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Jammu And Kashmir - 2
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Capitulation in J&K </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Congress bows before Islamic fanatics
It would be erroneous to believe that the situation in Jammu & Kashmir, so severely disturbed this past week by separatists on the rampage and their political patrons of various shades, will become 'normal' now that Governor NN Vohra has 'returned' the land which had been leased to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board. The PDP, which was looking for an excuse to break free of restraints that come with being in power, has walked out on its partner, the Congress. The All-Party Hurriyat Conference, which needed an issue to revert to true form, has achieved its objective. And, those elements of Kashmiri society who abhor the idea of any Hindu presence in the Valley and for whom the annual yatra to the Amarnath Shrine is akin to desecration of their "culture" are celebrating their victory over the 'secular' state. Meanwhile, the Congress has egg on its face, although it is reluctant to admit as much, instead choosing to blame former Governor SK Sinha! But such calumny cannot hide the truth. Let there be no mistake: What we have witnessed in Jammu & Kashmir is a pathetic and shameful capitulation, though not for the first time, by the Indian state before Muslim fanatics. For, contrary to what the PDP, the Hurriyat and assorted separatists have been alleging, there never was any alienation of land nor was there any proposal to erect permanent structures on the leased land. By forcing the Government to beat a retreat, those who had taken to the streets have sent out a clear, though chilling message: In 'secular' India, Hindu pilgrims have no right to basic facilities and amenities. This is in sharp contrast to the huge expense incurred by the Union Government and the State Governments to provide every possible facility both at home and in Saudi Arabia to Haj pilgrims. The 'Haj Houses' and 'Haj Terminals' -- permanent brick-and-mortar structures as compared to the pre-fabricated structures that were planned for yatris travelling to Amarnath -- are two examples of how tax payers are made to foot the bill of pilgrimage to Mecca by Muslims. What if people were to find them unacceptable and a "threat to the environment"? Would the Government then demolish them? Must Islamic fanatics in Kashmir Valley be mollycoddled in so crass a manner?

There is no percentage in trying to rationalise either the protests or the Government's jelly-kneed response to pretend that last week's violence was no more than a proverbial storm in the tea cup. Nor shall any purpose be served by blaming those on the fringe of Kashmiri Muslim society, and claiming that 'Kashmiriyat' is all-embracing and does not discriminate between Muslims and Hindus. That's so much balderdash, and we all know it. The cleansing of Kashmir Valley, which began with jihadis forcing Kashmiri Pandits to flee their ancestral land, is an incomplete project -- the successful resistance to facilities for Hindu pilgrims highlights this point in the most lurid fashion. One way of dealing with Sunday's denouement is to treat the Islamic fanatics with contempt and the Congress with pity. The other way is to stand up and be counted: In secular and democratic India, of which Jammu & Kashmir is an inseparable part, pandering to the dark and menacing forces of Muslim separatism is unacceptable.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>But Cong blames ex-Guv Sinha for yatra turmoilÂ  </b>
Pioneer News Service | New DelhiÂ 
As the Congress-led Jammu & Kashmir Government battled the Amarnath land transfer controversy, the party on Monday blamed former State Governor SK Sinha for the problem, suggesting he has a track record of fuelling problems.

<b>When asked about the role of Lt General (Retd) SK Sinha in the controversy, Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said, "It is not the policy of Congress to make any strong comment about the constitutional office of Governor but wherever General Sinha has worked (earlier in Assam and now in J&K) there has always been a situation which stoked communal passions."

Natarajan was referring to Sinha's previous stint in Assam where in 1998 he had submitted a 42-page report to the President pointing out the increasing influx of Bangladeshi migrants in the Northeastern State. He had warned in his report that unless border fencing in the North-East, especially in Assam, was not undertaken seriously, the country's security could be in danger.

His report had said this increased immigration from Bangladesh might first lead to a demand for merger of North-East border areas with Bangladesh and ultimately could create a situation when Dhaka could cut off the region from the rest of the country. This report had created a furore in the State.</b>

The Congress referred to this decade-old controversy during Sinha's reign as Governor and tried to draw parallels to his stint in J&K. When asked why he had not been removed, Natarajan refused to answer.

The Congress blamed the BJP for communalising the situation in J&K, created after the Congress-PDP Government's decision to transfer 40 hectares of forestland to the Amarnath shrine board. The land transfer triggered widespread protests in Kashmir valley besides coalition partner PDP pulling out, reducing the Govt to a minority. Natarajan said, "The BJP is creating an atmosphere for a terrible communal flare-up. It is a blatant attempt by BJP to whip up communal passions."
Congress is good in blaming who is right whether it is Lt Gen Sinha or Pandits.

It is distressing and alarming that communal tension is rising over
the decision of the Jammu and Kashmir state government to
transfer a little less than 40 hectares of land to the Sri Amarnathji
Shrine Board to enable the latter to provide accommodation facilities
to the thousands of Hindu pilgrims who visit the Amarnath shrine every
summer. One cannot expect separatist and militant outfits in Jammu
and Kashmir to make a sober and mature appraisal of the larger issues
at stake. It is the attitude of mainstream political parties that is
most disappointing and worrying.

The specious grounds for the the Peoples Democratic Party's objections
are that the implementation of the decision of the state government
would change the "eco-cultural character" of the state. What is the
nature of this eco-cultural character of Jammu and Kashmir that is so
fragile that it cannot survive the transfer of a small tract of land?
Does the Kashmir valley have only a "Muslim" character? What happened
to the much-touted Kashmiriyat? Or is that a politically correct
platitude that has become an inconvenience to be ignored now that most
of the Kashmiri Pandits have been hounded out of their homes in the
Valley to Jammu, Delhi and elsewhere in India? Kashmiri politicians
owe it to the rest of India to clarify their position on this issue.

To my mind, whether or not the land in question should be transferred
to the SASB is only a technical question, not the heart of the issue.
The more important thing is whether the state government feels that it
has an obligation to improve the facilities that would make the
pilgrimage of thousands of Hindu devotees more secure and more
comfortable. For centuries pilgrims have been making the arduous trip
to Amarnath cave without the benefit of any facilitation by the state.
They relied on the local people for food, accommodation and other
facilities. They lived in tents. But a caring State in independent
India can and should do more.

It would be instructive to see what the Government of India does for
Haj pilgrims visiting Mecca and Medina. The government is, in the
words of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, "committed to
ensure that the best possible arrangements are put in place for the
comfort and well-being of Indian pilgrims to facilitate their sacred
pilgrimage." The "welfare and well-being of Haj pilgrims," he says,
"is always a matter of utmost concern to the government."

In keeping with these public policy statements, the Government of
India makes elaborate arrangements for the welfare of Haj pilgrims and
external affairs in particular, deserves credit for providing perhaps
the best arrangements that any government makes for their Haj pilgrims.

And what exactly does the Government of India do? For starters, it
provides an airfare subsidy to about 100,000 pilgrims selected by the
least a decade or more.

figure would have gone up to Rs 350-400 crores. Although there is a
2006 Allahabad high court judgment ruling against this subsidy, it
continues to be given because the government got the Supreme Court to
pass a stay order.

Add to this the losses suffered by Air India, and the inconvenience to
passengers because its planes are diverted to carry Haj pilgrims. For
the convenience of pilgrims, charter flights are operated directly
from 16 airports in India to Saudi Arabia. Returning pilgrims can
transport 10 litres of holy Zam Zam water with them free of cost. At
Delhi airport there is a separate Haj terminal. To improve the comfort
of pilgrims, Air India has been advised to use wide-body jets in
future for their Haj flights.

Great attention and care to Haj matters is given at the highest levels
of government. The United Progressive Alliance government has
successfully lobbied with the Saudi government to increase the quota
for pilgrims from India, as a result of which the annual quota has
increased by 38,000 over the last four years. It will go up by a
further 3,000 or so this year because of the exertions of External
Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his visit to Saudi Arabia in
April this year.

State Haj Committees have their own premises in various other Indian

Very high priority is given to Haj matters in the mandate given by the
government to both the Indian ambassador in Riyadh and the Indian
consul general in Jeddah. Every government in Delhi has ensured that
only Muslims are appointed to these posts, a practical decision
intended to facilitate their travel to Mecca and Medina, where
non-Muslims are not allowed. There is also a separate consul for Haj
matters in the Indian consulate general in Jeddah.

Accommodation in Mecca and Medina is decided keeping in mind the need
to provide maximum convenience and comfort to the pilgrims. Typically,
all accommodation has lifts, telephones, running water, electricity
and telephone at the minimum. There is total computerisation of
pilgrim location and movement. During Haj, a large contingent of
seasonal local staff, supervisors, data entry operators, as well as
drivers and messengers (whose job is to round up and bring home safely
elderly pilgrims who may have got lost) is appointed by the consulate
general of India, Jeddah, during the Haj period.

to Saudi Arabia. Special attention is given to medical facilities for
the pilgrims.

Some of the facilities provided by the government are: arrangements
for polio, meningitis and influenza vaccinations for pilgrims before
Medina; three medical teams at Jeddah airport to provide medical care
supply of medicines, medical supplies and critical medical equipment
government to facilitate a hassle-free Haj pilgrimage each year for
tens of thousands of Muslims from India.

Perhaps our self-righteous and petty Kashmiri politicians in India's
only Muslim-majority state should reflect over these facts and tell us
whether they think it is at least their moral if not political
obligation to be more caring and sensitive to Hindu pilgrims visiting
Amarnath. If we can do so much for Indians going on a pilgrimage
abroad, should we not be able to do as much if not better for pilgrims
at home?

For a start, should not the Jammu and Kashmir government at least try
to match the facilities given to pilgrims to Vaishno Devi shrine,
which is located in the same state? And is it too much to expect our
politicians and other "secular" leaders to be a bit more courageous
and vocal in trying to knock some sense into the heads of shortsighted
and irresponsible Kashmiri politicians?

As those in power, both in Delhi and Srinagar ponder over
this matter, the litmus test has to be whether the decision finally
taken adds to the comfort and convenience of the pilgrims.

Indian citizens and taxpayers deserve honest answers to the questions
posed above.
<b>Kashmir police fire on Hindu protesters</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>BJP calls for nationwide shutdown on July 3 </b>
Pioneer News Service | New DelhiÂ 
Main opposition BJP has given a call for a nationwide shutdown on July 3 in protest against the Jammu and Kashmir Government's decision to revoke the allotment of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). The Vishwa Hindu Parishad would also observe a Bharat Bandh the same day.

After a meeting of senior party leaders, BJP president Rajnath Singh said here on Tuesday, "We want that land to be returned to the shrine board. Centre's role in this episode has been dubious and it can not shy away from its responsibility." The BJP would also organise protest rallies at major centres of the country between July 4 and 11.

He said it was, unfortunately, for the first time that some groups and individuals were protesting a decision to provide facilities to the pilgrims. "Such facilities have been extended to Haj Yatris and during Urs, but nobody objected to it. Then why was there a protest in Amarnath yatra's case?" he asked.

The BJP leaders, who passed a resolution criticising the role of the State and Central Governments, also pointed out that the SASB had made a payment of Rs two and a half crore for the 40-hectare land.

On whether the BJP's stand would not disturb communal harmony in the Valley, Rajnath shot back saying it was "a matter of faith for Indians and those who politicised the issue actually attempted to create a divide between the two communities". The BJP president reiterated that his party was in favour of scrapping Article 370.

<b>Meanwhile, the VHP targeted Haj Yatra demanding that subsidy on Haj pilgrimage should be stopped. "Haj subsidy must be cancelled. No flights for Haj should be sent, as it is wastage of precious fuel the cost of which has to be borne by the taxpayers," </b>VHP general secretary Pravin Togadia told reporters.

<b>Togadia demanded that all Haj houses in the country be taken back by the Government and converted into charity hospitals for the poor</b>. Demanding that the Jammu and Kashmir Government revoke its order cancelling the allotment of 40 hectares of land allotted to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), the VHP also threatened that articles prepared in Jammu and Kashmir would be boycotted throughout the country if their demand was not met. VHP will also take out vehicle rallies all across the country on July 2.
<img src='http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u295/aravindan_neelakandan/muslims_attack.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Curfew clamped in Jammu after clashes, blast
2 Jul 2008, 0500 hrs IST,PTI

JAMMU: Fifty people were injured, including 13 in a grenade attack by militants on a rally in Bhaderwah, as Jammu on Wednesday saw stepped-up violence against the Amarnath land transfer revocation, forcing authorities to deploy the Army in sensitive areas. ( Watch )

Curfew was clamped in Bhaderwah and Samba with the Army staging flag marches in the two towns after 27 people were injured in communal clashes, the grenade attack and an incident of a mob torching five mud houses.

Over 70 people were arrested across the region and 50 people including 15 policemen and a CRPF constable were injured in the violence, officials said.

They said Jammu-Srinagar, Jammu-Poonch and Jammu- Pathankot highways were also clogged with Kashmiri migrants and activists of Hindu groups squatting at various points.

Demanding removal of Governor N N Vohra for revoking the order transferring forest land to Amarnath shrine board, BJP, VHP and Shiv Sena activists fought pitched battles with police at various places.

Police used batons and tear gas to push back the protesters and fired in the air at Muthi and Shastri Nagar in the city, the officials said.

Unidentified militants hurled a grenade on some 400 BJP activists and temple committee members returning to Laxmi Narain mandir in Bhaderwah after a rally, they said.

They said 13 people including a CRPF jawan were injured and four of them stated to be critical condition were airlifted to Jammu Government Medical College.

Good..like VHP says, stop Haj subsidy for these MF Husains...
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Shroud of Kashmiriyat </b>
KN Pandit
The real motive behind the violent protests in Kashmir is terrifyingly sinister

Recent events have once again exposed the much-touted 'secular' credentials of mainstream political parties in the Kashmir Valley. It would be incorrect to link the response of these parties to the Government's decision, which now stands cancelled, of temporarily allotting land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board to this year's Assembly election in Jammu & Kashmir.

On hindsight, the PDP, a coalition partner in the Congress-led Government in the State till it pulled out on Saturday, has hardly been cooperative after it handed over power to the latter three years ago. Its performance during the first three years of the coalition's tenure hardly bears testimony to its claimed non-partisan style of governance.

<b>Under the guise of 'respect for the wishes of the people', the PDP has in the past blatantly played the pro-separatist card on issues such as demilitarisation of Jammu & Kashmir, joint regional council with Pakistan occupied Kashmir, inflow of Pakistani currency, lifting of all restrictions on trans-border movement, etc.</b>

Under the much-touted cover of providing a 'healing touch', militants were set free from prisons by the PDP. They were given financial and other forms of support without eliciting their commitment of laying down arms and joining the national mainstream. In doing so, PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Saeed has created a formidable constituency on which he and his party now bank.

It is inadvisable to treat the ongoing phenomenon as either a political manoeuvre or a sadist desire on part of the PDP to pull down the Congress-led Government. The motive is far deeper than that.

The statements issued by the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and the Mufti himself show that Kashmiri leaders of all hues have forged a common understanding among themselves to fight Indian presence in the Valley along with Pakistan-sponsored outfits.

The statements of National Conference leaders, Mr Farooq Abdullah and Mr Omar Abdullah, have brought little solace to the tense situation that prevails in the Valley. Curiously, Mr Omar Abdullah has described the anti-Government demonstrations as an expression of "Kashmiri nationalism".

He has thus drawn a line between Indian nationalism and Kashmir nationalism. In other words providing for Haj complexes in various parts of the country is 'Indian nationalism' and denying Amarnath pilgrims some relief facilities is 'Kashmiri nationalism'.

<b>The people in the Valley have to understand that politicians are manipulating their religious feelings under the garb of 'Kashmiri nationalism'. This is a new approach to the old practice of whipping up religious sentiments at the time of Assembly elections.</b> The National Conference is notorious for brandishing green handkerchiefs and rock salt in its election rallies. These have now been replaced by slogans promoting 'Kashmiri nationalism'.

Incidentally, the ideology of Kashmiriyat, to which the Kashmiri political leadership and intelligentsia have stuck tenaciously for more than two decades, has also revealed its true colours. In April, Ali Shah Geelani, the veteran separatist leader, while speaking at a public rally in Sopor, said it was a fallacy to label Nund rishi as an outstanding rishi or sufi saint of 14th century. He said Sheikh Nooru'd-Din (not Nund Rishi) was a zealous Muslim missionary who contributed enormously to the spread of Islamic culture and faith in the Valley during his time.

Contemporary Kashmiri historians have now joined Mr Geelani's voice. Those who were till the other day brandishing Kashmiriyat as a manifestation of Kashmir's sense of communal harmony and peaceful co-existence, are now rejecting Kashmiriyat as a mischievous attempt by Indians to impose 'cultural hegemony' on Jammu & Kashmir.

<b>The current row over allotment of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board has shown that the majority of Kashmiri leaders believes that secessionist struggle should be carried out by political parties in a manner that is subtle and an erosion of Indian presence in Kashmir should be effected.</b>

This should serve as a warning to the Indian political leaders that something serious could happen once elections are held in October and the Assembly sits down to do business. It should expect no quarter from any of the mainstream political parties, including the State Congress in the Valley. New Delhi would also be well advised to think of the dangers inherent in the policy of divide and rule. That lesson should have been learnt long ago when the conspiracy of replacing Mr Farooq Abdullah with Mr GM Shah was masterminded.

<b>Jammu & Kashmir's political situation has come to a critical point. Any mishandling, any unrealistic and euphoric response to the situation will be fraught with the gravest of consequences.</b>

-- The writer is the former Director of the Centre of Central Asian Studies, Kashmir University.
<b>'India is doing in Kashmir what China does in Tibet'</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Bid on Imroz's life by police evokes condemnation

Ozair Nissar
Srinagar, July 01: Terming the assassination bid on Pervez Imroz, a well-known human rights activist who is the co-convener of International people`s Tribunal on human rights and justice, an attempt to halt the Tribunal from continuing its work, Dr <b>Angana Chatterji </b>co-convener of the Tribunal has said that India is doing same in Kashmir what China is doing in Tibet

Looks like whole Amarnath Yatra episode is orchestrate by US based Indian origin Commies, Paki, Fai is related to Angana, Bhutto and Paki Army.
A western view of Kashmir
By Ratnadeep Banerji

A Mission in Kashmir, Andrew Whitehead, Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., pp 285, Rs 495.00

Whitehead, an agnostic writer chooses St Josephâs mission, Baramullah to catch the thick of events at the onset of Lashkar invasion from Afghanistan following the Partition that deluged the Kashmir valley with cadavers raising skirl of wail to fall too much upon the reader to singe his cockles. For writing this medium sized book he rummaged through an intriguingly large number of living testimonies to tie the missing ends. The writer has traipsed a non-partisan stand that scooped out the glaring flagrances and thereupon commented against Maharajaâs fiefdom, Pukhtun pillage and debauchery, Pakistanâs gameplan or be it Indiaâs vested interests. Whitehead braved to sneak in the Laskar-e-Taiba heartland in Muzzafarabad, POK. Heâs fizzled out several existing notions holding them on slippery ground.

How did this wildfire break out? Andrew reveals - âThe Kashmir valley did not initially endure communal carnage. But it witnessed an invasion, and violence that was political, religious and communal in nature, starting just as the Partition killings in Punjab were beginning to subside. Kashmirâ¦...was a princely state, where a Hindu maharaja ruled a largely Muslim populace.â

Whoâs disgruntled to stoke the dying embers into an atrocious conflagration of attrition? Who fight and remain unfazed to run the gauntlet? Do theyâve to avenge something or somebody? Only a minority of the cadres of jihadi-style militant groups are the indigenous Kashmiris, the entire rest are infiltrators doing it for the heck of safeguarding âpan-Islamic sentimentâ. A Pathan dictum spells it outâTo every man his own country is Kashmir. Its quite intriguing that Pathans and Kashmiris have disparate cultures. Also, the valley of Kashmiris does not have a martial tradition. During Colonial period, Pathan Lashkars proved a nuisance even to the British preoccupying the British Indian Army. Whitehead comments on the lashkar treacheryââUnfortunately the enthusiasm with which the local Muslims had welcomed their (Lashkar) entry was short lived. A sizeable number of tribesman lost no time in turning against themâ¦â¦There was generally no distinction between Hindus and Muslims in so far as loot and arson was concernedâ¦.The local cinema hall was converted into a sort of a restricted brothel.â What happened to the much avowed brethren cause? It is believed that 90 per cent of Baramullaâs residents were killed by the Lashkars. Ironically, the lately formed Lashkar-e-Toiba, a dreaded outfit literally means âarmy of the pureâ.

Do you call this a holy warâa horrendous act perpetrated against seraphic nuns of missionaries running a maternity hospital? From rapes to gruesome murders were perpetrated under the jihad mission of lashkars. Sister Emilia, a nonagenarian Italian nun after half- a-century still living at the same spot on the volatile ceasefire line vents her pent-up feelings, an eye-witness account of the attack on their seminary on October 27, 1947. Andrew monikers one of his chapters, âwild-bearded beastsâ to recount on these lashkars. St Josephâs mission was stormed and made the invaderâs military base that subsequently bore the brunt of aerial bombing raids and upbraided visitations by Indian army and Pakistani army. Ironically it all started the same day Lord Mountbatten, the first Governor General of independent India, accepted Maharaja Hari Singhâs accession of his princely state to India. And to swoop down on Kashmir, the Sikh regiment began to airlift on that Monday dawn itself.

In the book we get a vintage memorabilia of quirk of fate that we often envisage on the silver screen. Whitehead quotes V.P. Menon, Indian Governmentâs envoy on his first hand report on reaching the palace escorted by Lieutenant Colonel Sam Manekshaw in Srinagar on October 26ââIt could be said that the Maharaja (Sir Hari Singh) had gone to pieces completelyâif not gone off his head. I have never seen such disorganisation in my life. The Maharaja was running around from one room to the other. I have never seen so much jewellery in my life..â¦..packing here, there, everywhereâ.

The author bellies Sir Hari Singhâs egoistic incarceration of Shere-e-Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah to thwart his growing popularity posing threat to his own despotic monarchy run on sectarian lines leading to widespread discontentment in his feudal state. Whitehead then goes on to lay bare Sheikh Abdullahâs flip-flop with the Indian Government to succeed with his stashed vendetta: and his initial proximity with Nehru leading to his aggrandizement as Chief Minister of the state and then his distancing leading to a 22-year detention ordered by the crown prince, Karan Singh who then had been kowtowing Nehru. Thereafter Sheikh Abdullahâs son on having mitigated with Indira Gandhi went on to become the chief ministerâs. Indeed, a fiasco to guffaw at.

At the end the... question resurfacesâWhy this problem? Andrew says - âThe origins of the conflict have been clouded by partisan rhetoric and the underlying issues have been obscured by the clamour of competing nationalisms.â Umar Farooq, Srinagarâs head cleric feels that Kashmir issue is basically a political question. Despite daily invocation at St Josephâs mission, for ushering of peace in Kashmir, Sister Emily opines, âBut thereâs a long way to go to attain real peaceâ. This lay-bare novel showcases a rare genre of journalism as a rapporteur historian embarking on shattering the smattering myths all based on gleanings of dovetailed evidences to blow gaff over âthe bloodiest convulsions of the centuryâ.

(Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11, Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017.)


'US, UK, France share Pak view on Kashmir'

Press Trust of India
Posted online: Thursday, December 09, 2004 at 1819 hours IST
Updated: Friday, December 10, 2004 at 1244 hours IST

Islamabad, December 9: Terming his recent foreign trip as "positive", President Pervez Musharraf has said the US, UK and France shared Pakistan's emphasis that the Kashmir issue needs to be resolved for durable peace and stability in South Asia.

âItâs been a very successful and positive visit. During my meetings with the leadership of these countries we enhanced our bilateral ties and I utilised the opportunity to improve perceptions about Pakistan; on top of it we secured firm commitments to bolstering our trade with these important economies," he told reporters on board his aircraft while flying back home from Paris.

France was the last stop of Musharraf's two-week visit, which also took him to Latin American countries. He returned home today.

Washington, London and Paris shared Pakistan's emphasis that the Kashmir issue needs to be resolved for durable peace and stability in South Asia, Musharraf was quoted as saying by the official APP news agency.

Musharraf, who made solving Palestine and Kashmir issues a recurring theme of his visit, said that during his meeting with US President George W. Bush in Washington, the American leader assured him of considering a free trade agreement between Pakistan and the US to help boost Pakistani exports.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacque Chirac also expressed their support for Pakistan's efforts to have preferential trade with the robust European Union countries.

His (A-Little-Bit-Less-Now) Exalted Highness Mush really had said, "US, UK, France share Pakistani view of Kashmir. This is true because I am telling it to you. And it highlines and underlights the fact that I am, and will always remain, a very prominent, great, magnificent, hard-working, and important player on the international stage, in addition to being the apple of the blue eye of Pakistan. I am.." (At this point he was politely told to cease his utterances).
Kashmir crisis

The Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board crisis in Jammu and Kashmir is the result of the former Governor, S.K. Sinhaâs move to allot 39.88 hectares of forest land to it. He is responsible for stirring up a hornetsâ nest. Now that the allotment has been cancelled and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has decided to make land for the Amarnath pilgrims available to the tourist department and assured all logistical support, the matter should be allowed to rest.

The protests and the agitation by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bajrang Dal and the Shiv Sena on the issue are nothing but an attempt to add fuel to the fire. The BJP, which hopes to come to power in the next election, should pause to think whether such protests are warranted.

S. Nallasivan,


* * *

The allotment of a piece of land to the SASB for providing facilities to the Amarnath pilgrims was too small a matter for anyone to raise a hue and cry. It is the fissiparous elements that are hell-bent on making a mountain out of a molehill. This is a typical case of chauvinist elements making much ado about nothing.

R. Sampath,


* * *

Despite claims of adhering to the secular values of Kashmiriyat, the politics of the State remains starkly communal. The successful resistance to the land allotment to the SASB highlights this. In secular and democratic India, of which J&K is an inseparable part, pandering to the forces of minority separatism is unacceptable.

J.S. Acharya,


* * *

This refers to the letter that has pointed to the ecological problems posed by the increasing number of Amarnath yatris (Letters, July 3). The ecological concerns of Kashmiri politicians are superficial. They have never bothered about the ever-shrinking lakes and wetlands of Kashmir. They hardly protest when the forests are felled by the mafia. In the last three years, there has been a huge increase in the tourist inflow in Kashmir. Srinagar, Gulmarg and other traditional tourist spots cannot take anymore. But no one has ever complained about pollution. Is it because tourism brings money whereas pilgrims, who are on a shoestring budget, spend little?

Raunaq Rathore,

<span style='color:red'>Denying Hindus space</span>
Tarun Vijay

The Amarnath land row in Kashmir has proved that if Muslim politicians of the valley feel strongly about something they can make the government bend and accept their demands. So it is hypocrisy when they complain in some summits in London that Delhi doesn't heed them or they have less power to rule the valley 'appropriately' and hence need more autonomy. They fought on the streets and denied a piece of land to Hindu pilgrims to be used for facilitating a nightâs stay and food in that snowy area just for two months. The land was barren; not a single tree grows there and not one person was to be stationed there permanently. Yet the votaries of Kashmiriyat , who would announce day and night how keen they are to see Kashmiri Hindus return to their localities and how their religion stands for love, compassion and peace, stood firm, spreading lies to ensure that Hindus do not get an inch of space for a temporary shelter.

They said it is a place which will be used to reduce Muslims in the valley to a minority. The land is forest area, Hindus will destroy the environment, they said. It's a plot by Indians to assault Muslims of the valley. Hence, land will not be given at any cost, the politicians said.

They won. And they knew what they are saying to defend their indefensible position are all lies.

The first thing the new governor N N Vohra was made to do was to take back the proposal on behalf of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board for the acquisition of approximately 100 acres of land. He didn't begin his tenure trying to see Kashmiri refugee Hindus are returned with honour and safety to their homes. Nor could Vohra hold any meeting to ensure the valley is free from jihad and that developmental plans are executed to benefit all patriotic citizens. The first move that a Hindu majority country's constitutional appointee took was against the interests of Hindus.

I am sending this column from Kolkata where, being involved in a seminar on security, I saw a message from the then Governor General Sinha wishing that the seminar goes off well. It is the kind of message that holders of gubernatorial posts often send but there is a difference: while all constitutional authorities use just one symbol of the state insignia â that is, the replica of the Sarnath pillar with four faces of the lion â in Jammu and Kashmir, another state insignia is used parallel to the Indian one, representing Jammu-Kashmir.

The only state in India which has a separate flag and a special power bestowed on it by the constitution is Jammu and Kashmir. On an average it gets 10 times more grants compared to any other Indian state yet it complains a hundred times more about Delhi's discrimination and prejudice. The jawan who protects the people and the territory with his sweat and blood is not allowed to buy an inch of land in the state due to the constitutional provision of Article 370 which bars any Indian from settling down in Kashmir.

Dr Syamaprasad Mookerjee, who became the youngest vice-chancellor of Calcutta University at the age of 34 and later founded the Bharatiya Janasangh, fought against the special powers bestowed upon Jammu & Kashmir that separated it from the rest of the country and paid for his patriotism with his life. He began a movement in 1953 opposing the stateâs separate entity, was arrested at the stateâs border on May 11, 1953 and kept under house arrest in Srinagar. He was brought dead to Kolkata, his hometown, on June 24, 1953 (he breathed his last under mysterious circumstances in custody of the Jammu & Kashmir govt on June 23). Born on July 6, 1901, he was barely 52 when his death shook the nation. Prime Minister Nehru refused an inquiry and while Syama Prasad's mother Jogmaya Devi wrote a poignant letter which drew a rude reply. Kolkata was up in protest and even Somnath Chatterjee, the current Speaker of the Lok Sabha, wrote a letter of protest which was published in the Manchester Guardian . Syamaprasad's martyrdom made a difference in the sense that the provision of having two heads of the state was abolished and the sadar-e-riyasat (head of state) system was replaced with the usual governorship in vogue elsewhere.

<b>'They have killed him' </b>
Was Syamaprasad killed? Yes, said the Mother in Pondicherry. He was <b>an ardent devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had great hopes from him to change the politics of India. In a book written by an ardent devotee of Sri Aurobindo, Manoj Dasgupta (Dr Syamaprasad Mookerjee "a pure and manly life", pp:52,53,) he has described a conversation which is quit revealing. He writes: 'I may add here a personal note in this context (death of Dr.Mookerjee while in detention in Kashmir). It was during the 'de facto' transfer of Pondicherry [1954] the Ashram was invited to participate in a cultural programme. One evening when the Mother came out of the interview room in the playground (of the Ashram), she began to talk to Debu and me about the preparations for the programme. In course of the conversation the question of the present political situation in India came up. I told Mother that in earlier times we had such great leaders, today we have none. She said that politics was always steeped in falsehood and that was one of the reasons why Sri Aurobindo left politics. Among the present leaders, she said that she had reposed great hope on Syamaprasad, but: "Ils l'ont tue ' They have killed him. (The entire conversation was in French). When I looked at her with surprise, she said, "My child, you don't know, that there are many ways of killing with slow poison."</b>

Why was Syamaprasad denied a space and life in Kashmir for his just and patriotic demands? My friends tirelessly write about Kashmir's patriotic past and how during Pakistan's surprise attack in 1947, Kashmiri Muslims had raised the slogan â â Hamlawar khabardar, hum Kashmiri hain taiyyar (Attackers beware, we Kashmiris are ready to face you)â. If Kashmiri Muslims were so patriotic, why was Syama Prasad not given a place of honour in the valley for his efforts to bring Kashmir at par with other Indian states?

Like Amarnath yatris have been denied space by the present Kashmiri Muslim politicians, patriots like Syamaprasad were denied a space by the secular media and politicians of the same ilk.

In fact the socio-political space for assertive nationalists is sought to be reduced in every sphere of life. It's difficult to publish your views in the so called 'free, objective and independent' media and even if some space is given, the seculars frown upon it as if an anti-national act has been committed. The entire coverage of the Amarnath land row proves it. The slant is too visible against one set of people and favouring the prophets of denial. Why is this so?

Watch the well-orchestrated denial of space to India since the Shaikhs and Muftis have ruled Kashmir. The region got its name from Rishi Kashyap. This legend is sought to be denied or underplayed so much that it's almost invisible now in any contemporary note on Kashmir's history. Kashmir's legacy of a citizen King, Lalitaditya, is denied and dustbinned and the language of the land, the base of any variety of Kashmiriyat , i.e. Kashmiri is denied a rightful place of honour in state affairs. Yes, the state language of Kashmir is not Kashmiri, but Urdu! Because the Shaikhs in their progressivism, reinforced by their leftist supporters, thought that Urdu belongs to Muslims and Jammu and Kashmir, being a Muslim-dominated area, must have Urdu as its state language. And yet they talk of some Kashmiriyat.

They saw their Hindu neighbours being killed, raped and maimed and yet, not a single Muslim Kashmiri took out the kind of protest demonstrations which were done to protest the sanction of a piece of land for the Amarnath pilgrimage.
And yet they say Kashmiriyat means love, peace and harmony.

When Hindu temples were razed and deities desecrated, when orchards of Hindus were destroyed and posters pasted on their homes asking them to leave the valley sans their women, who were the Kashmiri Muslims who wrote even letters to editors denouncing such heinous acts?

When massacres like Wandhama occurred and infants were shot dead by terrorists wielding AK-47s, the case was officially closed even before an inquiry could have been set up. Which Kashmiri Muslim leader stood firm and said âthis is not done, we will ensure that till the culprits (who were all too well known) are brought to book, the case will remain open?â

Now, having forced the newly-appointed governor to take back the Amarnath Shrine Board's application for land, they say they will provide all help to pilgrims. They forgot that hundreds of Hindu pilgrims have died in snowstorms in previous years, mainly due to tortuous weather and inadequate facilities. When Hindus wanted a small shelter on a barren waste land just for the two months of the yatra season, they were denied.

<b>Can we have a better version of Kashmiriyat please? </b>

But when the matter of Haj comes up, they are provided every facility at government expense â yes, the Delhi governmentâs expense. Haj houses, increased quotas every year, ambulances, hospitals, doctors and free delegates for Mecca at government expense. Extra-large Haj terminals and extra-constitutional reservations in jobs and educational facilities.

But space for Hindus is unacceptable.

Itâs not a question of Kashmir politics, but shows a mindset that grows on hate and intolerance. It's not an issue of denying Hindus a space in the valley or in the so called mainline media, but an attitude that denies India in pursuit of state facilities. Itâs a cowardly attitude indeed. Otherwise why would the papers published in the valley or in the secular realm of Delhi use the inexplicable term âmilitantsâ for terrorists. Can anyone explain why terrorists are not called such, but are glorified as âmilitantsâ? Do we need to send them copies of Oxford dictionaries to understand the difference between a terror-striker and a fighter for a cause called militant?

I have enough material to prove step by step, line by line how the people of Kashmir and the rest of India were fooled by Srinagar politicians on the Amaranth land row. But what will it prove in face of a decidedly hateful attitude against a particular community? The same Rainas, Bhatts, Kauls, the same blood and ancestors, same language and cultural lineage, same skin and race, and yet, just a little change in the way of worship makes one to hold rifles and the other to pray for mercy.

Remember, the Kauravas too had denied space to their brothers. They told Krishna the Pandavas will not even get space equivalent to the tip of a needle. But the Pandavas ultimately made a mark because they were right.

South Asia

Jul 8, 2008

Islamism shakes Kashmir</b>

By Sreeram Chaulia

After two decades of calm in large-scale popular movements, Indian-administered Kashmir recently witnessed mass demonstrations and protests against the state government's decision to transfer forest land to facilitate a Hindu pilgrimage.

The decision of the Jammu and Kashmir authorities to grant 40 hectares of uninhabited jungle tract to the Amarnath Shrine Board triggered a furor in the Kashmir Valley and brought life to a standstill for nearly two weeks, a throwback to the 1988-1989 insurrection against Indian rule. So forceful was the clamor that the state government had to eventually rescind the transfer order.

The anti-land transfer agitation fed on important new trends in
Jammu and Kashmir. Firstly, the state has been enjoying a rare respite from terrorist violence initiated by Pakistan-sponsored jihadi outfits like the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jaish-e-Muhammad. The internal political turmoil in Pakistan, pitting a military presidency against a democratically elected parliament, and the challenge posed to Pakistan's security by the US war on the Taliban, left the jihadis in Kashmir confused and rudderless.

The capability of terrorists to attack Indian military personnel and pro-India civilians in Kashmir was intact, but the power struggle in Islamabad created uncertainty about whether or not the jihadis could rely on Pakistan's undying support to wrest Kashmir from India.

The anti-land transfer movement can be seen as filling the "liberation" space that had sunk into a vacuum due to the gradual rusting of the jihadi guns. The alienation of ordinary Muslim Kashmiris from the Indian government did not subside with the decline of terrorist violence by "freedom fighters". It was waiting for an opportune symbolic issue to explode, and the Amarnath land transfer issue emerged as the perfect cause.

It is worth recalling that symbolism playing on the religious fears of Kashmiri Muslims has a history of inciting unrest. In 1963, the disappearance of a strand of hair believed to belong to the head of the Prophet Mohammad kicked off a major storm in the Kashmir Valley. Likewise, the razing of the shrine of Kashmir's patron saint in 1995 by the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen stirred a massive commotion among Kashmiri Muslims suspicious of the shenanigans of "Hindu India".

A second way of analyzing the upsurge in Jammu and Kashmir is to run it through the prism of democratic politics in the state. The decision to grant the land to the Hindu shrine was made by the Congress party-run state government in the run-up to provincial elections scheduled for October. Since the territory of Jammu & Kashmir includes Hindu-majority, Buddhist-majority and Muslim-majority areas, the land transfer decision could have been aimed at winning Hindu votes from the Jammu area for the Congress.

The vehement reaction to the transfer by the People's Democratic Party and the National Conference was, in turn, geared towards beefing up their own electoral prospects among the valley's Muslims. These parties are, in theory, wedded to the Indian constitution and its democratic processes, but they have to show their "pro-Islam" credentials to be electorally relevant in the Kashmir Valley. The land transfer issue was ripe for exploitation by these political opportunists who benefit from perks and privileges as people's representatives within the Indian polity but commiserate with jihadi secessionists.

The irony of the anti-land transfer movement is that its very raison d'etre is spurious. The forest land was clearly given to the Amarnath temple for erecting temporary shelters and conveniences for Hindu pilgrims who flock annually to the Himalayan abode of Lord Shiva. It was in no way a violation of the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir, which blocks citizens of the rest of India from acquiring property in the state. The makeshift structures planned by the Amarnath temple staff on the transferred land were meant purely for the pilgrimage season.

That a temporary land transfer for a Hindu pilgrimage could be painted by separatist politicians as a devious plot of the Indian government to alter the demography of Kashmir shows how communalized Islam has become in the valley. This is the third and most potent explanation for the movement that rocked Jammu and Kashmir. While alienation of Muslims amid a lull in terrorist violence and machinations of democratic politics partially account for the crisis, neither of these could galvanize the public without the wholesale Islamization of Kashmir, a land ironically mythologized as a cradle of eclectic Sufism. The same drivers of Taliban-style enforcement of strict moral codes on Kashmiris, especially women, are at the forefront in the anti-land transfer movement.

So mainstreamed is the influence of intolerant Islamist ideology in Kashmir that there is barely a squeal of anguish regarding restoration of properties of nearly half-a-million Kashmiri Hindus ("Pandits"), who were hounded out of the valley by terrorists in 1988-1989. The restitution of Hindu properties that were destroyed and taken over is a genuine grievance for which Islamists show no sympathy. Islamists have also never condemned terrorist attacks that, over the years, have killed dozens of Hindu pilgrims whose simple ambition in life was to pay their respects to a supernatural phenomenon in Amarnath.

While the reality on the ground is that the demography of the Kashmir Valley has been forcibly redrawn through the killing of Hindus, the mass movement that erupted in June was based on fictitious claims of the land transfer being a diabolical conspiracy for Hindus to deluge the valley. There is little evidence to prove that India's Kashmir policy mimics Chinese internal colonization solutions that have changed the population profile of Tibet in favor of Han Chinese. While the Tibetan upheavals this year against Chinese high-handedness had a legitimate basis, the anti-land transfer ruckus in Kashmir rests on concocted charges.

The most perverse sign of bigoted Islamism running the roost in the Kashmir Valley is a report that shrines are being built to glorify jihadi groups as a retort to the Amarnath temple imbroglio. The first-ever shrine to the Lashkar-e-Toiba has just been inaugurated in a village near the town of Ganderbal in memory of two Pakistani holy warriors who died fighting the Indian army. According to The Hindu, local businesspersons who erected this monument declared, "Here was India conspiring to seize our land and hand it over to infidels [Hindu pilgrims visiting the Amarnath temple], and here were these two foreigners who had given their lives to save Islam in Kashmir."

The agenda of "saving Islam" from alleged threats is growing stronger in Jammu and Kashmir, even though its Muslims enjoy constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom. Terrorist violence in Kashmir may wax and wane and state-level elections may come and go every five years, but the seeds of Islamist hatred continue to sprout and augur ill for peace. The liberation of Kashmir from jihadi mentality remains an uphill task.

Sreeram Chaulia is a researcher on international affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship at Syracuse University, New York.

<b>Azad resigns; J&K inches closer to Governor's rule</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Srinagar, July 7: Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday resigned as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir without facing a confidence vote in the Assembly as the border state moved towards a brief spell of Governor's rule ahead of the polls that are likely before mid-November. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Good riddens.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Muslims lost an opportunity </b>
Sandhya Jain
The current explosion of violence, politics, and religious sentiment over the allotment and subsequent cancellation of land for civic amenities to Hindu pilgrims to Amarnath in Jammu & Kashmir should convincingly establish that religion is here to stay in the nation's public life. Religion and its associated culture and civilisational ethos have a large and legitimate role in forming the national character of a people, and need honourable acknowledgement, not concealment.

In India, the time has come to end the 'invisibility' of its Hindu face, and affirm the primacy of Hindu dharma in national identity and national life. Hindu dharma is the faith of India's native and majority community; it cannot cede its status to guest faiths which came here seeking solace from persecution, or to faiths that rode on the back of colonial conquest.

If Ayodhya was the first significant milestone in the Hindu quest for civilisational comeback, Amarnath is the next turning point. In Ayodhya, the Muslim failure to perpetuate the 400-year-old appropriation of the Ram Janmabhoomi was given a semi-fig-leaf of 'victimhood' by anti-Hindus appalled at the fall of the decrepit Babri structure. But Amarnath is pure provocation, a scandalous demonstration of intolerance by groups and parties that take their cue from external sources.

It is absolute tripe that the six PDP Ministers in the coalition Government were in the dark that the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board had sought land for facilities for pilgrims; PDP's alliance with the incendiary Hurriyat in opposing the transfer may have improved its cachet in the forthcoming Assembly election, but bodes ill for the future. It was politically and emotionally ill-timed as the State Government was making overtures to the ethnically-cleansed Kashmiri Hindus to return to the Valley. The promised safety of the persecuted Pandits has now been proved to be a chimera even before the first family could return.

Amarnath is different from Ayodhya. For all its resonance in the hearts of the people, the Ram Janmabhoomi movement could be misrepresented as raking up past issues and provoking a communal reaction. This is, of course, not true, as the dharma of India is a living entity and the gods actually reside in the temples built for them; the structures of monotheistic traditions are mere congregation halls for the faithful, and thus secular rather than divine.

What makes the Amarnath issue so potent is that it does not concern the hapless Kashmiri Hindus, whose pathetic situation is an embarrassment to all political parties and, therefore, purged from memory. The Amarnath yatra attracts Hindus from all over the country. The challenge to an innocuous move by nationalist Governor Gen SK Sinha, coupled with Mirwaiz Farooq's specious claim that an attempt was being made to change the demographic character of the Valley (incidentally the land of Rishi Kashyap), brought sword-wielding middle-aged women into the streets of Jammu. This is an indication that 21st century civil society is beginning to rear its Kshatriya head again.

The shocking and unexpected intolerance towards Hindu pilgrims is widely perceived in India as an attempt to put an end to the yatra itself, as Gen Sinha has been replaced by a supine bureaucrat who obediently 'requested' the State Government to cancel the land allotment and take over the arrangements for the pilgrims. India now has to face the religious identity-cum-civilisational issue head-on. The so-called Nehruvian consensus (actually imposition) is dead and cannot be restored.

At the root of the problem are the linked issues of secularism and Article 370; both are crying for a legitimate space in the dustbin of history. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru bypassed the civilisational issue at independence and imposed a peculiar version of secularism upon the country, with profound, unseen consequences. Nehruvian secularism did not mean tolerance of religious diversity, or even the separation of religion and politics, both of which find resonance in the sanatana dharma.

Nehruvian secularism denied Hindu dharma a seat in the public arena, but legitimised the role of religion in defining the character of minorities in the public realm. This gave minorities a tremendous affirmation of religious identity; Hindus, in contrast, suffered a powerful sense of religious denial and humiliation. As a natural corollary, secularism and votebank politics promoted minorityism at the expense of the majority community, as manifested in state patronage for haj, separate personal laws; tolerance of illegal immigration affecting religious demography and even national security; and carelessness towards the growth of a fanatic underworld which threatens national security.

<b>Hindu dharma is now compelled to assert its natural dominance in its homeland, as Amarnath has demonstrated that Muslims have discarded an opportunity to adjust to the nation's foundational ethos. It needs to be asserted here that every nation has a core culture and identity based on its ancient and native traditions; all groups position themselves around this core. This does not imply that later entrants or minority groups become second-class citizens; but in no country do minorities dictate the nation's identity and ethos</b>.

Abrahamic faiths are vastly different from non-monotheistic traditions because they begin with a human founder at a specific point in history. He launches an exclusivist religious mission which involves the quest for a people and the conquest of an external (and ever-expanding) territory for those 'chosen' people. This necessarily involves the takeover of land peopled by others and the annihilation of the existing religion and culture; often, the original occupants of the land are simply exterminated en masse. The Old Testament testifies that this is what happened at Jericho, "land of milk and honey," when Moses' disciple Joshua set its walls tumbling down. The genocide of Native Americans in North and South America is another grim example of the logic that drives exclusivist religious traditions. In India, we have the Kashmiri Hindu story.

Modern Islam lacks the synergy of political, economic and military power that makes nations autonomous, and political and military glory possible; its halcyon days are over. This awareness has prompted truly conservative Muslims to seek a truce with Hindus. Even on Amarnath, the Imams at Reasi district supported the land allotment to the shrine and condemned the fundamentalists for creating communal disharmony. Deoband has already signalled a desire for peace; today those fomenting violence and unrest have clear links with Pakistan and its Western patrons.

Nah! they won another battle on Jihad, thanks to impotent Moron Singh and ofcourse Queen.

<b>End the Moral Idiocy on Kashmir</b>


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