Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza
The martyrdom of five jawans of Indian Army during an encounter with Pakistan based terrorists in Kapwara in Noth Kashmir on March 5 should not go unnoticed during our fight against the Corona virus pandemic. As a nation we the Hindustani people have to grapple with more than one challenge simultaneously.
On April 5 five of our jawans located and eliminated the treaty of an attack on our forces stationed in the Valley of Kashmir. However in the process of neutralising the enemy our jawans lost their lives as well. The uncompromising resilience with which our jawans chased and hunted down the Pakistani infiltrators is a symbol of patriotism, commitment, chivalry and sacrifice that must be celebrated all over Hindustan.
At the moment our people seem committed to set a great example of trust and unity in their fight against Corona virus pandemic by making it a common national goal to defeat this public health menace. Unless the whole country stands up in a similar way to address the nuisance of Pakistani sponsored jihadist terrorism in Jammu Kashmir the war on terror in Hindustan cannot be won.
The question is how can we achieve a similar level of nationwide trust and unity against terrorism in the Himalayan Union territory? In order to achieve this lofty goal one must look at the obstacles one comes across. The first and foremost obstacle we face in achieving perpetual peace in the Valley is the so called Muslim leadership in the Valley. For decades successive governments in Jammu Kashmir have failed to chalk out a comprehensive counter terrorist insurgency strategy. Hence they have lost all credibility in the eyes of the Kashmiri population. This incompetence of governance has also created a psychological state of helplessness among the Kashmiri population.
Secondly the so called liberal intelligentsia that fails to see the role of Pak-China involvement in the terrorist insurgency in Kashmir is another obstacle in the endeavor to create a national consensus for uprooting and pushing terrorism back into its janam bhoomi I.e. Pakistan.
Thirdly the network of mosques majority of which spew out hate speeches during Friday prayers across Hindustan creates an obstacle I call religious counter narrative. A weekly call for jihad against ‘infidels’ and calls to participate in global jihad keep our Muslim community in confusion and suspicion. While they have become confused between a Muslim identity that drives from the concept of Umma and that of being a Hindustani nationalist the country remains seriously divided.
Fourthly the so called democratic political parties including the Congress party and the CPIM continue to play the vote card and in the name of supporting an imaginary movement for Kashmiri self determination continue to play in the hands of anti Pakistani propaganda.
Finally the Pakistani sponsored international news analysts and media outlets which act as informal diplomats and whose primary job is to give Pakistan sponsored terrorism in Kashmir legitimacy by addressing it as a movement of national liberation against Indian ‘occupation’.
Let us now examine the above facts in reverse order. BBC has been at the forefront of a malicious campaign against Indian attempts to defeat Pakistani sponsored terrorism in Kashmir. News footage of Kashmiri jihadists waving guns and Pakistani flags during protests in Srinagar have been broadcasted without exploratory news analysis of the involvement of Pakistan army and the Pakistani inter services intelligence commonly referred to as ISI. India is portrayed as the aggressor. The fact is that it was Pakistan who had attacked the sovereign state of Jammu and Kashmir on October 22 1947. It was Pakistan army and the tribal people who inflicted destruction on the lives and properties of innocent law abiding subjects of Maharaja Hari Singh.
Ironically, the international anti-Bharat media and it’s team of freelance protégé are on very good terms with Congress and parties whose political narratives promote a negative image of Hindustan.
Hindustan faces a challenge from the so called liberal left as well who have always promoted antagonism and sowed mistrust between the state and the wider masses leading to distrust not only between the two but also among different ethnic and religious minority groups. Arundahti Roy is one such name that springs to mind in the above context. Writing in New York Time on August 15 last year this is how she concludes her analysis of the post August 5 scenario,
“If Kashmir is occupied by security forces, India is occupied by the mob.”
Arundati Roy skips the role of Pakistan military in sponsoring jihadist terrorism in the Valley and while mourning about the ragged conditions of the refugee camps in Jammu she conveniently forgets to mention the role of Srinagar mosques and Pakistan sponsored jihadis who massacred innocent Kashmiri pundits in front of their loved ones. Hence in the final analysis they betray history by selective treatment of actuality. Indian intelligentsia comfortably ignores the role of China who is the main economic ally and strategic partner in it’s One Road One Belt imperialist expansionism that cuts right across the heart of Gilgit Baltistan which is Indian territory occupied by Pakistan.
And finally the role of the Muslim political leadership in Jammu Kashmir needs to be exposed. Right from Sheikh Abdullah to Mehbooba Mufti there has not been a single chief minister in JK who ever tried to mobilise the population against the militancy. They have all been demanding withdrawal of Indian army from the Valley without launching a campaign against Pakistani occupation of PoK or Pakistan’s continuous violation of the LoC which after the abrogation of the article 370 is now the official Cease Fire Line. They have been supportive of the so called Joint Resistance Leadership and Jihad Council. Despite the anti-Hindustan rhetoric and pro-Pakistan slogan mongering the people of Hindustan have been tolerating their unpatriotic political and divisive social role in Kashmiri society.
As the snow begins to melt on the mountains of Jammu Kashmir terrorist infiltration from the rogue state of Pakistan will resume. They are also looking for excuses to deploy heavy contingents of military in Gilgit Baltistan. The fragile peace that we are witnessing in Jammu Kashmir since the abrogation of article 370 now seriously hangs in the balance. To restore a representative system of government under the circumstances is a risk Hindustan cannot afford to take for the time being. Democratic system of governance can only prevail and bring development and prosperity in times of peace and with the help of nationalist and patriotic leadership. At the moment we have neither. The recent incident that claimed the lives of five patriotic jawans and the hippocratic anti Hindustan political narrative adopted by the opportunist Muslim leadership in Kashmir are the biggest hindrance in return of democracy to Jammu Kashmir. Until the whole of Hindustan is mobilised into one united body which stands firm in support of a nationalist and patriotic government to combat terrorism in Kashmir and which demonstrates to have a similar resolve that is being witnessed today in our fight against Corona, and until a new Nationalist and patriotic Muslim leadership emerges in Jammu Kashmir that decisively cuts its political umbilical cod with the Islamic jihadist religious cultural narrative of separatism; democracy, peace and development will never be accomplished in Jammu Kashmir.
(The writer is from Mirpur in PoJK living in exile in UK.)
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