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| 'Jammu's nationalism is its strength, not weakness' | | Pak mischief in J&K | | Rustam
JAMMU, Feb 17: It was after months that some concerned Indians in Jammu gave a concrete response to the Pakistani mischief in Jammu & Kashmir and elsewhere in the country, as also to the mishandling of Pakistan and its agents in Kashmir by the Union Government. The initiative was taken by four persons - Former Director General of Police Jammu & Kashmir M M Khajuria, Ex-Bar Association President Bhupinder Singh Slathia, chairman of Panun Kashmir, a premier organization of internally-displaced and persecuted Kashmiri Hindus, Ajay Chrungoo and former head of Jammu University's History Department and Member Indian Council of Historical Research Prof Hari Om. Their effort culminated in the form of a seminar, which was organized yesterday at Jammu Press Club. It was attended by a galaxy of distinguished citizens, including CCI president Y B Sharma, President Retailer Association Yashpal Gupta, a number of senior lawyers and members of the displaced community. The theme of the seminar was "New Dimensions of Pakistan's Mischief in Jammu & Kashmir".
The theme suggested as if there was change in Pakistan's foreign policy vis-à-vis India. It was not the case. All the speakers, including Khajuria, Slathia, Hari Om, Chrungoo and Shailnder Aima, Vice-chairman of PK, cleared doubts, if any, saying as far as the basics were concerned, there was no change whatsoever in Pakistan's policy towards India and its Jammu & Kashmir. In fact, all the speakers were one in suggesting that Pakistan has given more aggressive orientation to its foreign policy to achieve its sinister designs and that it appears all out to play some major mischief not only in Jammu & Kashmir but also in other parts of the country by regrouping all the militant groups in the state and activating them and its cells in different parts of the country.
In his introductory remarks, Aima, among other things, said: "Pakistan is not just another State in the neighborhood. It's a mindscape which is antithetical to what we envision as Bharat or India. It is not only an ideological State; it's also presenting itself as the front-runner state in search of Islamic hegemony and is at war with the rest of the civilizations. It has armed itself with what is the Islamic Bomb and importing terror across the globe…Isn't it strange that in the last almost 20 yrs, (the) Indian State seems to be playing a hide and seek with the public perception and the collective conscience of the Indian Nation with regard to its policy vis-à-vis Pakistan".
Prof Om refused to accept Pakistan as a genuine state and its Army a genuine Army and said it would be misnomer to call Pakistan a state and its people a nation. "Pakistan is a fake state; it's an unnatural formation and, hence, utterly irresponsible, undependable and unworthy of any engagement," he said, adding that "while Pakistani Army consists of thugs, Taliban and land grabbers, Pakistan is a country which doesn't have a proper administration, proper government, proper President and proper Prime Minister". "New Delhi should first understand the nature of the so-called Pakistan State and then formulate its policy towards Pakistan," he said. "For the first time in the last 65 years, Pakistan has been allowed to get away with brazen diplomatic affronts which border on national humiliation. In recent months, despite the so-called engagement with India, described wrongly as 'peace process', Pakistan has chosen to unleash and perpetrate diplomatic insults on India not only from its own territory but also from the soil of India. Pakistani visiting Minister Rehman Malik has compared 26/11 with the demolition in Ayodhya and described the terrorist attack as a failure of Indian Intelligence. He had commented on the internal affairs of India by making references about (Gujarat Chief Minister) Narendra Modi claiming that he was vitiating the atmosphere in India by raising the Sir Creek issue. The Government of India, for mysterious reasons, has chosen to swallow all these insults," he also bemoaned.
Slathia, spoke on the Pakistani role in Jammu & Kashmir and different parts of the country and its devastating impact on the Indian political scene and drew the attention of the distinguished delegates to the changes in the Jammu province's demographic landscape which had been going on since years. He said: "We can tackle Pakistan's Islamabad in no time, but our major problem is Islamabads within". Asserting that the "people of Jammu province are nationalist to the core and that they will remain committed to the nation come what may", he regretted the "indifferent" attitude of New Delhi towards them and said there was something fundamental wrong with New Delhi. Reflecting on Kashmiri leaders and their approach towards Kashmir and New Delhi, he said that "all of them, without any exception, speak in one voice, which has not been happening in Jammu province" and urged the Jammu leadership to rise to the occasion and defeat the evil designs of separatists and fundamentalists. "It is unfortunate that government is not patronizing nationalist forces" was his main refrain.
Khajuria reflected on his assessment of the security developments in the state and the new thrusts of Pakistani Policy in Jammu and Kashmir. Making his point, he said: "The contours of Pakistan response have been discernible in raking up the 'Kashmir issue' in the UNO (United Nations) and OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation). Her diplomatic missions have also been unusually active in recent times. Even though Pakistan response to the hanging of Afzal Guru was cautious, her missions have been hyper active in USA and Europe with tangible results". He very candidly said: "On the Jammu & Kashmir/Indian Front the overall strategy is to take on board all anti-India elements and deepen consultation and co-operation with Maoists and as many secessionist outfits as possible. Pakistan Ordnance factory made hand grenades have been recovered from Maoists and there was evidence of ISI operatives' participation in Assam terrorist strikes. Jammu & Kashmir is also to become springboard for terrorist strikes in rest of the country. Hurriyat Conference and JKLF leadership have been reached and modus operandi stitched during recent visits of Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik to Pakistan. Umar Farooq's meetings with Hafiz Saeed and the ISI Chief and sharing of stage by Hafiz Saeed and Yasin Malik in the manner in which these took place speak volumes".
Convinced that Pakistan will create in Jammu & Kashmir pre-1989 position, Khajuria said: "Lashkar-e-Toiba will formally co-ordinate and oversee all terrorist operations in Jammu & Kashmir. United Jihad Council (UJC) headed by Mohd Yusuf alias Salah-ud-Din will be part of this combine. Tactically the classical terrorist dictum 'Kill one, terrorize hundreds' has been again invoked… Already killing of some Sarpanchs/ Panchs, coupled with state government's bland declaration of its inability to provide 'security' to elected grassroot level community leaders, spawned a spate of resignations through paid advertisements in local newspapers announcing Izhar-i-La Talqi ((Declaration of disassociation). Many amongst them have been rushing to the village mosques to announce their decision to distance themselves from positions in Panchayats. The situation is nearly reminiscent of the early 90s when classified pages in local newspapers were filled with resignation letters of political workers. Social network has started to be extensively and strategically utilized for anti-India propaganda by Pakistan. Promotion of radical Islam in the state to provoke communal strife is the social thrust of Pakistan's indulgence in the present times…" "Pakistan's new mischief has not been responded adequately so far" was the upshot of his whole argument.
At the same time, he made it loud and clear that "Jammu's nationalism is its strength and not its weakness", that "the people of Jammu province have not given the mandate to anyone to decide their fate" and that "they were the masters of their own fate within India".
Sharing the views of earlier speakers, especially Khajuria, Chrungoo linked "Pakistan's moves as a preparatory ground for new aggression following the withdrawal of US Army from Afghanistan". He said: "Pakistan seems to believe that it has been reasonably successful in its diplomacy to tell the world that mass rebellion is the real issue in Jammu & Kashmir and not the terrorism. This belief is prompting it to again infuse new blood into the terrorist regimes still operating on the ground. The brazen show casing of Hafiz Saeed as the leader of Islamic crusade in Jammu & Kashmir and also displaying his linkages even with those separatist leaders whom the Government of India describes as moderate is a very decisive signal to the terrorist over ground as well as underground about Pakistan's new offensives not in the distant future". "The diplomatic affronts given by Pakistan on its own soil as well as in India carry a very clear message that they want a result oriented engagement otherwise everything else for them is appeasement.
Through the cycles of escalation Pakistan is seeking to erode the doctrine of deterrence which India thinks is in place. Inability of Indian government to respond adequately to the escalatory thrusts confirms the validity of Pakistan's own deterrence against India. Indian inability to respond will only unleash attrition aimed at Indian security forces and the public morale," he also said.
The message from Jammu Press Club was that India has already wasted much of its time on Pakistan and that it was time for New Delhi to refashion its whole approach towards this so-called Pakistani State. Another message was that New Delhi, which has only bungled during all these 65 years, must behave like a true state so that Pakistan thinks hundred times before playing any mischief anywhere in India. Yet another message was that New Delhi would commit a serious mistake if it's the nationalist constituency in the state for a ride and that this constituency will not accept anything short of total decimation of regressive forces both in Pakistan and Jammu & Kashmir. |
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