August 9, 2019
Situation Still Volatile in Kashmir
By Syed Rafaquat Ali
The grim situation in Kashmir after Articles 370 and 35A were revoked by the Bhartiya Janta Party government is coaxing the youth in Kashmir to turn violent and wean away from the national mainstream.
The people in Kashmir never felt that they were part of India. About forty years back I was in Srinagar. I asked a Kashmiri about life in Kashmir.
Before he gave the answer, he asked me: how is the weather in India. It was enough for me to draw the conclusion that the Kashmiris feel they are not in India.
The Kashmir leaders have been harping on Independent Kashmir, and the Indian leaders wanting to go to any extent to give concessions till the people in Kashmir accepted that the State was part of India.
Jawaharlal Nehru, then prime minister of India, accepted Sheikh Abdullah as prime minister of Kashmir to muzzle his demand for independent Kashmir. How amazing a country having two prime ministers.
Not only this bizarre concession, but a promise too made by Nehru that "when things return to normal, we will have plebiscite in Kashmir."
Where is that promise made by the prime minister of People in Kashmir are in no way wanting to stay with India. This is a brute reality. But India has used force to suppress the voice of the people, violating human rights at every step. But how long you can suppress the voice and freedom of speech of the majority community?
Today the situation is extremely explosive in Kashmir and the BJP government is well aware of it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi can do little about it since he cannot ignore the wishes of his party men and is a pawn in the hands of RSS, a hard-core rightist group, which calls itself a cultural organization.
Its chief Mohan Bhagwat is dead against Muslims and Islamic culture and opposes anything favorable to the Muslims in India. Likewise, the leadership in Pakistan is too fragile to tackle such ticklish issues and is grappling at home with internal political upheaval.
Imran Khan has warned India in no uncertain terms that any provocation from across the border will be fully crushed. He has announced from the housetop that if India dares to attack Pakistan, Pakistan will surely retaliate.
Both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers and if war erupts, millions will die on either side of the border and there will be no victors. The United Nations must intervene vis-à-vis Kashmir dispute before things get out of control. An emergency meeting comprising the countries involved and the superpowers must be convened immediately before the situation gets out of control and a full scale war between India and Pakistan may erupt to settle the score.
Normalcy in Kashmir aught to be restored at the earliest.
Political bigwigs in Kashmir who are under house arrest aught to be released without delay.
Telephone lines, mobile facility and Internet should be restored forthwith.
Imran Khan and Narendra Modi should engage themselves in a dialogue for the betterment of India and Pakistan. Military engagement is no solution. It will put the lives of millions of people in peril.
The only peaceful resolution possible is through talks.
Syed Rifaquat Ali is Sydney, Australia-based journalist.
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
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