if there is no forgiveness. Like the Truth and Reconcilliation process and South Africa. India and Pakistan must come to terms with each other and accept the current division as permanent. Of course it is permanent ! Pakistan and India must let go of using kashmir as the excuse to fight each other. Neither nation can afford it in any case.
I do not see an Independant Kashmir as a viable state. I do not agree with Yasin there. In the current political unrest, stuck as it is between some of the most explosive political arena’s in the world, Kashmir will be engulfed in the turmoill of it’s neighboring states.
It’s time to bring peace back to Kashmir. It is time to bring back the romanticism of ‘Kashmir ki Kali’. It is time to enfold Kashmir in the process of economic development that Inda is going through,
Agreed ?
Shekhar
Hello Mr Shekhar,I wonder how aqnd when Yassin Malik became an intellectual of such hight that he could share a dias with the genius and creative persons in the conclave.India Today gave him ready made plateform to say his idealogy and jklf point of view on Kashmir their by pushing Indian claim to fence.Yassin Malik was the rowdy element of Lal Chowk area srinagar who along with other four miscreants indulged in public disturbance,ransacking of non muslim shops,pelting of stones on Law enforcing agencies in srinagar.He was one of the kingpin in looting liquor shops in Lal Chowk area in 1986-87,when he was activist of Islamic Student League which preached radical islamic practices and took part in all anti india demonstration.There r many minor cases pending against him in police stations of srinagar for his anti social activities.His qulification is tha he undertook arms handling training in Pakistan along with Late Ishfaq wani, Hamid SHiekh.He was treated specialy by Pak authorities and was made to visit all major towns of Pakistan.On his return he turned violent in cowboy style.He is responsible in killing indian airforce employees who were posted in srinagar when they were waiting for bus to attend their office.Nobody weeps for the family of these air force men.He made three attempts to kill one kashmiri pandit police officer Mr Kilam but luck favoured the later.Killing of Late Tik Lal Taploo,BJP vice president of jk state just out side his residence was also his act.It was not independent movement of kashmiris but absolutely a communal movement.the slogans they raised in all protests and demonstraion were pro pak,pro islamic and anti india.Kashmir has brute majority of muslims and Pak establishment has been needling it since the partition of the country.That is why Sir Zaffarullah of Pakistan a wise Diplomat once said that kashmir is a blank cheque with Pakistan which can be cashed whenever Pakistan wants.Yassin Malik and his camp followers became the instruments in the hands of Pak Masters.THey got huge financial help from that country and wide international support through doctored NGO,s.Uncle Sam also tried to project JKLF as US still dream of craving out independent Kashmir to make an elbow space for their future strategies around CHina-Russia India.Yasin Malik has passed his maticulation and joined college for year then left the studies.His father was an ordinary employee of state road transport corporation,now Yassin owns lucrative landed property in Srinagar.India Today has to market his business in kashmir and in other parts so Yassin was a trump card to reach valley and other anti india section.Many persons of dignity would not have attended this conclave if they had known the person with whom they had share thr dias.Yassin Malik;s support group in the country project him freedom fighter,but none of indian freedom fighters took up AK47 and grenades.He is being shaped as Ghandian by his Delhi based snobs through the barrel of Ak47.Pakistan is the backbone of kashmir trouble.
Whoever said that Modi becoming Pm of India will chanbge Kashmir is on the money.
Shekhar, it is amazing.. how India is changing.
Alot of people abroad and within india, the youth.. I spoke too…speak of this growing anger of millions of hindu indians.. generally speaking secular, peace loving.. people… have begun a inverse admiration for Narendra Modi and simultaneously.. a rather dissatisfaction with dyanstic political families, who maintain status quo.. be it in kashmir, tamil nadu or delhi. ..
( farooq abduhall, nehru-gandhi, dmk-karunanidhi-
stalin, u.p – mulayam-akhilesh yadav to mention a few)
A few things can change in Kashmir if.
1) Article 370 is amended to allow 500 year leases in Kashmir instead of 99 year leases.. for owning property.. by non kashmiris.
-effectively allowing any indian to migrate to kashmir
2) Completely modify and almost ban shariat islamic law across india..
3)Provide incentives to lower income hindu folks from anywhere in India to migrate to Kashmir.. to demographically engineer a balanced religious population.
4) Shift the Dalai Lama from Himachal Pradesh to Kashmir/Pakistan border.
5) If Modi comes to power, he will most probably re introduce POTA, TADA and catch the likes of Dawood Ibrahim.
6) Modi will probably ban Deobandhi Islamic terror groups.
7) And believe this or not, many astrologers have predicted.. that if their is a world war 3.. between america and china and islam.. even nostradamus has foretold.. a man from the ganges will rise.. a.k.a. india, who will strike at the heart of islam, which is mecca, saudi arabia.. and change the world forever.
so..modi bombs mecca and medina..
the world will change.
I hope Yasin Malik is hanged on public televsion for the murders of innocent people he did over many years in Kashmir.
My whole village in Andhra Pradesh, which is full of migrant kashmiri’s will vote in Lok Sabha to make Narendra Modi, leader of free india.
only modi has the courage to hang yasin malik.
actually, he does not even need to hang him.
some low key encounter of malik in the backdrops of delhi.. and bury his body somewhere in nagaland..
no one will know.
only our true nationalist hero modi can defeat these terrorist muslim forces.
array bhai.. some of these comments are interesting.
kashmir is a tough problem.
a great political battle is raging in india, in 2009 general lok sabha election.. we will have a clearer issue of the outcome of kashmir…
it is basically a fight between
sonia gandhi, rahul gandhi, prakash karat, brinda karat, mulayam singh yadav, akhilesh yadav, amar singh, sitaram yechury, jyoti basu, a.achutanandam, a,owasi, abu azmi, farooq abdullah,laloo prasad yadav, rabri devi, hurrayat conference, jammu kashmir liberation front, communist party of india, congress party, socialist party, om prakash chautala, ram vilas paswan, m.k.stalin, karunanidhi, dayanidhi maran, deve gowda, h.gowda, vilasrao deshmukh, narayan rane, teesta setelavad, tehelka, mufti, gilani, baig, yasin malik, simi, jamat-e-islami, deboand, all india islam boad, manmohan singh, digvijay singh.. etc..
vs
Narendra Modi
God bless Kashmir.
We have hope in a stronger India.
I mean if osama bin laden, gave up terrorist activities and joined a panel with bill gates, dalai lama and angelina jolie.. and said.. Now i believe in gandhism and non violence.
???
should he be not held accountable for his past actions?
shekar, i hope you think deeper, than what ur doing now, ” Did muslims suffer ” ..
is like asking ” Did Hitler and Natzi’s suffer ”
Yasin Malik is a butcher of Kashmiri Pandits and even the Indian army. Not many know that he was even involved in killing his own Kashmiri Muslims who ditched him at times. Malik was a street criminal since his childhood. Don’t go with his Gandhian fakeness; he was the one who spread Islamic fundamentalism and riots in the valley. Its not a freedom movement which they scream about; in reality its communal in nature and does not believe in so called Secularism. Are Kashmiri Pandits being discriminated because of being Hindu’s ?
We appeal to Shekhar Kapur to highlight the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits who are still suffering human rights violation and the government adn the nation remains silent even after 18 years of their exodus.
Kashmiri Pandits are now scattered all over India and the world. A lot need to be done to get them JUSTICE today.
Government of India remains silent because Pandits don’t matter to them at all.
Yasin Malik being invited at the India Today Conclave to speak on how he could change the world was the biggest joke. Hasn’t he already changed a part of the world by spreading violence and bloodshed ? Hasn’t ne converted the peaceful Kashmir valley into hell ?
Does his portrayal of Gandhism; forgive him for all his past crimes against humanity ?
We would be glad if Shekhar Kapur could as well do a bit of research on his own on this very sensitive issue and then tell us what he thinks about this terrorist and also us the victims.
In anticipation,
A Kashmiri Pandit who lost everything after exodus of 1990. Is anybody listening ?
GUYS pls stop it…
Kashmir is not a political war. It should be a war against people’s suffering. So for the sake of human kind please do not make it a war between Modi and rest of them.
According to me Narendra Modi is as big a criminal as Yaseen Mailik or any other terrorist who has killed innocent people. Regardless of the communities we belong to, killing of the innocent people is a gruesome crime. So whether it is Yasin Malik or Narendra Modi both are a black spot on the existence of humanity and both should be punished
Aarti…dont get me wrong…wat makes u think that modi is a criminal? I dont know him personally…u may b right…thats y m asking u…….as per my knowledge he is an elected chief minister of our country but if u think he is a criminal i m sure u must b having some knowledge about him that that i m ignorant about…plz dont quote the news channels or the media bcos half of them are rajya sabha members from particular parties and the rest of them keep changing their views according to the party in power. If u r talking about the gujrat carnage….leave it …that ll b a huge subject of discussion again. but anyway, he has a r8 to plead not guilty until proved. If u r talking about his track record as a CM with regard to development..i think its impeccable. on the contrary, our other politicians can learn from him.
It has bcom stylish in a sense to manufacture villains from our community(since u cant find them), criticise them and then become a hero. The best example of this villain is the largest social group of India – the RSS. I have gone through most of their literature also attended some of their sakhas. I dont understand what is so fascist about them. Yes it is a primarily hindu organisation but how does that make it anti anyone. Hindus have always only retaliated, including in the recent Gujarat violence.
Narendra Modi has never killed anyone.
Please proove it.
Yasin Malik has publically said, He killed people, The courts have convicted him.
Narendra Modi is going to be the next prime minister of India.
922 million Hindus support him.
Please watch this new film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, on rising violence due to Islamic Theology, the mainstream Indian press will now show you the rising hatred against Islam, which is happening in Europe, America, China etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCrCsTMokTU
Actually I disagree with Aarti Raina,
Modi is a savior for many indians.
He is using the weapon islamic terrorists use on themselves. Modi uses jihad on the jihadi.
Why do you think osama bin laden says, the greatest threat to islamic hegemony and the rise of the caliphate is not george bush, israel or the western world, but Narendra modi.
because modi is not afraid to go head to head with the bruality of islamic violence and terrorism.
modi instills fear in islamic terrorist because, he will be thousand times more brutal then a muslim terrorist.
they know, if islamic terrorists kill one innocent kashmiri hindu, under modi’s regime.
modi will destroy a thousand kashmiri muslims.
Modi is a deterrent, just like nuclear weapons.
According to your logic, India should have no deterent, why do we have nukes to protect us from china, why dont we just disarm and stand in the street and wait for china to colonize us.
I will vote for Modi and so will my whole village.
JAI HIND
I am kashmiri, and i dont like yassin malik for what he did. He is a terrible person. I like Narendra Modi because, as a kashmiri who migrated to Gujarat after 1989. I have seen the tremendous diligence with which modi has developed this whole state. I mean people need to get a reality check before they compare modern india’s most growth oriented, non corrupt and efficient politicians and some muslim terrorist.
Islam sanctions killing innocent people, if they dont believe in allah and the koran.
This is the fundamental difference between those who live in utopia and the ground reality.
As long as Saudi Arabia and Wahabi Islam support and encourage this interpretation.
Hundreds of Millions of Narendra Modi’s will be created.
107 Posted by Aarti Raina on March 28, 2008 equates a patriot national hero to a terrorist this is called listening to media sound bytes without any proof. Mr Malik is a butcher please enlightens your self by watching BBC Hard Talk video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa9CvVV2HXA
What will Aarti Raina call Mr Abdullah the ex CM of J&K State? Under whose administration hideous crimes against Kashmiri Hindus where committed.
What will you call the present CM of the J&K state Mr Azad under whose administration these criminals of hideous crimes are set free?
One wonders why is our English media caught napping when it comes to ex and present chief ministers of J&K state even when they give anti national statements recently when both chief ministers where speaking against the hanging of Afzal Guru (another terrorist) who knows may be Afzal will also turn into Gandhi like Mr Malik although Gandhi never picked up gun and killed any one but then we live in secular India I guess crime against Hindus is not considered crime.
Mr Kapur what is you opinion on that is crime against Hindus considered Crime in Present secular India?
Mr Kapur What is your opinion on equating Mr Modi with Mr Malik?
Thanks
Sharika
Mr Kapur.
Srinagar, January 4, 1990. Aftab, a local Urdu newspaper, publishes a press release issued by Hizb-ul Mujahideen, set up by the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1989 to wage jihad for Jammu and Kashmir’s secession from India and accession to Pakistan, asking all Hindus to pack up and leave. Another local paper, Al Safa, repeats this expulsion order.
In the following days, there is near chaos in the Kashmir valley with Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and his National Conference government abdicating all responsibilities of the State. Masked men run amok, waving Kalashnikovs, shooting to kill and shouting anti-India slogans.
Reports of killing of Hindus, invariably Kashmiri Pandits, begin to trickle in; there are explosions; inflammatory speeches are made from the pulpits of mosques, using public address systems meant for calling the faithful to prayers. A terrifying fear psychosis begins to take grip of Kashmiri Pandits.
Walls are plastered with posters and handbills, summarily ordering all Kashmiris to strictly follow the Islamic dress code, prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks and imposing a ban on video parlours and cinemas. The masked men with Kalashnikovs force people to re-set their watches and clocks to Pakistan Standard Time.
Shops, business establishments and homes of Kashmiri Pandits, the original inhabitants of the Kashmir valley with a recorded cultural and civilisational history dating back 5,000 years, are marked out. Notices are pasted on doors of Pandit houses, peremptorily asking the occupants to leave Kashmir within 24 hours or face death and worse. Some are more lucid: “Be one with us, run, or die!”
* * *
Srinagar, January 19, 1990. Jagmohan arrives to take charge as governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq Abdullah, whose pathetic, whimpering, snivelling government has all but ceased to exist and has gone into hiding, resigns and goes into a sulk. Curfew is imposed as a first measure to restore some semblance of law and order. But it fails to have a deterrent effect.
Throughout the day, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists use public address systems at mosques to exhort people to defy curfew and take to the streets. Masked men, firing from their Kalashnikovs, march up and down, terrorising cowering Pandits who, by then, have locked themselves in their homes.
As evening falls, the exhortations become louder and shriller. Three taped slogans are repeatedly played the whole night from mosques: ‘Kashmir mei agar rehna hai, Allah-O-Akbar kehna hai’ (If you want to stay in Kashmir, you have to say Allah-O-Akbar); ‘Yahan kya chalega, Nizam-e-Mustafa’ (What do we want here? Rule of Shariah); ‘Asi gachchi Pakistan, Batao roas te Batanev san’ (We want Pakistan along with Hindu women but without their men).
In the preceding months, 300 Hindu men and women, nearly all of them Kashmiri Pandits, had been slaughtered ever since the brutal murder of Pandit Tika Lal Taploo, noted lawyer and BJP national executive member, by the JKLF in Srinagar on September 14, 1989. Soon after that, Justice N K Ganju of the Srinagar high court was shot dead. Pandit Sarwanand Premi, 80-year-old poet, and his son were kidnapped, tortured, their eyes gouged out, and hanged to death. A Kashmiri Pandit nurse working at the Soura Medical College Hospital in Srinagar was gang-raped and then beaten to death. Another woman was abducted, raped and sliced into bits and pieces at a sawmill.
In villages and towns across the Kashmir valley, terrorist hit lists have been floating about. All the names are of Kashmiri Pandits. With no government worth its name, the administration having collapsed and disappeared, the police nowhere to be seen, despondency sets in. As the night of January 19, 1990, wears itself out, despondency gives way to desperation.
And tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits across the valley take a painful decision: to flee their homeland to save their lives from rabid jihadis. Thus takes place a 20th century Exodus.
What exactly Those Terrorist are proposing? Are they saying that They have a fundamental right of self-determination and Kashmiri Hindus don’t have a right to exercise their fundamental right of political voice? terrorists can have a political voice and a peace-loving patriot cannot. What kind of standard is it
.This all what happen in kashmir is the shame on the face of nation .India Known as secular democratic Republic all this is False .
India is heading towards a country servicing to a particular religion and illtreating the Hindus on the name of majority & Secularism
Secularism is nothing just a weapon to wipe out the hindus from the country this is game plan of those political leaders who dont have any ground .
Those so called leaders are dividing Hindus in the name of caste and providing relief in the name of minority to a particular religion .
What Afzal Guru has done is a heinous crime but why the government is not dare to hang him .
The country is above all and there should be no clemency to the people who want to endanger our mother land.
Manish Zijoo-Ayouth avenging Kashmir
So we have seen such things now
I would agree that Narendra Modi will make a very good Prime Minister. But the biggest threat he faces is not from his political opponents but from within his own party. Will L.K. Advani give up his ambitions of becoming PM in favor of Narendra Modi? I doubt it. For all we know, Advani might use Modi’s popularity to garner votes for his party, keeping mum about the PM candidacy issue till the elections are over, and later when and if they win the elections he will lay claims on the PM’s chair siting his seniority. I fear that Modi may be backstabbed from within his own party.
Cheers!
What a joke..
yasin mailk is a faded has-been figure. Even in KAshmir, the muslim youth dont look up to him anymore. all he is doing is publicity stunts at events like india today and other shows.
everyone should realize, after seeing the gujarat elections.. it is inevitable that he will become prime minister..
modi has become larger than gujarat, and is a leader with pan india appeal.. more so than any other politician in india today.
lets focus on kashmir.
Yasin Malik is a terrorist like Dawood Ibrahim or Osama bin LAden.
Narendra Modi is like a combination of Subhash Chandra Bose and Swami Prabhupada and marwadi business acumen.
yasin malik should be sent to andaman jail for 35 years.
my uncle was killed by one of his bombs in baramala.
if narendra modi was not alive, i would have become a terrorist myself and blown up mecca and medina.
thank him, for controlling the immense anger and growing frustration of many kashmiri hindus who have not got justice till today.
Dear Shekhar,
Considering the phenonenal response that your blog has generated, i am trying to organise a television discussion on this issue. Would request you to be part of it. If you are primarily okay with it. Pls let me know how and where i can get in touch with you discuss the modalities.
Regards
Aarti
This is getting interesting.
When Israel and the Jews can forgive Adolf Hitler for the gas chambers, then you can expect some kashmiri’s to forgive people such as Yasin Malik.
If hitler became a gandhian, would be an interesting development if adolf was alive.
Finally, Narendra Modi is an icon in India today.
for many reasons, but a few are as follows-
1) Provided internet access to every village in his state of gujarat. 16,333 villages of gujarat have broadband internet access and can read this blog.
2)Highest growth rate in female primary education in India.
3) Most stable power and electricity access supplies to every nook and corner of the state of gujarat, 24 hours, 3 phases.
4) Massive reduction in red tape, corruptio and bureaucracy that has enslaved india, and created a unique forbes millionaies of indian goverment servants. Modi has destroyed this red tape.
5) The only place that the Peoples Republic of China has invested a substatinal amount in India is in Gujarat. A few years ago China invested half a billion dollars in gujarat.
6) Modi is not catering to american hegemony. He is truly looking east. Creating partnerships with Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand etc.
7)Highest gdp growth rate in any state in the union of india is in gujarat.
8)Modi is the only indian politician who went to Siberia and Ashtrkant in Russia to build biltaeral economic ties with Russian entities and indian groups for real trade and economic exchange in different areas.
9)Modi’s net worth is 40 lakh rupees, less than 100,000 dollars. That pales in comparison to every indian politician in india today, who is a multi millionaire many times over. Modi’s tax returns are public. No other politician in India has done this so far.
10) Modi has redeveloped drought areas into economic zones, which have transformed desert and deserted land into efficient economic stories.
11) Modi is the only leader in India, who does not rule out bombing mecca and medina, if india is attacked by islamic terrorism
12) Modi is the only leader who has suggested India recognize Taiwan and Tibet as sovreign nations.
13) Modi is the only leader in India today who has recommnded Chinese language schools in India to increase espionage activities in Mainland and Rural China.
14) Modi is the only leader in India who wants to break the hegemony of the world bank, the federal reserve, the european central bank and the communist party of china’s hold on the world money supply chain.
15) Modi is the only leader in india who demands an efficient Taxation system in India.
16) Modi is the only leader in India who is push for eradication of communism from Indian soil
17) Modi is the only leader in India today to work on water preservation, conservation and development policies.
18) Modi is the only leader who talks for development of tribals, dalits, hindus, all indian alike. Without prejudice for caste, religion, ethinicity.
19 ) Modi is the only leader in India today,who wanted to develop North East India into the new frontier of the Wild West.
20) Modi is the only leader in India to speak of Swami Vivekananda’s dream of serving the poor and serving mankind.
Lastly, Modi is the only politician in India who will make India a super power.
Jai Hind
I wont talk about Modi, because their is no doubt, that he is a popular politician/leader of India today.
But as shekar raised a valid question. What is the standard or level of acceptance that a former terrorist has to reach, before he is accepted back in society.
Yasin Malik is guilty of crimes..
Should he serve jail sentence?
When he leaves jail if he does serve his sentence.. than will society accept him, if he has paid his dues.
What if Yasin genuinely believes he has made mistakes, repents and truly aspirs to the gandhian ideal of non-violence and truth.
Only time can tell, Yasin Malik has a long way to go. He must pay his dues and karma will always catch up.
I advice Yasin to volunteer to plead guilty into the pending court cases against him, in those, which he knows he is guilty of, serve his time, and then volunteer his energy and time to serve society and kashmir.
Shekar, great that you brought this topic up.
I would appreciate it if you gave some attention and awareness to the plight and inhumane conditions of indians in malaysia.
If you visit malaysia, you can see for youself, that indians in malaysia are treated like animals.
Dear JyotiAditya & Rajni,
Thanks a ton for compiling so beautifully all the facts about Mr Modi..
India really needs strong leaders like him with a vision for the future…
All round development of Gujrat is happening since he came to power…
His track record is impeccable….
The so called “secular” people and politicians can’t keep blaming him for the 800 muslims that died in Gujrat riots in 2002…
What have they done for the thousands of Sikhs who died in the anti Sikh riots in 1980’s…
and the lakhs of nationalist Kashmiri Hindus who had to migrate from their homeland of 5000 years(after hundreds were killed) and still live as refugees…
no secular political leader wants to even talk about their plight…. leave alone help them..
Best Regards,
Priya
The media, the congress party and the communist party dont realise how far modi has grown politically.
Even in tribal india modi’s popularity is rising.
If Yasin Malik a former terrorist can be on a panel at India Today, anything in India is possible now.
It is not worth debating about Modi’s future. The guy is 57 years old, it is inevitable that he will become Prime Minister of India one day.
But shekar raises valid points about this malik /kashmir nexus.
Unless their is a reniassance in islamic teaching in kashmir and some modernity brought to the kashmiri muslim outlook, nothing will change.
Saudi Arabia must stop financing wahabi islam in the kashmir valley. This is not Arabia, This is India.
Forgive!!!!!
Just a simple question to you Mr. Sekhar Kapoor.
Would you have FORGIVEN people who raped your mother and sisters, killed your father and brothers MERCILESSLY in FRONT of you, and than dragged you and threw you out of your HOME??? No body can forgive these TERRORISTS (Mind it, they are not MILLITANTS) who yelled from their rooftops “kashir, bato wariya te batinoyo saan (Kashmir, with female kashmiri pandits and without male kashmiri pandits)”. There are many stories which send a chill down the bones of kashmiri pandits whenever we remember the days of 1980’s. You had got to be there to feel the lump in our throats.
wat the f…
wat has happened to our senses, logic and reasoning bfore we put up arguments.
people people.. relax.. dont get so stressed.
Yasin Malik is criminal. He will have to serve his dues someday, somewhere, somehow.
I am so excited, i get goose bumps thinking what will happen when Modi is prime minister of India.
Only 12 months more.. till lok sabha elections, and India will embark on a new journey.
I am Tamil and a dalit. And I believe in Modi.
Dear Shekhar,
Nobody on this planet earth can understand the pain, agony, misery kashmiri pandits had gone thru during the ethnic clensing by none other then Yasin Malik and his gang. In todays world, were past is forgotten very soon, but only kashmiri pandits who had to face the migration, will have to live with the pain and feeling of being neglected by their very own poeple. What pains more is too see the man who was responsible for Kashmiri pandits killings….man who shud be behind bars..is sharing the dias with whos who of India… and thats adding salt to the wounds of kashmiri pandits.
if people like yasin malik can kill innocent people and then adopt gandhigiri.. it will be ironic.
if a kashmiri pandit bombs mecca and medina, during haj season,
will muslims of the world forgive the kashmiri pandit ?
When islamists comitt abuses on innocent people, it is called sanction of the hadith, loyalty to the umma, spreading the divinity of islam and koran, obeying mohammad, etc etc.
But when muslims get abused, it is called human rights violations, etc etc.
When will the world wake up, innocent people, of all creeds are innocent. Muslims must condem killing innocent non muslims.. so should christians, hindus, etc etc.
Their is nothing like holier than thou.. we are all equal.
get over it.
Dear Sir, as suggested by you, I am posting my mail that I earlier wrote to you, on this blog:
Dear Sir,
I am Neeru Kaul, the one who met you at the India Today Conclave, I am writing to you to tell you that I really appreciate the fact that you could understand me that day. The ideal response from my side should have been ‘Oh! I met the Shekhar Kapur’ but I had just locked horns with a terrorist and coincidentally found a good listener in you who even acknowledged what I felt, even those things that I didn’t say. That day a terrorist was asked by the Indian media that how he would like to change the world, has the media ever cared to ask a single Kashmiri Pandit how they would like to change the world? Or does it take only violence to make you heard? What more change would he bring about? He already has brought about a major change; he has turned a heaven into a hell. Yasin Malik’s claims of being a gandhian are just that pure claims. Has he ever expressed any remorse at what he did? He is still involved in hawala and gun running cases and the terror cases against him are still pending. As I told you that day, in Yasin Malik’s case, there has been a change of strategies not hearts.
My people have suffered a lot since the Islamisation of Kashmir yet we’ve never been violent. Probably that’s why we’ve never been heard. My trust on the country that I thought was mine was shattered; we were beaten because we had objections to his inclusion for obvious reasons. And on the other hand he was allowed to talk about his evil intentions of separating Kashmir from India. That is what pinches the most.
When people fight, everyone suffers. I have seen my dear and intelligent classmates turning into terrorists, I still have many dear friends among Kashmiri Muslims, who I am still in touch with and we often wonder over what has happened and ponder over what could be done but I know they don’t have answers because their minds are ruled by fanaticism. They have suffered and so have we. They invited their own suffering but who has thrust this on us? We are suffering for no fault of ours. Yet the media and the GoI give importance to their opinions and ignore us.
I never felt it sir, but since that day I am scared, scared for the future of my community, in my own country. If today a terrorist is given an international platform to speak about his intentions of separating Kashmir from India through Indian media and with all probability, with the consent of Indian government, India may just as well give up on it. Maybe not entirely but the way they did in ’47. The Kashmiri Muslims including the political parties would be more than happy with ‘autonomy’ too. Kashmir has become a festering wound. Why can’t there be a straight forward approach? Isn’t India capable? It always was, right from ’47 until now. Rajiv Gandhi knew about infiltration way back in the eighties but he never bothered. You can read the former J&K governor Jagmohan’s book My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir he was the person who alerted Gandhi timely about this infiltration but he as always, ignored the information. Things had turned turbulent until late ’89. Today they want independent Kashmir but in 1990 the scenario was different about which the world doesn’t know. As 26th January 1990 was approaching, they were all ready to hoist Pakistan’s flag as nobody would have been there to stop them because Kashmir is usually cut off from the rest of the world during those winter months. But today they have to change their strategies and this entire independence thing is that.
Late 1989 and early 1990 was the turning point in the fate of Kashmiri Pandits. Because we always wanted India and probably that’s why we have been suffering always. It started with selective killings of those who represented India and we were obvious targets. Yasin was amongst one of them who took to selective killings and rapes. He brought the gun culture into the valley. The next strategy was the threatening letters that we used to get from terrorists. Kashmiri Pandit men were asked to leave the valley, leaving behind their women folk. Many of the Kashmiri Pandit women were ready for self immolation out of the fear of conversions and rapes. As I remember, after a young nurse, Sarla Bhatt was raped and murdered by being chopped off on a saw mill; one of our neighbouring ladies came to mom asking her to send us (2 daughters) into the jehadi processions so that terrorists would do us no harm. My parents got alarmed and as a result, my sister and I were packed off to Jammu which was a refuge for Kashmiri Hindus.I was then, 8. My parents came later in May when it was becoming extremely unsafe for them to stay back in the valley. Several murder attempts were made on my father. I can never forget 19th January 1990. At just one call from the mosque, people were on the streets like the rats on pied piper’s call. This gathering included girls, boys, men, women, old and young. The processions were taken out during the day too but those at night were more dreadful. I remember on the night of 19th January we were in our home watching a late night movie on DD, and suddenly chaos erupted outside when we heard the jehadi call emanating from the mosque and even one of our neighbourhood kids started shouting beneath our window to ‘leave Kashmir’ and as we peeped through the curtains we could see thousands of muslims on streets and in minutes they were all shouting anti-India, pro-Pakistan slogans asking us to leave.
You are a filmmaker you can well visualize how this all looked but I wonder if you can feel the dread in our hearts. It seemed as if these people, some of whom were neighbours and colleagues had been overtaken by some sort of maniacal craze which didn’t respond to reason and definitely not to humanity. What choice did we have but to leave with whatever members of the family or community had remained? And then we are derided on why we left our ancestral homes? We had absolutely no choice at that time. Each of us can still visualize our homes and hearths but that is it, we can only visualize them now, even if we are to go back to see them it is as tourists and not rightful claimants. Many of the homes were burnt down after their occupants left, or have been taken over by the neighbours since. It’s not only the land which seems to have been lost but during this time of exile we have lost our culture. Our numbers are dwindling as we lost our people to diseases and moreover to We, literally are on the verge of extinction and so are our cultural values and language. Ironically enough, we have never found a decent place in history and probably would never find any. How does the GoI justify that? Have you ever noticed any mention of Kashmiri Pandits in school books?
You told me that day that it is a political strategy, but what kind of strategy is this? The people who have been violent and have been responsible for the current state of affairs are touted as role models or ‘youth icons’. And those who have stood by the nation and their idea of India as their only country have been given step-motherly treatment? When Yasin and his cronies scared us away during the peak of terrorism we chose to flee to India and not Pakistan, but where does India put us now? India never cared, especially the media, even that day we were beaten up while he was given red-carpet treatment. We were dragged out of the hall and he was allowed to speak uninterrupted about his secessionist ambitions. Are all the rights of expression only for a terrorist and all denials for us?
I agree to what you say. That day India Today showed how true the Indian democracy is. But has it or any other media house cared to show this kind of picture with respect to Kashmiri Pandits? Wouldn’t it have been great if two contrasting opinions were put forth on the same platform? Has the media ever cared for what a Kashmiri Pandit wants? How they want to change the world, their world? Don’t they mean anything to this country, the people who despite being miniscule in number contribute equally to the economy of democratic India, and the people who have always stood by this nation in the toughest time of their history? We are not pests who India wants to do away with. Are all democratic rights for a terrorist only, the ones who turn to violence? Doesn’t it demoralise the people who want to stay with India? It does. At least, the people who were beaten that day for their non-violent protest, the one who was dragged out of the hall, and me, we all were demoralised. That day I felt like an alien in my own country. You may not have known that day, but more than 50 people were beaten by Indian police at the gates of Taj Palace. What was their fault? Unlike Yasin who has always been violent they were peacefully protesting outside against his inclusion in such a big event. They were beaten so that Yasin could speak and because they wanted to stay with India. While one was dragged out of the hall like a stray dog the other was whisked away even before he could speak.
My only focus at the conclave, like the eye of the fish for Arjuna, was Yasin Malik and as you rightly understand, making all aware of the reality but I also noticed a hint of apprehension from Preity’s looks, even when she shook hands with him. It was to an extent that, and the interest shown by you, for which I am grateful. It is the depth of understanding which I saw in your eyes, even though I was aggressive and maybe harsh sometimes, that has prompted me to write this somewhat lengthy mail to you. After all, it’s been a long time since someone actually cared.
—
Regards,
Neeru Kaul
Here is Interesting article comparing ethnic cleansing & genocide of Kashmiri Hindus in J&K with ethnic cleansing & genocide of oppressed Tibetans …..Roll of Indian English media…
Tibet isn’t Kashmir by Rajeev Srinivasan
In Tibet, Communism is wiping out an Indic faith, Tibetan Buddhism. In Jammu & Kashmir, Islam is wiping out another Indic faith, Hinduism. But any comparison between the two situations is erroneous and entirely out of place
There has lately been a slew of articles and editorials in India’s English-language media about China’s inhuman genocide and reign of terror in Tibet. Some of these supported the state-perpetrated terrorism against oppressed Tibetans.
The media is merely reflecting the failings of the self-proclaimed ‘intelligentsia’ in India. Their discourse is so distorted that what would be considered lunatic-fringe Leftist in the real world is considered ‘centrist’ in India. A true centrist would be, and is, deemed a lunatic-fringe Right-winger, and is instantly demonised as a fascist and Nazi.
Therefore, the usual perorations of the media can be taken with a large pinch of salt. A number of them support the Chinese, either out of an exaggerated sense of awe about China, or out of loyalty built up through boondoggle Potemkin trips or cold, hard cash.
But they attempt to intimidate people with a logical fallacy: They suggest that Indians have no right to comment on someone else violating human rights. Wrong. The fact that the Indian Government may be violating human rights somewhere does not preclude any Indian individual from commenting on, or condemning, what the Chinese are doing. Evil has to be resisted.
Here are a couple of apt quotations: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,” attributed to Edmund Burke, a Briton.
“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me,” attributed to Martin Niemoller, a German, speaking about the Nazis.
Therefore, it is proper for anyone to speak out against gross human rights violations. Those who use rhetorical devices to try and shut people up are bullying and censoring others. They should be ignored and laughed at.But I found something a little more outrageous in the perspectives of a few China hands, including the editor of a newspaper infamous for reprinting Xinhua propaganda verbatim, and a retired diplomat. These worthies made the assertion that India must not say anything about Tibet because Tibet is just like Jammu & Kashmir. This merits attention. In fact, they are right, amazingly enough, although for entirely the wrong reasons. Consider the analogies:
In Tibet, a bunch of outsiders, Han Chinese, invaded and are oppressing local Tibetans. In Jammu & Kashmir, a bunch of outsiders, Muslims, invaded and oppress local Hindus.
In Tibet, Han Chinese are murdering and ethnically cleansing Tibetans. In Kashmir, Muslims have been murdering and ethnically cleansing Hindus.
In Tibet, Han Chinese are practising civilisational genocide. In Jammu & Kashmir, Muslims are practising civilisational genocide.
In Tibet, Communism is wiping out an Indic faith (Tibetan Buddhism). In Jammu & Kashmir, Islam is wiping out an Indic faith (Hinduism). Therefore, nobody is bothered, as it is the defined job of Indic faiths to be wiped out by Semitic faiths.
With these parallels, there is an exact match between Tibet and Jammu & Kashmir. The media mavens are absolutely right. And just as the Congress Government stood by and watched the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Hindus in Jammu & Kashmir, the UPA Government will stand by and watch the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Tibetans in Tibet. Therefore, on five points out of five, the match is perfect.
There is one difference. Tibetan Buddhism was created in the first place by the few monks who fled Nalanda with their lives when Muslim invader Bakhtiar Khilji burned the university to the ground circa 1192 AD (which in itself was a crime against humanity because of the knowledge lost), and beheaded every one of the Buddhist monks he found. Hinduism, specifically Kashmir Shaivism, on the other hand, was the faith of the region from times immemorial.
Ironically, the job was started by Bakhtiar Khilji is being completed by the Han Chinese. This is another example of the Communist/Han-Muslim axis, also seen in the AQ Khan Nuclear Wal-Mart. It appears Communists are irresistibly drawn to Muslims (although the reverse is not true: The latter liquidate the ‘godless’ Communists as soon as they cease to be ‘useful idiots’). There is an ‘understanding’ between China and Pakistan to keep the lid on Uighur nationalism and separatism.
It is amazing that when it comes to Chinese oppression of Muslim Uighurs, Pakistan somehow forgets that it is the owner of the “Islamic Bomb”. That, of course, may be because Pakistan’s Bomb is in fact a screwdriver job supplied by China.
Similarly, I look forward to my favourite media mavens’ dilemma when China starts to beat up on Uighurs, who, allegedly, are plotting terrorist attacks the Olympics. Who will said mavens support – Hans or Uighurs, Communists or Muslims? Surely they’ll support the hand that feeds them.
The proper solution to both the Kashmir and Tibet problems is the same: The perpetrators of oppression must be made to realise in no uncertain terms that you cannot get away with ethnic cleansing and genocide. Therefore, it must be made clear to Muslims that India will never relinquish Jammu & Kashmir. Similarly, it must be made clear to the Han Chinese that they will never be able to extinguish the spirit of the Tibetans.
Today, the Chinese look impregnable, and they are using the 2008 Olympics as a coming-out party, just as Japan and Korea did with theirs. But there is a difference: Those nations were not oppressive empires at the time, just as India is not. Democracy has a way of dealing with conflict, which is not available to imperialists. It is quite possible that this is in fact the zenith of the Han empire, and that it is downhill from here on.
Let us remember that the historic independent nation of Tibet, which includes the Amdo and Kham regions, accounts for fully one-third of the land-mass controlled by the Han Chinese today. In fact, 60 per cent of that entire land-mass is land that belongs to ethnic minorities. Han Chinese control could collapse, just as the Soviet Union’s Russian domination collapsed.
There are a couple of interesting historical parallels. In 1936, at the height of the self-glorification of the Nazi state, the Berlin Olympics were held. But in 10 years, Nazism was dead and buried. In 1984, the Moscow Olympics were held when the Soviet Union looked like an invulnerable empire. In seven years, that empire imploded suddenly. In 2008, when the Han Chinese look, in turn, like masters of the universe, brutalising others like Manchurians, Mongols, Uighurs and Tibetans. It will be interesting to see where they will be in 10 years.
That is another way in which Tibet and Jammu & Kashmir differ: Tibet may well lead to the unraveling of the Han Communist empire, while Jammu & Kashmir is not going to affect the fabric of the Indian nation.
Dear Shekher,
forgiving YASIN for what? He just killed some handful of men in uniform. NA JANE KIS KE GHAR CHAMKEGA MUKHDA CHAND SA YEH………
He just killed a dozen or two kashmiri pandits. Then what? ISHARO ISHARO MEIN DIL LENE WALE BATA YEH HUNAR TUNE SIKHA KAHAN SE……..
He routed Bharat mata and disfigured national flag more than hundered time. Who cares? HUM DUM MERE MAAN BHI JAO KEHNA MERE………
His instigation made BHITTA KARATE (ANOTHER TERRORIST) to kill more than 20 KPs and in an interview he narrated this as “muscle power”. Still, no matter…. KASHMIR KI KALI HOON MEIN
Forgive. We want peace. Yes, we want peace, why not to give him what he wants… PAKISTAN … WHY FORGIVE…. GIVE KASHMIR ….
YOU SHALL GET A NEWER TERRITORY TO SHOOT AND THEY SHALL ALSO GET NEWER TERRITORY TO SHOOT. NEVER MIND WHETHER IT IS WITH “CAMERA” OR WITH “AK-47” GOD BLESS YOU, SHEKHER JI.
Dear Shekhar,
namaskar,
I think much has been said.
I have only request / question.
You are a media Icon, there are millions of people all over the world who knows u.
My questions is how can you help genuinely in highlighting this issue through a film, documentary, or any other media. The community who is ever forgotten in its nation may get attention.Our community is trying best to highlight the issue. But a support from your quarter may boost.As you said in your article also your Kashmiri friends have already made you realize that we the Kashmiri pandits are forgotten citizens of India.
I hope I could express what I meant.
Hi Shekhar,
Nice to read your blog 🙂
I am still trying to understand the logic of inviting Yasin Malik to a forum dedicated to “Youth”. Is it a signal to all the young folks to embrace the act of violence til you feel the need for it and then join the political main-stream, so that you cant be charged of commiting any crime?
Yasin Malik has killed people (Hindus, Muslims and Indian police/military). And he is now given a chance to speak in such a forum 🙁 This speaks of sheer ignorance, no-sympathy towards the victims and Kashmiri Pandits, to be particlar, who have been at the receiving end of the government in power, as well the media.
I hardly remember an article, being written by the media on the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley and starting their living again, from SCRATCH.
Hope that the India Today panel as well as the media who show news based on religion, minority appeasement, wake up and take a note of this fact.
Warm Regards,
Ashutosh Raina
Friends, Just have some patience. The day Narendra Modi becomes Prime Minister of India, people like Yasin Malik and other frivolous terrorist groups in the valley will start hiding and disappear.
Every jihadi terrorist in Kashmir, supported by Pakistan or others, knows very well, what Modi is capable of doing once he is defacto leader of India.
8 months to Lok Sabha elections… cant wait…
JAI HIND
I have family members who died because of Yasin Malik’s terrorism and vitrolically violent actions.
Would Shekar Kapur have the courage to forgive a man who killed his wife , child or mother ?
Being like Mahatma Gandhi is easier said than done.
…And I still feel even more strongly that Shekhar Kapur has harnessed his feelings to such a level that he is zen master in questioning
Its very moving to read such human condition…such individual conflicts…
The beauty of such conflicts is there is no black or white…its all grey…will there be solution? everyone feels there must be but nobody is dropping their own conflicts then how can there be a solution?
After going through various comments, I have one observation –
the on-ground experiences of
1 – ALL Displaced Kashmiries-about half a million
2 – Gautam Kaul
3 – Tej Tikoo
generally make absolutely no sense to Indian intelligensia, else perpetrators would not be projected as sufferrers.
Mountain of cases in Valley of misery
Neelesh Misra, Hindustan Times
April 30th, 2008
A Hindustan Times Special delves into how the government is complict in crimes.It lays bare how Yasin Malik with 23 criminal cases(many of them high profile)still manages to get passport.How he escapes trial because of government inaction.Read it all here…..
Hindustan Times Link – http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=5843159a-8666-4892-abc0-c9ec50ac9252&&Headline=Mountain+of+cases+in+Valley+of+misery
Roots In Kashmir Link – http://kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com/2008/04/hindustan-times-special-with-special.html
Need we say more ???
after going throug the blog of shekhar …i was indeed pleased to c that ppl r crossing the borders … the borders they themselves have made … some one above mentioned narendra modi as a pm … wat a crap .. do u think he can stop everyting …lols …than just send him to kashmir … all of us knw that every kashmiri has suffered n everyone wants peace .. but with such kind of feelings in ur heart u wont be able to acheive it … every kashmiri muslim feels for his pandit brother …n every one wants them bak but with this felling …u knw the history …
Dear Shekhar,
I truly and most deeply respect the fact that as an individual who hails from a family hit by partition, you have risen above the trite sentiments and learned to forget the perpetrators of violence. But we seem to miss out on some facts. For starters, the partition wasa national tragedy which has no parallel in the annals of modern indian history,perhaps second to the bengal famine. The times were really confusing.People, literate or otherwise, were forced to make choices because the nation was in it’s infancy and the men and women of free india had not even learned to walk the first free steps inside this so called loose amalgamation of states.
But that wasn’t the case with the kashmiri exodus. We bled because the whole country remained glued to the gulf war being fought on foriegn shores. The ever alert indian media remained a mute spectator to the horrors which were perpetrated on this fragile hindu community because there was some other place which was fetching them TRP ratings. And what was our fault? That we aligned our future with India? Or that we were the soft targets…the easy news for the unfogiven!!!
I remember a discussion at the end of last year , of which the panelists included the illustrious Shyam BENEGAL. The moderator elicited the views of the panelists on the most shameful moments in indian history. The unanimous answers included the partition and the destruction of the Babri Masjid. I am thankful to that unknown guy who intercepted benegal’s insightful commentary by asking him why he didn’t think the exodus of 5 lakh hindu’s and the killing of many of them , as equally shameful?? Benegal had no answer…i’m sure being exposed on screen as a pseudo secularist doesn’t suit him. I don’t really blame him for that. In a world where our existence is measured in bits and bytes his knowledge of the event betrayed his ignorance of some startling facts.
For once , Mr.Shekhar, we are not asking too much out of the indian intelligentsia. We are asking for Justice…..I applaud your comments on peace and reconciliation but let me remind you that peace is not just the absence of war..it’s the presence of justice. and justice is what needs to be delivered to the likes of Mr.MALIK and his ilk. And then shall start the process of forgiveness and reconciliation. The question of..” HAVE YOU FORGIVEN?”…should have been asked to the people protesting against Malik
at the venue. He needs to beg for forgiveness in front of the whole hindu community rather than being glorified as a martyr for his misplaced cause.
Dear Shakhar
Here are few more facts for the readers of your Blog. It was then home minister of India Mr. Mufti’s younger daughters kidnapping which was orchestrated by Yasim Malik .
Ysim Malik accepted doing that in his BBC interview when asked regarding the kidnapping of Miss mufti……………let your readers ponder over it and draw their own conclusion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa9CvVV2HXA
enclosed is an artical written by Joginder Singh. IMO what India needs is the political will to abolish temprary artical 370 in our constitution till that is done KM in kashmir vally should not be allowed in rest of the INDIA.
Mufti’s sinister agenda
By Joginder Singh
Politicians are flippant creatures. They speak what
will catch public attention and keep them in the
limelight. Once I was talking to a politician from
Punjab, who later became its Chief Minister and was
even elected to the highest office of the country,
about the assets, needs and liabilities of a
politician. He said that the biggest asset of a
politician is to be in the limelight. Otherwise, he is
forgotten. Then, I asked, what should a politician do
when there is nothing to write about him in the media?
“He should get some news published, howsoever good or
bad that may be, even if he has to pay for it,” he
observed.
Former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has
called for allowing dual currency in Jammu & Kashmir.
He said, “Like Europe, which has one currency, we want
the currencies of both the countries (India and
Pakistan) in Kashmir on both sides of the Line of
Control… As in Europe, where people can travel to
nearly 40 countries on a single passport and without
any visa, we want people to travel on both sides of
Kashmir without any restrictions. We want Jammu &
Kashmir to become a model for SAARC nations which will
have one economic zone.”
In a paper presented about two months ago in Pakistan,
Mr Sayeed’s daughter, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, in order to
please the terrorists, suggested dual power-sharing
arrangement between India and Pakistan for ‘undivided
Kashmir’ as an amicable settlement of the contentious
issue.
The Mufti’s statement shows either his ignorance of
the ground realities both in Europe and Jammu &
Kashmir, or it is a deliberate attempt to pander to
the terrorists. None of the 40 European countries
faces the problem of terrorism. As it is, Jammu &
Kashmir has been given special privileges which none
of the other 27 States and seven Union Territories
enjoys. In the Kashmir Valley, which is a Muslim
majority area, there has been almost total ethnic
cleansing of the minorities.
The result of the terrorist activities, funded and
supported from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan,
has been that nearly 3.7 lakh Hindus and Sikhs were
forced to migrate from the Valley. The continuing
terrorist attacks are a part of an orchestrated
campaign designed to cleanse Jammu & Kashmir of its
indigenous Hindu and Sikh population and bring the
area under Muslim control – either through merger with
Pakistan, or as an independent, Islamic state. The
Talibanisation of the Valley is almost complete.
Indian law prohibits migration of Indians from other
States into Jammu & Kashmir, though Kashmiris can go
and settle anywhere in the country. IAS and IPS
officers of the Jammu & Kashmir cadre, even after
serving 40 years in that State, cannot buy property
there. A proposal to allot them land in the Valley was
termed in the State Assembly as the “return of the
East India Company”.
On one occasion in the past, land for a Government
office was not registered in the name of the President
of India as he was not a ‘Kashmiri’. Unwittingly, the
harping on special status for Jammu & Kashmir has led
to the preservation of pro-Pakistani and
fundamentalist Muslim character of the Valley.
Liberalism has disappeared and women are forced to
wear the Islamic veil and dress in accordance with the
code prescribed by the ulema. Music, too, has been
proscribed. Sometime back, a local Urdu-language
newspaper in Srinagar published a Press release issued
by Hizb-ul Mujahideen demanding the Kashmiri Pandits
leave the State so that it can join Pakistan.
Kashmiri Pandits, instead of being called the victims
of terrorism, are euphemistically described as
‘migrants’. They languish in refugee camps in squalor
and disease on dole from the Government. From time to
time, the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir gives a
call to them to return. But each time such
announcements are made, there is a terrorist attack
against the remaining Hindu populace in the State,
sending a clear message to the Pandits.
When Mr Sayeed quotes “people of 40 countries”
travelling without let or hindrance, can he quote one
instance where people from one European country have
been forced to quit their hearth and home on the
ground of religion or race? Can he cite from any of
the 40 countries the extent of terror manifested in
Jammu & Kashmir, as shown by a police souvenir of
Jammu & Kashmir Police?
It said that there were 56,041 incidents of violence,
including 10,093 explosions, 29,931 firing incidents,
5,561 cases of arson, 763 rocket attacks, 4,597
abductions, 229 cases of hanging to death, 275 arms
snatching cases and 4,592 other acts of violence
between January 1990 and December 2002. It further
added that more than 30,000 civilians were killed
during the 14-year-long militancy, while 60,000
terrorists died during the same period. The security
forces seized 24,785 AK-type rifles, 9,387 pistols and
revolvers, 58 carbines, 1,003 RPGs, 91 light machine
guns and self-loading rifles, 742 rocket launchers and
2,270 rocket boosters during the same period. Besides,
6,865 kg of RDX, 47,219 grenades, 5,228 anti-personnel
mines and 4,176 rockets were captured. Worse, Jammu &
Kashmir is related to, in one way or the other, most
terrorist attacks taking place in the country.
What India has been doing for the people of Jammu &
Kashmir is much more than it has done for those
belonging to other States. Since 1990, the State has
managed to get more than Rs 35,571.3 crore in grants
and assistance. In 2001-02, for instance, it got, Rs
4, 577 crore from the Centre, or over 70 per cent of
the total assistance to the 27 remaining States and
eight Union Territories. It has got more money and
financial assistance than any other State every year
since 1995. Add to this, projects in the State worth
Rs 25,000 crore being funded by the Centre.
A Kashmiri gets eight-times more money from the Centre
than citizens belonging to other States. While per
capita Central assistance to other States increased
from Rs 576.24 in 1992-93 to Rs 1,137 in 2000-01, that
for Jammu & Kashmir spiralled from Rs 3,197 to Rs
8,092. To get a perspective, translate the numbers: If
this cash were to be dispatched by money order, each
Kashmiri family (with five members on an average) will
get Rs 40,460 every year.
For all that tall talk of autonomy or independence,
the fact is that Jammu & Kashmir cannot sustain itself
without the Centre’s support. In 2001-02, the State
spent Rs 7,516.6 crore, of which Rs 4,577 crore – or
60 paise of every rupee spent – came from the Centre.
The State’s non-development expenditure was Rs 2,829
crore, including a salary bill of Rs 1,193 crore,
while its revenue was barely Rs 1,095 crore.
Mercifully, Mr Sayeed’s idea of using Pakistani
currency in Jammu & Kashmir and allowing safe passage
to terrorists has no takers in the country.
For any comments, queries or feedback, kindly mail us at pioneerletters@…
desh ka neta narendra modi jaisa ho.
modi is the answer for yasin malik and osama bin laden types.
NARENDRA MODI ZINDABAD!!!!!
jai hind. jai bharat
Dear Sir,
It takes a courageous heart to forgive the one who shed ones own blood.
The world views held by various stakeholders of the Kashmir issue do not seem to have a sense of commonality.
The easiest option of meeting violence with violence has been used by the GOI.
We need less of talk and more of work.We need to provide the coming generation with a brighter future. Are you and I ready to pitch in?
There is a dearth of quality leadership. But when people are becoming insensitive to each other even in the peaceful parts of the country, do we stand a chance of being sensitive to the future of millions of kashmiri youth and children.
When the politics of division is being played so loud top,bottom and everywhere i dont see Kashmir ever becoming peaceful.
Like in Cinema everyone loves a happy ending, there is a need for visionaries who can paint a brighter picture for the millions who are displaced, for the millions who have been brainwashed…
Shekhar do you think you and I can pitch in?
Terrorism can survive only when the dream of a bright future is lost.
People staying in the rest of India can pitch in just by being a little more sensitive to each other and by choosing the right people to lead them. I call this “Door step” revolution.. where we just need to be a little more sensitive to the ones who live right outside our door step.
I have found it a little difficult to practice it, but then the solution to the miseries lies within,we just need to try, try and try again….
Yasin Malik killed 300 innocent children in his terrorist career.
Ask the parents of those children, that he killed, how they feel, shekar..
Then people like leftists, communists, congreswallahs, and samajwadi jokers.. wonder why Narendra Modi is popular in India?
simply because… selective secularism cannot work in a society which esteems to be truly secular.
LONG LIVE KASHMIR,
Dear Shekhar,
I’m devastated with your idea of “FORGIVESS”. Forgive whom????
????, ?? ???? ??? ???! ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ????| ????? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ?? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ??| ??? ????? ???? “??????” ?? ???????, ?? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?? ??? ??? ??| ?????? ???? !! ??? ?? ‘??????’ ????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ??????????? ??! ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ???????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ??, ?? ???? ??? ??? ???? ????!
???? ???? ?? ?? ” ?????????? ?????” ?? ?? ?????????? ?? ???? ??? ??-“?????? ? ????? ??? ????? ??? ???|
??????? ???????? ???? ?? ??????????||”
???? ??? ???? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? ??? ?????| ????? ?? ????, ??????? ?? ?????? ? ???? ?????| ??? ?? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ?????????? ?????, ????? ????? ??? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??? ?????. ??????? ??????, ?? ???? ??? ???| ????, ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?? ‘??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ????? ???? ???, ?? ?? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ???? ???, ???? ??? ?? ?? ???, ????? “???” ?? ???!?? ?? ‘????’ ??? ??! ??????? ??? ???? ??? ?? ?? ?? ?? ????? ?? ??? ??? ???, ????? ????? ???? ?????, ????, ??????? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ??? ???| ??? ????? ????? ?? ??? ????, ???? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?????.
“????? ? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ??|
??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???? ??||”
Dear Shekhar,
I’m devastated with your idea of “FORGIVESS”. Forgive whom????
????, ?? ???? ??? ???! ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ????| ????? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ?? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ??| ??? ????? ???? “??????” ?? ???????, ?? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?? ??? ??? ??| ?????? ???? !! ??? ?? ‘??????’ ????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ??????????? ??! ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ???????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ??, ?? ???? ??? ??? ???? ????!
???? ???? ?? ?? ” ?????????? ?????” ?? ?? ?????????? ?? ???? ??? ??-“?????? ? ????? ??? ????? ??? ???|
??????? ???????? ???? ?? ??????????||”
???? ??? ???? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? ??? ?????| ????? ?? ????, ??????? ?? ?????? ? ???? ?????| ??? ?? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ?????????? ?????, ????? ????? ??? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??? ?????. ??????? ??????, ?? ???? ??? ???| ????, ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?? ‘??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ????? ???? ???, ?? ?? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ???? ???, ???? ??? ?? ?? ???, ????? “???” ?? ???!?? ?? ‘????’ ??? ??! ??????? ??? ???? ??? ?? ?? ?? ?? ????? ?? ??? ??? ???, ????? ????? ???? ?????, ????, ??????? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ??? ???| ??? ????? ????? ?? ??? ????, ???? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?????.
“????? ? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ??|
??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???? ??||”
Dear Shekhar,
I’m devastated with your idea of “FORGIVESS”. Forgive whom????
????, ?? ???? ??? ???! ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ????| ????? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ?? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ??| ??? ????? ???? “??????” ?? ???????, ?? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?? ??? ??? ??| ?????? ???? !! ??? ?? ‘??????’ ????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ??????????? ??! ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ???????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ??, ?? ???? ??? ??? ???? ????!
???? ???? ?? ?? ” ?????????? ?????” ?? ?? ?????????? ?? ???? ??? ??-“?????? ? ????? ??? ????? ??? ???|
??????? ???????? ???? ?? ??????????||”
???? ??? ???? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? ??? ?????| ????? ?? ????, ??????? ?? ?????? ? ???? ?????| ??? ?? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ?????????? ?????, ????? ????? ??? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??? ?????. ??????? ??????, ?? ???? ??? ???| ????, ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?? ‘??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ????? ???? ???, ?? ?? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ???? ???, ???? ??? ?? ?? ???, ????? “???” ?? ???!?? ?? ‘????’ ??? ??! ??????? ??? ???? ??? ?? ?? ?? ?? ????? ?? ??? ??? ???, ????? ????? ???? ?????, ????, ??????? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ??? ???| ??? ????? ????? ?? ??? ????, ???? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?????.
“????? ? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ??|
??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???? ??||”
Dear Shekhar,
I’m devastated with your idea of “FORGIVESS”. Forgive whom????
????, ?? ???? ??? ???! ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ????| ????? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ?? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ??| ??? ????? ???? “??????” ?? ???????, ?? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?? ??? ??? ??| ?????? ???? !! ??? ?? ‘??????’ ????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ??????????? ??! ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ???????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ??, ?? ???? ??? ??? ???? ????!
???? ???? ?? ?? ” ?????????? ?????” ?? ?? ?????????? ?? ???? ??? ??-“?????? ? ????? ??? ????? ??? ???|
??????? ???????? ???? ?? ??????????||”
???? ??? ???? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? ??? ?????| ????? ?? ????, ??????? ?? ?????? ? ???? ?????| ??? ?? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ?????????? ?????, ????? ????? ??? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??? ?????. ??????? ??????, ?? ???? ??? ???| ????, ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?? ‘??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ????? ???? ???, ?? ?? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ???? ???, ???? ??? ?? ?? ???, ????? “???” ?? ???!?? ?? ‘????’ ??? ??! ??????? ??? ???? ??? ?? ?? ?? ?? ????? ?? ??? ??? ???, ????? ????? ???? ?????, ????, ??????? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ??? ???| ??? ????? ????? ?? ??? ????, ???? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?????.
“????? ? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ??|
??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???? ??||”