AUM
COMMUNAL DIVIDE IN
J&K ALWAYS PLAGUED PEOPLE
By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
Dr Karan Singh, a Congress member of
the Rajya Sabha made a candid short speech in the House throwing light on the
incompetence of State Administration in handling the volatile situation in
Kishtwar before9th August and thereafter too. A former Yuraj of the Hindu Dogra
ruling dynasty and a Sadre Riyasat of the J&K State during the Sheikh
Abdullah government, Dr Karan Singh knows the people and political under
currents like nobody else. He made a true analysis by saying that the
undercurrent of communal divide was always present there and he had represented
the parliamentary constituency of which Kishtwar was a part for fifteen years.
He deserves to be congratulated for telling the truth.
EYE OPENER
Dr Karan Singh further said in Hindi “
Agar aap samajhte hain ki gaadi wahan chal rahi hai to main bata doon ki gaadi
ekdam chal nahi rahi hai.” Apparently he was referring to incompetence of the Chief
Minister, Omar Abdullah, in general and criminal delay in handling the riots in
Kishtwar effectively in particular. Dr Karan Singh’s national credentials have
always stood the test of time. It was he who, as Sadre Riyasat of J&K had
signed the warrant of arrest of Sheikh Abdullah in 1953 when the latter had
strayed from the path of secular nationalism and had nurtured a dream of
becoming the Sultan of Kashmir. Sheikh’s ideas and speeches were more communal
than that of the Muslim League and he had become more anti-India than the
politicians of Pakistan. He had even raised doubts about the legality of that
state acceding to India.
Even Jawaharlal Nehru, a bosom friend
of the rebellious Sheikh was alarmed and perforce gave a nod to his removal
from the office of CM and arrest. It was Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, the new Chief
Minister, who fully integrated that State with the Republic of India. Omar
Abdullah is the grandson of the same Sheikh Abdullah. No wonder he raises the
cry of J&K reverting to the pre 1953 constitutional status. Thus he
indirectly stokes the fire of separatists in their slogan for AZADI that was
raised every now and then in Kishtwar before the situation flared up.
Dr Farooq Abdullah, Sheikh’s son,
never took any action against the unruly and riotous Kashmiris who burnt the
Indian National Flag and raised pro-Pakistan slogans in his presence time and
again. He never came down on the separatists and pro-Pakistan elements among
Kashmiri Muslims with a heavy hand.
MAHARAJAH’S MUSLIM TROOPS REVOLTED
Going back to the partition days in
1947 when J&K was still an independent territoty under Maharajah Sir Hari
Singh, father of Dr Karan Singh, when the Muslim troops of his State Forces in
Gilgit and Chitral has revolted against His Highness on communal grounds and
hoisted the Pakistan flag. Thus a large part of the State was handed over to
Pakistan on a silver platter by the Maharajah’s Muslim troops. It was rank
communalism.
In the same year when Jinnah launched
the Pushtoon and other tribals, officered by Pakistan army officers, in an outrageous attack of the Maharajah’s
J&K, the Muslim troops of Sir Hari Singh revolted against the Hindu ruler
and joined hands with the raiding tribal Muslims. Wasn’t it a proof of
communalism that the Namak Haram soldiers joined hands with the invading enemy?
ETHNIC CLEANSING OF KASHMIR VALLEY
In 1989-90 terrorism of Islamic
Jihadis peaked. Many senior judges and bureaucrats belonging to the Kashmiri
Pundit community were killed by Muslims. The hate-Hindu campaign of rabid
communal forces was crysal clear when terrifying slogans were raised from
mosques on microphones asking the Kashmiri Pundits to quit Kashmir. They were threatened
with rape, loot and genocide. Almost all the self respecting Kashmiri Pundits
left the Kashmir valley and moved to Jammu, Delhi and other safe places. None
of the so-called secular Muslims of Kashmir came to their rescue. The vacant
houses, temples and other places of Hindu worship were burnt down. Who will say
that there is brotherhood between the Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir valley?
This kind of brotherhood and secularism is just a myth to lull the Government
of India into sleep and allow the inflow of Indian tax-payers money flow into
the pockets of communal Kashmiris.
KISHTWAR REVISITED
When the Hindu houses and shops burnt
by Muslim mobs of hooligans, the district police, civil administration and even
the State’s Home Minister, Sajjad Kitchloo were just mute spectators. They did
not swing into action to douse the fire of communal frenzy. Why? When accusing
fingers of partisan attitude and of inciting mobs to loot and plunder, commit
arson and murder were raised, he had little option but to resign. It is
reported that the Governor, Shri N.N. Vohra has accepted his resignation on the
recommendation of the Chief Minister.
By the way no arrests of murderers
and arsonists were made from 9th August to 12th August
when Parliament discuss the Kishtwar mayhem and put the Central government on
back foot. It was only then that the State Administration swung into action and
made some arrests.
When Rome was burning Nero was
fiddling. In J&K when Kishtwar was burning Omar Abdullah was tweeting. He
derives comfort in waging a tweet war with the BJP leaders rather than take
action on the Intelligence inputs about simmering situation in Kishtwar.
Because of his inaction against the separatist elements, the latter have grown
from bold to bolder and preach anti-India philosophy. On the pubic and private
walls in downtown Kishtwar, posters of condemned traitors like Maqbool Bhatt
and the hanged attacker of Sansad Bhawan were posted and the traitors were eulogized.
When the nationalist Hindus protested, the large crowd of Muslims from Eidgah
came down with a heavy hand on them. The teenage son of the President of
Kishtwar Bahujan Samaj Party president was brutally killed. The goons pumped as
many as seventeen bullets into his body. The police remained an inactive
spectator. The district administration and the Minister of State for Home,
Sajjad Kitchloo were gripped with inertia. Or were they a part of deeper and
sinister conspiracy to cleanse Kishtwar of the Hindus?
An impartial inquiry by an
unimpeachable individual or a body of civil society must probe the sisnister
Kishtwar episode to find out the truth.
The blame must be laid at the door of culprits whosoever they may be. Further
those who have suffered the loss of loved ones and whose property has been
burnt or destroyed must be compensated adequately.
It is heartening to
note that Shri P Chidambaram, officiating Union Home Minister, has assured the
Indian nation that the events of 1990 when the Kashmiri Pundits were hounded
out by communalist Muslims would not be allowed to be repeated in Kishtwar.
Thus the ghost of anti-national conspiracy to cleanse Kishtwar of the Hindu
community has been laid at rest. Let us hope and trust that what Shri
Chidambaram said were not mere words but a solemn promise made to the
Parliament and the Indian Nation and the Central government would now swing
into action to keep the Minister’s word.
Email : sawantchitranjan@yahoo.com Mobile:
9811173590.
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