Lately all types of people have started stirring the curry in Kashmir. People who have perhaps not even known the valley beyond the newspapers have been allowed to take centre-stage. Take for example the tenuous and callous edict of Arun Datti Roy, who has perhaps developed some kind of an affinity with the radical elements during her frequent rendezvous with them. Her proclamation might have won her the hearts of her beloved subversive kin in the valley and their mentors across the border but our hearts bleed to hear such rhetoric. The indigenous people like us, who have grown up in the lap of the vale and might have suffered the ignominy to be thrown out of our homeland, would not at all assimilate such sacrilege.
Ms Roy might be a credible writer but ostensibly she is a pathetic reader. Perhaps she has not cared to read and understand the backdrop, the cause and the purpose of the strife in the valley. It is ironical to hear about Kashmir and its tribulations from someone who is not at all qualified to talk about the subject. As a matter of fact, these days it has become fashionable for every dog on the street to open its mouth and vomit whatever it can chuck on Kashmir to gain cheap publicity, without caring about the sentiments of the people who have given blood to safeguard its sanctity.
It is worth reminding Ms Roy that not long ago, Kashmir was not what it is today. We have lived in a Kashmir which was an example of amity, serenity and tranquility. We fondly remember the times when Miwaiz Maulvi Farooq the slain father of Huriyat functionary Mirwaiz Omar Farooq used to travel to idgah for offering Idd prayers and on his return we, the Hindus living in his close neighborhood used to line up on the road side to wish him IDD MUBARAK and he used to return the greetings gratefully. Although Maulvi Farooq was a staunch crusader of azadi, but never did he transverse the path of secession in the right spirit due to lack of support from the people. The people were more concerned about earning their living rather than bother about azadi.
On the other hand the life of politicians across the border in Pakistan depended solely on the passion they ignited on Kashmir. They used every possible medium – Pakistan Television, Radio Pakistan & Azad Kashmir Radio, Tiralkand & Muzaraffabad and to some extend the local vernacular press to inculcate the seeds of azadi in Kashmiries. In April 1988, it took a historical maneuver by the very cunning General Zia-ul-Haq, the then military dictator of Pakistan, who devised a very realistic and viable plan to create instability and chaos in Kashmir. His doctrine named “OPERATION TOPAC” envisaged everything that Kashmir is passing through today. The situation created by Soviet occupation of Afghanistan ushered a God created opportunity for Zia to facilitate the fulfillment of his dream. What has happened to Kashmir would have never taken place without the intervention and connivance of Pakistan. If tomorrow Ms Roy’s dreams are realized and an independent Kashmir is formed, she should thank the genius of Gen Zia for sowing the seeds of secessionism in the Kashmiries.
We the Kashmiri Hindus, have suffered the most through the years of bloodbath and anarchy. Yet we would not dare to think of separating Kashmir from our motherland - India. Had we been having the kind of blood that is running through Ms Roy, we would have very easily compromised our jingoism and perhaps would have not been at the receiving end of misery and hardship that has become part of our lives today.
Would someone amongst us standup and make people like Ms Roy understand that every word spoken about Kashmir has got multifarious repercussions for the stakeholders and every word they speak has a bearing on the peace process that may be going on overtly or covertly in Delhi, Srinagar or Islamabad.
