Neha
JAMMU, Sept 27: Who is responsible for the whole mess in Jammu and Kashmir? It is the National Conference (NC), according to former Army chief, distinguished General VK Singh. "It's my firm belief that this party is responsible for all the prevailing mess in Kashmir and the way it is making clamour over a useless issue signifies how desperate the party is to grab the attention of the people," he said the other day while rejecting the allegation that he had misused a technical services division (TSD) created by him when he was army chief to topple the National Conference (NC)-Congress-led government in Jammu and Kashmir.
"The NC is misleading the country that 2010 summer agitation had links with Machil encounter. The reality is that this agitation started when a youth namely Tufail Matoo was killed by police in Srinagar city…The situation in Kashmir has deteriorated because of the bad policies of the NC. This party (NC) is responsible for the unrest in Kashmir. The leaders of this party are opportunists who can go to any extent to achieve their goal. As elections are approaching, the NC is in search of an issue, which could prove beneficial for the party." Singh also said while explaining the factors responsible for the prevailing mess in Jammu and Kashmir.
General VK Singh, in addition, gave a clean chit to Agriculture Minister in the Omar Abdullah-led coalition government saying that to blame Mir would be to blame God. In fact, he commended the credentials of Mir and lambasted those who accused him of accepting bribe to the tune of Rs 1.19 crore from the Army to unseat the Omar Abdullah government. "It is political vendetta and nothing else. They are even blaming Jammu and Kashmir Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir who loves India by heart…To blame Mir is to blame God. Ghulam Hassan Mir is a true Indian and loves the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Persons like Mir are not present everywhere. He would die but would never allow anyone to compromise the sovereignty of the country," the former General, whose contribution will always be remembered, said.
General VK Singh is man with an impeccable record. Besides, he says things which he actually believes in. He served in Jammu and Kashmir for many years and he knows what went wrong, who created the mess or who did what to promote the national cause or harm it. The former chief was absolutely to the point when he held the NC responsible for the mess in Kashmir. It is the NC leadership which never allowed democracy to flower in Jammu and Kashmir in order to remain in power and enjoy loaves and fishes at the cost of the state and the people of the state in general and Kashmir valley in particular. The NC, in addition, worked to the hilt to prevent the Kashmiri Muslims, its core constituency, from joining the mainstream politics and consistently played with their sentiments by raking up emotive and divisive issues. It did so because its leadership knew that if it was to enjoy the loaves and wishes of office, it could not afford promotion of sound politics based on democratic and economic issues.
The NC continues to indulge in such activities even now. The only difference is that earlier the Congress leadership and the Union Government used to act and punish the NC leaders as it happened in the case of Sheikh Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah. Both were dismissed from the top executive office because they brazenly indulged in anti-India activities. But the today's Congress, which is controlled by persons with an altogether a different stuff, is not just giving unstinted cooperation to Omar Abdullah and his pro-separatist, pro-Pakistan and pro-autonomy NC but also toeing his line and compromising the Indian sovereignty in Jammu and Kashmir so that Pakistan and Kashmiri separatists and communalists could be pandered.
General Singh also did not exaggerate things when he said that the unpopular NC is in search of an issue, which could help it remain relevant in the state's political arena. Indeed, the unpopular and controversial Abdullahs, who challenge the Indian presence in Kashmir but do not mind enjoying political power with the support of New Delhi, do need an issue to remain in the news. There are potent reasons to believe that the NC would go marginalized and irrelevant after the 2014 assembly elections, as the people of the state, including bulk of the Kashmiri population, has, it appears, decided to punish the NC for the crimes it has been committing ever since its formation. General Singh deserves kudos for the simple reason that he spoke the truth and put the "opportunist" Abdullahs on the mat by exposing them and their controversial credentials. |
