| Tackle tiny Kashmir Valley to end secessionism | | Jammu, Ladakh also have a say | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 20: The politics of deceit being indulged in and played by Kashmiri leaders, separatists and half-separatists (more dangerous than separatists) included, pitching for Pakistan, has acquired alarming and outrageous proportions. These elements largely belong to five districts in Kashmir Valley, including Srinagar, and all of them belong to a sect that doesn't constitute more than 15 per cent of the J&K population. These include pro-Pak manipulators like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Yasin Malik, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, Shabir Shah, Asiya Andrabi, and some politicians from the Kashmir-centric political parties. These include Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Sajad Lone, MY Tarigami, Saif-ud-Din Soz, to mention only a few.
The out and out pro-Pak machinations of these separatists and semi-separatists, circumvents public scrutiny, because of their art of duplicity, mastered over the years. Beguiling both Delhi and Islamabad, their forked tongue articulations have kept the Kashmir pot boiling. It is not uncommon for the father to speak in favour of Pakistan and separatists, even as the political heirs, son or daughter, adopt the contrary stance and vice-versa. A close scrutiny would establish that for some 60-odd families in Kashmir, the industry of "Kashmir Problem" is a huge financial windfall.
The activities of all these separatists and semi-separatists, who roam about as democrats, secularists and mainstream leaders are confined to just 135 km long and 32 km wide Kashmir Valley. In other words, less than 10 percent of the area is circumscribed demographically by Gujjars, Bakkarwals, Pathowari-speaking Muslims, Shiite Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and further beyond, Buddhists. All these religious and ethnic communities are devout Indians and are repelled by the idea of Pakistan. Leave aside a few disgruntled elements here and there.
To be more precise, geographically almost 90 per cent of Jammu and Kashmir weighs on the Kashmir Valley. Yet, it is these separatists and half-separatists and the people they, they claim, represent have been dominating the J&K discourse. In debates on all television channels, there is no or little representation from the other four larger entities. Jammu and Ladakh are always conspicuously absent from the TV debates on J&K.
It is time for the policy-planners in the South and North Blocks to look all these facts in the face and evolve and implement a policy that isolates separatists and half-separatists and empowers totally the neglected people of Jammu and Ladakh, the nation's backbone in the border state. It's also time for media houses to give full representation to Jammu and Ladakh so that the world knows what exactly is the situation in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and who stands for what. The point is that time has come to tackle the tiny Kashmir Valley and put things in perspective. It's already too late. Knee-jerk actions like meaningless withdrawal of security of five Hurriyat separatists are not going to help. |
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