Friday, February 11, 2011

Pakistan’s Stupid Demand To Involve A Third Party In Kashmir Dialogue

During the recent Foreign Secretary level talk between India and Pakistan, the latter again raised the apparently justified but actually baseless demand to involve Kashmiris as a third party in dialogues over the Kashmir problem.

It is a demand that has been raised for quite a number of times by both Pakistan and Hurriyat Conference. And, as I said, though the demand appears to be a justified one, in reality it is simply a stupid demand that does not even worth any consideration.

But why is it so? Simple. Even if India and Pakistan try to involve the common Kashmiris in the dialogue process, how can they go for the same? They cannot literally invite the mass of that region to participate in the dialogue process, right? Rather, the mass has to be represented by an appropriate entity.

Fine. Now Pakistan might say that it and India can find that representative of common Kashmiris in Hurriyat Conference. In fact, Pakistan actually refers to Hurriyat Conference every time it talks about involving the common Kashmiris as a third party.

Now comes the crucial question. How can India accept that Hurriyat Conference is indeed the true representative of common Kashmiris? Where is the proof? Neither the leaders of Hurriyat Conference have ever contested (and won) any election in Kashmir nor they enjoy any other kind of recognition that qualifies them as the true representatives of common Kashmiris. An organization cannot be accepted as the true representative of the wishes and aspirations of a community simply because it claims itself to be the same.

Secondly, even if it is taken for granted that Hurriyat Conference leaders do have some influence and acceptability among the Muslim Kashmiris, it is well known that they have absolutely no acceptability among the Hindu and Buddhist Kashmiris. I hope that Pakistan has the basic courtesy to accept that Muslim Kashmiris are not the only representatives of the common people of that region. The Hindu and Buddhist Kashmiris are also to be counted, right? And in that case Hurriyat Conference cannot claim itself to be a true representative of the common people of Kashmir, as its acceptability is confined only within a certain section of the Kashmiris.

So, at the end of the day we find that there is no organization that can claim itself to enjoy acceptability among all sections of Kashmiris irrespective of religious background. So even if India and Pakistan try to involve a third party as the representative of “wishes” and “aspirations” of the common people of Kashmir, they cannot be successful in that “noble mission”. Because no such organization or entity exists in the first place. It is high time all relevant stakeholders accepted this “harsh fact” with a “broken heart”.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

ULFA Peace Talks – A Significant Step Towards Stability In Assam

The Indian government’s peace talks with the leaders (of the Arabinda Rajkhow faction) of ULFA (United Liberation Front Of Asom), to be held on 10th February 2011, is going to be a key step forward towards restoring peace and stability in the picturesque north-east India in general and Assam in particular.

ULFA has been a frontline outfit in the terrorist and insurgent activities in Assam, and one of the most dreaded outfits in the north-east as a whole. And it is undoubtedly a significant, if not historic, development that today it is going to have unconditional peace talks with the Indian government. That the outfit is genuinely sincere about the dialogue that can be understood from the fact that it has dropped its sovereignty demand as a pre-condition for any talks. In fact, when ULFA dropped this pre-requisite for talks, that was a highly notable development in itself.

It is more-or-less obvious that the Paresh Baruah faction of ULFA will try to create problems for the talks. ULFA’s Central Executive Committee has threatened to take disciplinary action against him if he defies the outfit’s decision to hold talks with the Indian government. But honestly speaking that does not seem to deter him if he wants to create problems. However, even if he tries to create problems, hopefully that will fail to get the talks derailed as a whole. After all, the majority of ULFA cadres have realized the futility of walking the road of violence and bloodshed. By walking that path throughout the life, today they find that they have achieved only one thing – keeping themselves deprived of a normal life. So now they also desperately want to come back to a normal life. And therefore they will undoubtedly work hard for making the peace talks a success.

A bagful of good wishes to both the parties (The Indian government and ULFA) from each and every Indian citizen.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Plain Hypocrites: That Is All That Can Be Said About The People Of Jammu & Kashmir

Whenever there is any reported or alleged killing of any innocent civilian by the Indian security personnel in Kashmir, the people of the Valley immediately swing into “protests”. They take out processions, do squatting in front of government offices, clash with police and security personnel wherein they hurl stones at the former, and so on. (And naturally all these get so enthusiastically covered by the Pakistani media). On the other hand the separatist leaders start giving their reactions to the media, especially electronic media, expressing their “shock” and “anguish” over the “appalling” actions of the Indian security personnel.

Nobody is supporting the killings of innocent civilians in Kashmir by Indian security personnel. Such incidents are undoubtedly despicable. But what is very strange is that while the people of Jammu & Kashmir are so enthusiastic about expressing their anger over the alleged killings of innocent civilians by the Indian security personnel, they never utter a single word when such killings are conducted by terrorists. On such occasions not a single voice is heard, neither from the separatist leaders nor from the common people of Jammu & Kashmir.

Just take the latest example of two sisters being killed by terrorists at Sopore. Terrorists dragged the two girls out of their home in broad daylight, and gunned them down mercilessly. But there has been absolutely no reaction (like protests, etc.) on the part of the people. Not many months back a toddler fell victim to irresponsible stone pelting by a bunch of so-called protesters, when the baby was being taken to a doctor by his parents and their car came across those protesters (read hooligans). But even then there was no voice of objection from any quarter, neither the separatist leaders nor the common people.

The selective reaction of the separatist leaders can be understood, as we all know that they are just pet dogs of Pakistan, and their loyalty to that country’s government prevents them from criticizing heinous activities of those terrorists who are sponsored by that very government.

But how come the common people of Jammu & Kashmir are so selective in expressing their protest? Why do they remain completely silent on such occasions, while they are so smart in protesting against such (alleged) activities by the Indian security personnel? Shall we conclude that they do not find the killings of their fellow Kashmiris that painful if those killings take place at the hands of terrorists?

Shame on the common people of Jammu & Kashmir for their naked hypocrisy and double standard.