Safety Element In Present - Day Kashmir ?



Late Shri Dina Nath Parimoo

I am provoked, to wield my pen on this subject after
my granddaughter accompanied by her husband, paid a
short 4 day visit to Kashmir in October, 1998.

Their much desired and long awaited visit to Kashmir,
fructified due to special arrangements made for them
through the good offices of a high administrative
authority of J&K Govt., that gave them the confidence
to enter this trouble-torn valley.

This is what my dear granddaughter narrated to me on
her return from the valley.

Though, she was delighted to visit her homeland after
18 long years, along with her husband who had never
before seen Kashmir. They could not really experience
the joy of a free and fearless stroll, and horse
riding up hill and down dale around Gulmarg
pastures.Their visit to the famous Moghul gardens was
not enjoyable as the fear of militants was evident in
the strong presence of the Indian Army and the BSF.
Today the J&K police who now cover every bit of the
valley, makes one feel irritated and frustrated,
because of the numerous security checks and
interrogations one is subjected to while in the
valley.

Her visit to the holy Kheer Bhawani shrine really
saddened her when she found not a single Kashmir
Pandit to be there, not even the Guruji, in whose
absence a BSF jawan was performing the Puja. Kheer
Bhawani is more like a BSF base with their bunkers,
trucks and jawans occupying the shrine. No halwais
making lunchhis, no hustle bustle, no religious spirit
- Kheer Bhawani was just the body without a soul. It
was indeed sad to see some of the shops and
dharmshalas burnt and to envisage the events that led
to it.

She found herself in a precarious state of mind not to
talk to the Kashmiri gentry in her own mother tongue
being the daughter of a Kashmiri Pundit couple. She
had to be cautious that no word of her mother tongue
slipped her lips (specially when her instinct was to
respond in Kashmiri, knowing the language) and had to
pretend and appear to be a non- Kashmiri by birth.

Though during the day the city appeared apparently
normal and there were some tourists visible, after
dusk, very few people could be seen on the streets and
the atmosphere would be fearful as if curfew had been
imposed. According to her, it was very simple to
distinguish the KP homes especially in Barbarshah,
Suthu, Ganpatyar, Nayisadak, Karan nagar as the KP
homes were invariably burnt or damaged and abandoned.
She also took photographs of her ancestral home at
Suthu which she could barely recognize because of the
heavy damage to the property and the growth of thorny
shrubs and wild trees which had sprung up - totally
occupied the courtyard , due to neglect and
abandonment of the home.

Their experience at the airport too, especially at the
time of departure was extraordinary. The number of
security checks they had to undergo made them realize
the tremendous effort the Indian Govt. is putting to
prevent any unfortunate episode to occur and further
vitiate the atmosphere of the valley.

In spite of a so called popular Government run by Dr.
Farooq Abdullah under a gigantic umbrella of "Z" type
security and so much so that the grave of his late
father Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah under the double
security at Hazratbal which is also protected by the
security men round the clock, speaks volumes of the
perpetual fear as is evident for the present rulers
too, in the state of Kashmir. Strange! but true!! yet
sad!!! the corridors of power and the fateful
caretakers of the same in Delhi, claim that the
so-called popular government in the valley is doing
it's best. Ignoring the fact that those who can't be
sure of the safety of their own lives or the safety of
the graveyards of their own forefathers, how they
could function as the guaranters and the caretakers of
it's populace which is supposed to be secular and
broadminded in its strictest sense.

Well, this scenario is enough evidence that the real
safety element has yet not been established to the
extent to which it could be called desirable as it was
a decade back when the 'Hidden roots of the Kashmir
tragedy' had not sprouted up to the surface.

Even after the establishment of Dr. Farooq Abdullah's
so called popular Govt., more out of the fear of the
gun that for the love of the leader who himself was in
hiding either in Delhi or in England for a pretty long
time after militancy in Kashmir got a safe haven for
its militants, there seems no respite to the killings
by the militants who are either locals or outside
mercenaries. Killings at Wandhahama, Baramulla, Doda,
Banihall have been taking place one after another
event ruthlessly and at regular intervals, even at
present.

Evidently the local government has miserably failed to
establish its identity as a popular one to stop
militancy once and for all.Whether the rulers are
really secular-minded or not is debatable. But the
security of Hindus who want to return to the valley is
defenitely questionable. More than that the present
state government has not yet been able to do an iorta
in this direction. Comparatively the democratic
government in Punjab brought all things under control
within an year.

The element of permanent safety can not be established
till the state is treated as one of the other state
like Maharashtra, Gujarat or Rajasthan where there is
no enforcement of Art. 370 to give the Muslims of
these states a consciousness that they are something
very special to the Union Government as the Muslims of
J & K state feel.

Those who are at the helm of affairs in this
unfortunate state are Muslims though for expediency's
sake they profess to be the Nationalists under the
flag of National Conference. They have developed a
superiority complex over the Muslims of the rest of
the country. The militants have indirect link and
blood relationship and other lines with the Muslim
majority in Kashmir and in Doda of Jammu Province
where from they raise the hood of Hydra-headed monster
of militancy from time to time aided by ISI agency of
Pakistan.

Logically the genuine safety element will not return
to Kashmir till it is treated at par with other states
where there is no Art. 370 to give a special status or
some unique protection to any Muslim of the other
states of the Union Government.

When Art. 370 is deleted, J & K state will be in the
real sense of the term as free a state of India as
other states are. This will instil a confidence in
present day migrants to return home honorably and
without fear of being a target of the militant's gun
which to a migrant is more fearful and disrespectful
than the snake and scorpion bites which he is
suffering at present outside his beloved home in
Kashmir, very patiently and silently.

Besides, my grand daughter will not allow any fear to
approach her heart to be found as a true Kashmiri
tourist in her ancestral homeland going uphill and
down dale even to Pahalgam the place she was advised
not to visit for the sake of safety.

Yet my grand daughter is very much optimistic about
the return of complete normalcy which prevailed nine
years before the hordes and multitudes of Kashmiri
Pundits fled the valley for fear of life. She says
that all those Kashmiri Muslims who for want of
visitors felt with no means to earn their livelihood
through their ponies, shikaras, houseboats and even
visitor bungalows on the bank of the Dal lake and
other beautiful places, felt besides joy to see some
visitors like herself having entered the valley.

After long dusk of nine years of militancy, a stage of
however popular government running the affairs of the
state has set in, yet the dawn is not visible!
However, this has encouraged some adventurists to
visit the valley as tourists and there seems to be a
healthy and welcoming reaction on the part of locals
who have started earning their livelihood after having
suffered wilderness, unemployment and abject poverty
for such a long time. The locals by and large have
started realizing the futility of militancy which
simply resulted in senseless murdering of the innocent
people . So the valley is not now as much haven to the
local militants as well as to ISI one's of Pakistan as
it was before. Yet can the militancy be completely
rooted out as it has been in the Punjab ?

SHRI DINA NATH PARIMOO LEFT FOR HIS HEAVENLY ABODE
LAST YEAR