04-06-2005, 02:41 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Well, well, well, Mr Aziz, did it take over 30 years from the enactment of their state Constitution for the Kashmiris to realise this so-called denial of freedom and basic rights to them? Why did the terrorism and ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits begin from about 1986 in Anantnag to 1990 and thereafter in the entire valley as well as Muslim majority areas bordering it from the Jammu side?
The first question brooks no reply. Answers to the second question will be available only with Pakistan's ISI and, perhaps, only in the anonymous diary in a small packet abandoned near the mound of rubble of one of the scores of burnt and vandalised homes of Kashmiri Pandits in Srinagar.
Getting the packet from a retired BSF officer, the diary in it has now been converted by Tej Dhar, a professor of English in a north-east African university, into a riveting book that is at once realistic and melancholic. Titled Under the shadow of militancy -- the diary of an unknown Kashmiri (Rupa & Co, 2002), the book is an account of what an ordinary, unknown man saw, experienced and reflected upon between the months of February and August 1990 -- August 23 to be precise because a half-blank page has that date, the date of the last entry obviously.
Space limits extensive quotes from that remarkable document, but pearls from just three pages therein provide logic as to why terrorism took root and spread in J&K. Here they are below for the benefit of Mr Aziz and all those ignorant ones from India to Islamabad and from Whitehall to Washington.
- 'Is this violence a resurgence of the early phase of Islam, some kind of atavistic reawakening, or is it something new? My friends in the valley say that it is a new Pan-Islamic awareness, for Muslims are now dreaming of controlling the entire world. My friend Raju often quotes H G Wells on this: wherever the Muslims are in a minority, they plead for democratic rights; but where they are in a majority, they fight for a theocracy.
- 'Our Communist friends in New Delhi explain it (violence) in purely secular terms. It is no religious war, they say; it is the downtrodden rising up against the classes which have been dominating the entire population of the Muslims. George Fernandes, who is a special minister for Kashmir affairs, visited the city several times, met hundreds of Muslims, and gave statement after statement that the community was aggrieved they were inadequately represented in the services. People like him should have known that Sheikh Abdullah and the chief ministers who followed him had devised a special preferential policy for Muslims, because of which jobs could not have gone to the Pandits.
- 'The Pir spoke vehemently against all the older leaders of Kashmir for their lack of respect for the faith. Quite significantly, he spoke approvingly of Gilani who, as an elected member of the legislative assembly of the state, once quoted a verse from the Koran right on the floor of the House to prove how the secular ideal was a falsity legitimised by politicians.
-'Everywhere we heard stories of more and more people enlisting for going across the border. In fact, going across had become synonymous with adventure. Pakistani agents had succeeded in raising a large band of highly motivated local agents in the valley, who used all conceivable ways to enlist more people into their fold. Wherever it became necessary, they tempted them with huge offers of money, which they gave them or to their parents. The entire operation was labelled Jihad, which no Muslim could dare to oppose.'
You want that Diary, Mr Aziz? Just ask our PM.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Arvind Lavakare rips a new one into Aziz
The first question brooks no reply. Answers to the second question will be available only with Pakistan's ISI and, perhaps, only in the anonymous diary in a small packet abandoned near the mound of rubble of one of the scores of burnt and vandalised homes of Kashmiri Pandits in Srinagar.
Getting the packet from a retired BSF officer, the diary in it has now been converted by Tej Dhar, a professor of English in a north-east African university, into a riveting book that is at once realistic and melancholic. Titled Under the shadow of militancy -- the diary of an unknown Kashmiri (Rupa & Co, 2002), the book is an account of what an ordinary, unknown man saw, experienced and reflected upon between the months of February and August 1990 -- August 23 to be precise because a half-blank page has that date, the date of the last entry obviously.
Space limits extensive quotes from that remarkable document, but pearls from just three pages therein provide logic as to why terrorism took root and spread in J&K. Here they are below for the benefit of Mr Aziz and all those ignorant ones from India to Islamabad and from Whitehall to Washington.
- 'Is this violence a resurgence of the early phase of Islam, some kind of atavistic reawakening, or is it something new? My friends in the valley say that it is a new Pan-Islamic awareness, for Muslims are now dreaming of controlling the entire world. My friend Raju often quotes H G Wells on this: wherever the Muslims are in a minority, they plead for democratic rights; but where they are in a majority, they fight for a theocracy.
- 'Our Communist friends in New Delhi explain it (violence) in purely secular terms. It is no religious war, they say; it is the downtrodden rising up against the classes which have been dominating the entire population of the Muslims. George Fernandes, who is a special minister for Kashmir affairs, visited the city several times, met hundreds of Muslims, and gave statement after statement that the community was aggrieved they were inadequately represented in the services. People like him should have known that Sheikh Abdullah and the chief ministers who followed him had devised a special preferential policy for Muslims, because of which jobs could not have gone to the Pandits.
- 'The Pir spoke vehemently against all the older leaders of Kashmir for their lack of respect for the faith. Quite significantly, he spoke approvingly of Gilani who, as an elected member of the legislative assembly of the state, once quoted a verse from the Koran right on the floor of the House to prove how the secular ideal was a falsity legitimised by politicians.
-'Everywhere we heard stories of more and more people enlisting for going across the border. In fact, going across had become synonymous with adventure. Pakistani agents had succeeded in raising a large band of highly motivated local agents in the valley, who used all conceivable ways to enlist more people into their fold. Wherever it became necessary, they tempted them with huge offers of money, which they gave them or to their parents. The entire operation was labelled Jihad, which no Muslim could dare to oppose.'
You want that Diary, Mr Aziz? Just ask our PM.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Arvind Lavakare rips a new one into Aziz