I always wondered how the hell it became the job of the Government to hire Amitabh Bachchan to remind Indian parents to take their kids to the dispensary and get few drops of polio vaccine. Is it not the responsibility of parents to get their kids vaccinated? Yes, but that is how an average Indian parent is (was and will also).
No wonder, the more the people in Kashmir agitate against the so called Indian occupation, the more Kashmiri parents exhibit their typical Indian character.
Is it for the first time a terrorist was killed in Kashmir? Is it for the first time there were protests supporting terrorism? Is it for the first time youth and adolescents threw stones? Is it for the first time security forces retaliated with weapons to contain stone throwers. Is it for the first time some of the young stone throwers die, perhaps along with some other on-lookers, who were not throwing stones but watching the scene being played out on the streets?
There is not a single new thing that is happening now in the streets of Kashmir. Still, like an average Indian parent, Kashmiri parents failed to prevent their children from throwing stones on security forces and getting killed in retaliation. Now, it is time for the government to hire a suitable personality, who can penetrate the idle minds of parents and tell them to value the lives of their kids. If the government can find such a celebrity, it appears, most of the problems of Kashmir could be resolved.
Yes, the problem lies in the hydra like structure of secessionism and support these secessionists received from the hands of successive governments due to vote bank politics. There is not a single leader whom the entire state of Kashmir respects. It is truth. The way the feudal landlords and businessmen have controlled the economy, if some sociologist studies, the result may be something like that Jharkhand is far better in terms of dwindling feudal lords.
Everyone knew the economy in Kashmir generated through tourism is far more than the requirement of the state, yet there are more youth fighting to get some work. Why? If any tourist chitchats with the guide who steers the horse one finds the real problem that kills Kashmir. Consider the owner of the horse earns anywhere between ₹2000 to ₹4000 a day for nearly eight months in a year. Nowadays, with increased facilities and relative peace (as terrorists understand how the economics work and stopped killing tourists and concentrating more on security forces only) Kashmir is getting tourists throughout the year. Let’s say the horse earns about ₹One Lakh in a month. What should be the guide getting as his salary, for walking throughout the day along with the horse? I leave it to your guess. But, he gets about ₹3000 to ₹7000 as monthly salary. The remaining is pocketed by the feudal lord, who has many more horses. Of course, there would be the cut of someone who is politically powerful, like it is in the rest of India (or in the entire world).
With the excess money in their lairs, these landlords preach about ‘occupying Indian forces’ to the poor, while fleecing them like leeches.
Anyone who had visited Kashmir in the last three years might have noticed that the general dress of a Kashmiri peasant resembles the dress of Rambo in first blood; some gunny sack cut to make holes to fit head and shoulders. This is not even the Arabic flowing robes that look wonderful while travelling in the desert. In the frozen mountain heights, they cover with warm clothing and drape this ‘Khan dress’, the one that was put into vogue by the Taliban, for not even the regular Pathans would ware it. None of the ladies would be like in the movie ‘Kashmir ki Kali’, for everyone was fully packed in dark black. That makes me wonder and shiver in vehemence whenever these secessionists talk of ‘preserving’ Kashmiriyat. Kashmiriyat is mostly found in the last names of terrorists, for many of them still have last names – Pandit, Butt (a perverted version of Bhat). [Even in Pakistan, one can see many Choudharies practising Islam and claiming to have Arabic lineage].
So, what Kashmiriyat they are talking about? And how they can talk of Kashmiriyat, after kicking out all the Pandits, who didn’t adopt the foreign customs and culture, despite all these invasions? Whenever someone talks about preserving Kashmir, it reminds me of the Congress talking about ‘Garibi Hatao’.
While these secessionist voices never wastes any occasion to remind the sacrosanct nature of Article 370, never they preach to their own not to buy any properties in rest of India. I’ve some friends from Kashmir – both Hindu and Muslim. Everyone concedes the condition of average Kashmiri is far better than an average person residing in the rest of India. They even accept that if either of the demands of secessionists, whether it is independence to Kashmir or merger with Pakistan would be too disastrous for the state to sustain.
For one, Pakistan would be talking about Kashmir, as long as it exists in the current form, for that country was borne out of confused identity crisis. The less we talk about the Kashmir administered by Pakistan, the better. For the elite of Kashmir boast of having Doctors, Engineers and Professors in their families, all the POK elite could boast is of political affluence.
With time, and increased Islamic terrorism in the Indian neighbourhood in particular and in the world at large, perhaps the patience of Indian government is too stretched to fight local breed of terrorists with kid gloves. It is high time for Kashmiri parents to note the factual changes that are taking place and take responsibility to the way their children behave, at least in the public and especially with the security forces. It is of no use to blame the union government, for none in the government would be monitoring the day-to-day administration of Kashmir. Yes, in Kashmir irrespective of the leader of the state government, whether it was an Abdullah or a Mufti, security forces would defend themselves when forced to the corner.
One hypocrite voice from Kashmir talked recently of occupiers cannot stand before the people’s might. What that fellow forgot was that the occupiers are the cry-babies of Pakistan funded secessionists while the Pandits who still follow the ancient Kashmiri culture are the real people of Kashmir. With the onslaught of Da’esh, it is for the Kashmiri parents to groom their offspring become human beings. Else, in all probability, Pakistan funded secessionists will convert their sons into ‘fighters of Da’esh’ and daughters into ‘sex slaves’. In the history of human evolution, there never was a time when the elders have sacrificed the next generation, and for sure, history repeats itself, defeating the inhumanity of those who sugar-coats sinister plans with religion, for the god (That’s me) guides only truth, nothing but truth.