Open Forum
New Delhi, 12 August, 2016
Disinformation
leading Kashmiris astray
BEWARE OF
PAK’s DIABOLICAL INTENT
By Proloy
Bagchi
The Indian
Army’s presence in Kashmir is a “most brutal
and deceptive occupations of modern times”, avers a recent article in Outlook magazine.
Certainly, this is a point of view, after all, in a free country everybody including
Kashmiris have right to air their opinions regardless of the shade they
represent.
However,
describing the Indian presence in Kashmir as
“occupation” is unquestionably a travesty of facts. Perhaps, this was said
either out of sheer ignorance of the State’s recent history or a deliberate
effort to mislead the reading public.
Undoubtedly,
there can be numerous opinions on what the Indian security force are doing in Kashmir. The perspectives always differ depending on the
side one is on. But one thing needs to be realized: The Army is functioning in
Kashmir as a part of its duty to the country and Kashmir
is a part of the country.
Indeed, to
suggest that it is an “occupation” army is an utter falsehood as the country
never fought a war against Kashmir and it was never conquered by India.
Alas, that part
of history is never mentioned and blinkered commentators never try to dig and
bring this before the Kashmiri common man thereby failing to disabuse his mind
of the wrong propaganda by vested interests.
At the risk
of repetition, one has to bring home to the Kashmiris that the question of
merging with Pakistan
or enjoying “aazadi” was decided once
and for all almost 70 years ago. Whereby, the then Indian Government played
fair and absolutely by the rule.
It is
recorded history that the late Maharaja Hari Singh was toying with the idea of
remaining independent after India’s
partition. His procrastinations made Pakistan
under Jinnah impatient who organized a raid on Kashmir
by tribal warriors, ably assisted by Pakistani regulars and irregulars.
Threatened
by Pakistan, the Maharaja
requested for Kashmir’s accession to the Indian State.
The Indian Government refused to accept the request until the Maharaja obtained
the consent of his people’s representatives. The most popular Kashmiri leader
Sheikh Abdullah was then languishing in jail. The Maharaja consulted him and he
whole-heartedly supported the move to merge with India.
But, in the process
a lot of time was lost wherein the raiders were almost at the threshold of Srinagar. With herculean
efforts and enormous sacrifices the Indian Army pushed the raiders out of the
Valley which had by then become Indian territory.
Hence, this is
how Kashmir became an Indian State and not a territory occupied by India after
waging a war. Describing the Indian Army as an “occupation” army, therefore, is
not only false, it is also sinister and seditious.
Perhaps, in
this respect the Indian Administration as well as the State Administration
failed to inculcate in the Kashmiri people the urge to see the truth. Consequently,
Pakistan-inspired chaos and mayhem instigated by its ISI or its proxies from
time to time has incited Kashmiris to take an anti-pathetic, even hostile
attitude towards the Indian security forces as it is in the interest of Pakistan.
Importantly,
Kashmiris need to remember that if terrorists infiltrating from across the Line
of Control are instigating them to cause disorder and confusion the security
forces would not be sitting on their haunches to watch the show. They have the
duty to deal with them as effectively as they can even if meticulously
collected brick-sized stones are hurled at them by the maddened, unthinking
young men who are victims of whipped-up emotions.
Sadly, Kashmiris
seem to have forgotten that it was Pakistan
which made three attempts to annex Kashmir and
every time it was rebuffed by the Indian forces. The first attempt was in 1947 when
Pakistan tried to grab Kashmir by force and succeeded in capturing half of it. That
too, because of the puerile and immature policies of the then Prime Minister
Nehru.
The second
was in 1965 when Pakistan
President Ayub Khan designed Operation Gibraltar was rendered a failure by
Kashmiris who exposed and handed over the Pakistani infiltrators sent across the
border to engineer an insurgency in the Valley.
Then came
the 1971 war resulting in the Simla Accord. Since then Pakistan has been relentlessly trying somehow to
dislodge India from Kashmir. It unsuccessfully tried again in 1998 during the
Kargil War.
Undeniably, the
ongoing turbulence is another effort to lead the Kashmiris astray so that they work
up enough loathing for India
to weaken its hold on the State.
Needless to
say, Pakistan
is doing all this notwithstanding the terrorist attacks it is facing from
Taliban. Having sown terror, it is now reaping terror. Yet, when militant
Burhan Wani was killed on last month, Pakistan declared him a martyr and 8
July was affirmed as Black Day.
Moreover, Pakistan
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assured the Kashmiris of his help till Kashmir
became a part of Pakistan.
Even during Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s brief visit to Islamabad for the SAARC
conference protest rallies were organized and the Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba Chief incessantly spewed venom pledging support
to Kashmiri resistance. The Hizbul Chief admitted it had 1000 militants
operating in the Kashmir
Valley.
It is a pity
that many of the Kashmiris actively participating in agitations against their
own police and Central security forces have not read National Security Advisor
AS Dulat’s book “Kashmir – the Vajpayee years”.
In fact, some of the quotes by militants would surely act as eye openers for
those who have become extremely allergic to India and trying to subvert the Administration.
An
interesting quote is by the hijacker of the Indian Airlines flight in 1971 Hashim
Qureishy: “Hurriyat
people should give up accession to Pakistan, as should our people. Sixty
five years have passed, another 500 years will pass, but Kashmir will never
become Pakistan.
You can write it down... and people, (you) don't sacrifice your children.”
Another militant Abdul
Majeed Dar was so disillusioned with the ISI that not only did he contrive to
come back to Kashmir but also refused to take
its calls. Obviously, the ISI didn't want to let go him and
eventually had him killed.
An assistant
of leading separatist leader Shabir Shah, Firdaus, told Dulat that each and every Kashmiri he
met in Pakistan
felt they were in an alien land. They also advised him to never merge Kashmir
in Pakistan.
When, he was denied SAM missiles by the ISI. Firdaus realised that the ISI was not
interested in escalating the proxy war and was not interested in the fact that
the “Kashmiris had gone all out to fight their dirty war”.
Therefore, Kashmiris need
to pay heed to these extremists’ nuggets as they tell all there is to know
about Pakistan’s
diabolical intentions. Hopefully, wisdom will dawn on those who have fallen
prey to its mischievous disinformation and propaganda and are needlessly
wasting away their lives. ---- INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
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