Abbas Jafari With demonstrations continuing unabated in the wake of the Ammarnath shrine controversy, which saw the blockade by Hindus of the Kashmir from the Jammu access, the huge mass of Indian troops placed to impose the Indian will on the overwhelmingly Muslim majority populace in the vale, have again resorted to vicious crackdowns against political rallies demanding the right of self-determination.
This has enticed militant organizations into the fray and fierce clashes have since erupted leading to serious injuries and killings not just of the militants and Indian soldiers, but also of civilian protestors calling for a tripartite dialogue between India, Pakistan and Kashmiris, or a UN sponsored referendum for a final resolution to the problem. Under house-arrest, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) is reported to have said in a press interview "We will continue to fight peacefully and politically (but) if India pushes us too hard to the wallÂ…the youth might be angered and forced to resort again to arms." In surprisingly similar vein, the pro-India Omar Abdullah of Kashmir's National Conference has rebutted Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) involvement in the unrest and is reported to have told CNN-IBN that the uninhibited response had come from "a spontaneous eruption arising out of the fear that the economic blockade brought into people's minds" and, that the call for `Azadi 'or Freedom, was a clear indication of the sense of alienation felt even by children attending "good English missionary schools". Acknowledged analyst AG Noorani went several steps farther. In an article published in Pakistan's Daily Times on September 8 the author contended "The RSS will not be appeased. Its agenda is trifurcation of Jammu & Kashmir making Jammu a separate State and Ladakh a Union territory and reminded that Farooq Abdullah had once warned "India will be left two and a half districts while the so-called Greater Kashmir will go on a platter to Pakistan". Mirwaiz Umar Farooq would have no problem with that. He reportedly said barely a month ago "if the Dogras of Jammu's two and a half (Hindu majority) districts want to secede from the State, we won't oppose it either". Nor would he and his fellow Kashmiris oppose the reopening of the historic trade route to Central Asia which passes through Ralwalpindi in Pakistan 100 miles away, rather than New Delhi which lies at a distance of 400 miles from Srinagar. Of recent time India has expressed its willingness to open this old trade route, but with the prevailing unrest it is unlikely to do so in the near future. But then neither will the old wounds signaled by Human Rights' groups, of 77,000 dead and as many as 10,000 missing, heal in a hurry. India then would be much better advised to agree to an immediate draw-down of troops in Kashmir -- that is if its sincerity about vacating its militant Hinduvata image is to be taken at all seriously.
