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| PK playing with fire by hobnobbing with Jethmalani | | Seminar on Kashmir | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 6: Those who hold the view that Panun Kashmir (PK) led by Dr. Agnishekher is prone to aimless flip flops and cheap subterfuges may have felt vindicated after the deliberations of a seminar, organized by the group in the Constitutional Club, New Delhi, came to a conclusion yesterday. The main speakers invited on the occasion were Ram Jethmalani, the vociferous supporter of Musharraf formula, and Ashok Bhan, Congress leader and member of the Kashmir Committee of Ram Jethmalani, which had virtually acted as an over ground caucus for Musharraf plan in India. (The Musharraf formula stands for demilitarization of the state, irrelevant borders, joint-control or shared sovereignty and self-governance.) The topic of the seminar “Should Kashmiri Pandits look for options beyond the Nation” spoke for itself about what must have been cooking in the minds of the organizers.
It is true that the Government of India has over the years pushed the displaced Kashmiri Hindus to the fringes of marginalization and has implicitly endeavored more to push the community to surrender to the separatist perspectives. But it’s also true of all the minority communities in the state, including Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs as well as nationalist Muslims living in the state. Should these discriminated against, marginalized and virtually abandoned minority communities also think in terms of looking for an option beyond the nation? To even conceive possibilities like “beyond the nation” is virtually a blasphemy and an act of sedition, which simply cannot be condoned. For, it is consistent with the line the secessionists have been pursuing since decades and inconsistent with the line the displaced community has been pursuing since 1990, when it had to quit their homes and hearths and seek safety outside the Valley.
The PK leader has, it appears, shown a proclivity for photo opportunism and sound bite attraction more than love for content and strategy. All this was on full display during the controversial Seminar. A very thin attendance of not more than 50 persons spoke for itself the outright rejection of the mindset of the organizers.
The opposition to the very presence of Ram Jethmalani on the dais was amply evident when youngsters sitting in the audience named him and asked him very inconvenient questions about his stand on Kashmir problem. The absence of proper speakers, whom the organizers must have been expecting, revealed a disapproval of the theme of the seminar. The embarrassed organizers had to request Capt. S K Tikoo who had come to be a part of the audience to start the deliberations. And the inaugural speech by him was the only saving grace of the programme where other speakers seemed to be fumbling for words and ideas. Tikoo did highlight the serious situation prevailing in the country in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular. He also highlighted the precarious condition of Kashmiri Hindus and alluded that in the light of whatever was happening in the country, and particularly in Jammu and Kashmir, all Kashmiri Hindus may be left with only one option of leaving the country and seeking asylum elsewhere, even in America. Having said so he cautioned everybody about duplicity of those who have no compunction to share platforms with the type of Geelanis in seminars and discussions which are meant for promoting separatist views and, at the same time, become advocates of the cause of displaced Hindus from Kashmir as well as India. His speeches gave blushes to Ashok Bhan and Ram Jethmalani.
The dilemma of the PK leader is brazen enough to escape notice. To his community he wants to project an image of a hardliner and a revolutionary and to the government and the separatist camp he wants to project himself as a moderate. The choice of Ram Jethmalani and Ashok Bhan was perhaps a signal to the Government of India, Pakistan and the separatists in Kashmir about his amenability and the choice of the theme of the seminar reflected his urge to project himself in front of his constituency as a hardliner ready to cross any boundary. Running with the hare and hunting with the hound is always self-defeating.
It is not for the first time that this particular faction of the PK has shown tendencies of cheap populism and dangerous expediency. In the so-called World Conference of Kashmiri Hindus held a few years back at the Zorawar Singh Auditorium, University of Jammu, this group had projected the then Vice-Chancellor of the University Amitabh Mattoo as one of the main dignitaries to attend the conference. This group invited famous actor Anupam Kher to be the Chief Guest and had to face utter embarrassment when the actor publicly opposed the PK’s political perspectives as well as well as made veiled criticism of the functioning of security forces in Kashmir. The presence of the member of Kashmir committee Ashok Bhan again on the dais raised many an eyebrow even at that time. Dejected with the duplicitous conduct of the PK leader his executive members severely criticized him. In fact, his the then general secretary resigned, along with many core members of the team functioning at that time.
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