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Instead of punishing separatists, CM thanking them
Peace In Restive Valley
7/3/2012 1:26:25 AM
RUSTAM
JAMMU, July 2: Why do people elect government? They elect their government every five years hoping their representatives in the legislature and government will cater to their basic needs, establish rule of law, isolate and punish law-breakers and ensure law and order at whatever cost. They also elect government hoping that it will not only come up to their expectations, but also defend the constitution and work for the unity and integrity of the state. The government has many duties to perform and the above-mentioned functions constitute only a few of them. In troubled times, the government and the people are required to work in unison to identify trouble-makers so that they are brought to justice and state purged of persons with dubious credential.
But here is a state, called Jammu & Kashmir, where the government, instead of isolating, booking and bringing trouble-makers to justice, thanks them for helping it in maintaining peace in the Valley. Believe it or not, but it is a fact that our worthy chief minister yesterday thanked the otherwise highly unpopular and at the receiving end separatists for helping the government in maintaining peace in the Valley. "Apart from extending my gratitude to general public for the maturity they have shown at the moment of challenge, I also want to thank those, who do not share our political viewpoint, for working positively to help in maintenance of peace and brotherhood," Omar said during an interaction with the "civil society" members, including Imams (prayer leaders) and Khateebs (preachers), in Srinagar, adding that "they (separatists) made appeals to the people repeatedly for this purpose (maintaining peace) for which I am thankful to them". He also said that there are "certain vested elements in the society who try to take advantage of such unfortunate incidents and disrupt peace and tranquility. They use these opportunities to divide the society and create law and order problem. Many elements were out to create 2010 like situation in the garb of the unfortunate and saddening fire incident of Peer Dastgeer Sahab shrine". Tara Chand, Congress leader and deputy chief minister, was also present.
Did separatists really help government restore maintain peace in the Valley? Or, did not these out-on-the-limb separatists try to use the unfortunate gutting of over 200-year-old Peer Dastgeer Sahib Shrine, located in the Khanyar area of Srinagar? Separatists and a few religious leaders did not help restore peace. On the contrary, separatists like Shabbir Ahmad Shah and Nayeem Khan, and even some religious leaders tried their best to create in the Valley the 2010-like situation. It is a fact that Shabbir and his ilk had tried to provoke the people to raise anti-India and pro-freedom slogans. But more than that, what was most noteworthy was the people's anger against Shabbir Shah. People, mostly young Muslims, not only raised anti-separatists' slogans, but some of them even attacked the "Nelson Mandela of Kashmir" (in this case Shabbir shah) with iron rods, bamboo sticks and stones and blackened his face in presence of hundreds of people. The fact is that it was the people who defeated the evil designs of separatists like Shabbir, Nayeem Khan, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and even Syed Ali Shah Geelani by ignoring them. It's true that a couple of days ago these separatists urged the people to resume work. But it is also true that they did so for two reasons. One was that the people were not prepared to obey their diktats. The other was the gutting of part of Imambara at Gund Hasi Bhat-Lavepora, near Srinagar. They did so because there was the possibility of violent clashes between Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims.
The state government should have used the people's anger against separatists like Shabbir, Nayeem and their ilk as an opportunity to produce a moral effect or to show them their rightful place. But it acted otherwise. Instead of taking on separatists, it thanked them, thus once again establishing that these otherwise unpopular, unscrupulous, greedy and over-ambitious separatists are enjoying official patronage. But more than that, the manner in which the chief minister expressed his gratitude to the separatists has raised many questions about the very authority of the government that he leads. It has not only suggested that his government is not only incompetent to maintain peace and calm in the Valley, but also suggested that there could be some sort of understanding between the NC leadership and Kashmiri separatists. After all, there is little difference between the stands of chief minister and separatists on Jammu & Kashmir. The chief minister says that state has not merged with India and separatists say Jammu & Kashmir is a disputed territory.
The truth, in short, is that the state government has violated the people's mandate by giving communally and politically -motivated legitimacy to Kashmiri separatists who have only brought death and destruction to Kashmir at the behest of Pakistan, which is not a friend of people of Kashmir.


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