Kashmir: Act before foreign forces land in
Srinagar
The Valley today is a Kosovo-in-waiting. The government should
act now before it is too late.
By Zafarul-Islam Khan
New Delhi (2 August 2010): For the last two
months only bullets are talking in Kashmir. Dozens of lives, mostly school-going
young men and women, have succumbed to the bullets fired by the security forces
directly into their chests. Ten such victims have died within the last twenty
four hours for pelting stones and violating curfew. The central cabinet?s
security committee met last night without the attendance of even the
governor, the de facto ruler, of the state. Today the dummy chief
minister of the state was called for a meeting in Delhi and assured that direct
central rule will not be imposed on the state.
The situation in the Valley has not deteriorated
within a day or two and forces across the border alone are not responsible for
the chaos seen in the length and breadth of the Valley. Today?s chaos in the
Valley basically reflects the failure of the central government which despite
declarations and promises to the contrary, has utterly failed to negotiate with
the people who matter in Kashmir, which has thrown in the dustbin the autonomy
and self-rule proposals presented by its own trusted hands in the state.
Musharraf and even the current Pakistani government have been time and again
offering proposals to arrive at a settlement of sorts taking into account the
ground realities but visionless people in Delhi have squandered the opportunity.
The army bullets once again prove what our enemies claim that India is
interested only in the land of Kashmir and not in its people. Manmohan is fast
becoming Jagmohan for Kashmir.
The way forward is to sack the childish
government of Omar Abdullah, set free all activists and political leaders
arrested during the last few weeks, withdraw the army and allied forces from all
inhabited areas in the Valley, impose governor raj for a fixed and declared
period of six months, accept the autonomy proposal presented by the J&K
Assembly during Farooq Abdullah?s tenure in 2000, announce a general amnesty for
all militants and welcome those who crossed over into POK, hold a fair election
with none barred from contesting and monitored by foreign observers like Jimmy
Carter and representatives from the UN, EU, OIC etc and let the real winner rule
the state. Meanwhile, India must engage in a serious and purposeful dialogue
with Pakistan taking into account the various proposals offered by Musharraf and
the current government in Islamabad.
Failure to work on these lines will be fatal. The
protests in the Valley are quickly taking the shape of an intifadah
which no amount of army bullets will be able to control. Rather, these criminal
bullets and their innocent victims will invite foreign intervention. Let the
short-sighted strategists in Delhi realise that foreign intervention is no
longer a myth. A prolonged protest, wanton wholesale murder of the civilians and
children by the security forces and collapse of the dummy civil government will
be enough to pass a resolution in the UN to authorise foreign military
intervention and the small men in Delhi will not be able to prevent such forces
from landing in Srinagar. The Valley today is a Kosovo-in-waiting. Act now
before it is too late.
About the author: Zafarul-Islam Khan edits The Milli Gazette and author of
several books including Wounded Valley.
|
Showing posts with label Zafarul-Islam Khan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zafarul-Islam Khan. Show all posts
Monday, August 2, 2010
Manmohan is fast becoming Jagmohan for Kashmir. Zafarul-Islam Khan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)