news details |
|
|
| Embarrassment for Narendra Modi over Kousarnag yatra issue | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 2: Prime Minister, Narendra Modi ,may find himself getting caught between the devil and the deep sea as far as the issue of Jammu and Kashmir Government's buckling under pressure mounted by separatists and their supporters which resulted in cancellation of the permission granted to Pandits to start their pilgrimage to Kousarnag lake from Kulgam area in the Valley.
In fact the Central Government had displayed no panic when the state authorities cancelled the permission which they had granted earlier. What could have compounded the Central Government's dilemma, especially for Narendra Modi, had the Kousarnag pilgrimage lasted for over a month. On the basis of the letter seeking permission for starting the yatra from Kulgam area the yatra was to commence from July 31. The yatra may be of less than six-day duration. The reason behind possible dilemma for Modi is the letter that has been sent to him by Kashmiri Overseas Association in the US seeking Modi's intervention so that Pandits could start the yatra from Kulgam area.
Reports said that Kashmiri Pandits in the US have sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing the Kousarnag religious yatra in the Valley to proceed after the Jammu and Kashmir Government rescinded the order permitting the event.
Expressing dismay and anger on the recent decision of J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to rescind the order permitting Kashmiri Pandits to proceed with the annual and peaceful religious yatra to Kousarnag, the Kashmiri Overseas Association (KOA) in a letter to Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh urged that the Kousarnag yatra should be allowed to continue with immediate effect.
"The Kashmiri Pandits have historically been guardians of the ecology of Kashmir where every spring, river and mountain has been treated with respect as opposed to the degradation that has been caused in recent decades by the forces who oppose them and who do not want the Pandits to expose this destruction of the environment of Kashmir through unrestrained illegal activities," the letter said.
"We note that this is the third disturbance that has been created in the Valley following reports that your administration is looking at plans to rehabilitate the Kashmiri Pandits who had been expelled from the Valley in 1990 and have been living in exile for the last 25 years," the letter said
It would have been difficult for Modi to either ignore the letter sent by Pandits, settled in the US,or prevail upon the state Government to grant permission to the Pandits to proceed to the mountain lake from the Kulgam area.
Well the state authorities need not to be blamed for cancelling the permission they had granted for facilitating Pandits to proceed to the mountain lake from Kulgam area. The authorities had to cancel the permission when they saw that a section of people, having support from a section of separatists, had plans to disrupt the pilgrims progress. Had they done so it could have triggered a communal trouble not only within the Valley but in other areas of the country. Already communal trouble in Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur in UP has vitiated the atmosphere in the country and any attempt at attacking pilgrims to Kousarnag could have added to the already fluid situation in Jammu and Kashmir. It could have given birth to law and order problem for which the Government was not prepared to handle.
Yes, the Kashmiri Overseas Association's support to the Pandits who wished to proceed to the mountain lake from Kulgam area deserves appreciation from the community members. But sitting several thousand miles away from Kashmir it was not possible for the members of the Kashmir Overseas Association to assess the gravity of the situation had groups of Pandits been allowed to proceed to Kousarnag from Kulgam area without the consent and support from people in south Kashmir.
The bitter memory of the 2007 row over diversion of some land to the Shrine Board for developing facilities for pilgrims to Amarnath cave at Baltal is fresh and Pandits in the US need not be told or reminded that a section of people, separatists and political leaders spread canards about degradation to Valley's environment and ecology by several lakh pilgrims between Pahalgam and the mountain cave and between Baltal and the holy cave.
These critics of the yatra need to know that when ecology and environment in the area was not degraded during the last 100 years' of the yatra how could it get polluted now? And the same story of ecological and environmental degradation is being linked to all the mountain lakes in the Kashmir valley.
When senior separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohd. Yasin Malik, were opposed to the Government's plan to allow pilgrims to move from Kulgam area to Kousarnag it would have been suicidal for the state Government had it not cancelled the permission for the yatra which it had granted earlier.
Awami Ittihaad Party (AIP) senior leader Zeeshan Pandith has assailed the State Government over its move to start the Kousarnag Yatra and thus ruin the last of the prominent and picturesque spring of Kashmir terming the move dangerous which is a slated to harm the wonderful virgin spot with menace of pollution that is being generated in the name of badly using the noble faith.
These separatist need to be asked one question. How can a five to six-day long yatra damage the environment and ecology in and around Kousarnag when few hundred pilgrims would have gone to offer prayers? And the Kashmir Overseas Association seems to be correct when it has termed opposition to Kousarnag yatra from Kulgam area as the first step towards blocking rehabilitation of Pandits in Kashmir
And the state Government's fears on situation getting bad has been confirmed by Friday's protest rallies in various parts of the Valley. During these protest rallies demonstrators clashed with the security forces. Amazingly the state Government has defended its decision on withdrawing permission that had been granted to pandits earlier when it said that trip to Kousarnag was neither a pilgrimage like Amarnath yatra nor the Kulgam route was its traditional trek and that is why it has suggested to pilgrims to move to the mountain spring from Reasi side.
And people in Kashmir besides the separatists have no objection if pilgrims move to the mountain spring from Reasi area. This is intriguing. If separatists say that pilgrimage to Kousarnag could endanger environment and ecology will it not happen if pilgrims move from Reasi? And a section of separatists answer this question by saying "we do not want cultural aggression or invasion on Kashmir." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
