Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A SORDID TALE OF TWO CITIES

The spate of unprovoked killings in the valley is going on unabated, public outcry and international concern notwithstanding. Administration seems to be least bothered about the dangerous outcome of its apathy and misadventures. All that we Kashmiris were demanding was protection of our own land under article 370 of the Indian Constitution and when the govt. is miserably failing in its duty to ensure that besides failing to counter the most illogical and uncivilized act of economic blockade enforced by right wing hindu fundamentalist forces at Jammu and Punjab. Jammu people have been crying hoarse that injustice has been purportedly been meted out to them over the last sixty years. Their main grievance is that ever since India gained Independence, no ruler from Jammu province has ruled J&K state until 2005 when Ghulam Nabi Azad, who hails from Doda district of the Jammu province became the first Chief Minister of J&K from that division. As a matter of fact, it is the people of Kashmir valley who have been discriminated against eversince it came into being. Today if we see the pace of development and progress in these two provinces, anybody can cleary make a difference and see for himself how step motherly treatment has been meted out to this side of the state. Just by observing the number of fly-overs, hospitals, bridges, educational institutes, commercial complexes, broad roads and well planned colonies, one can clearly notice that this side has not received the fair deal from the powers that be.

While all separatists in Kashmir as well as mainstream politicians are speaking vehemently in favour of continuing the Amarnath Yatra in future in its present tone and tenure, nobody seems to be showing an iota of concern about the devastation that lakhs of pilgrims thronging the hilly areas of Pahalgam has caused to the ecology and environment of that region. Trash and shit in tons is being thrown into the serene surroundings everytime pilgrims visit the areas in lakhs. While BJP government in Uttarakhand has passed orders to restrict the number of pilgrims visiting Gangotri to 1500 per day, there has been no resistance to that decision whatsoever. Therefore If we talk of limiting the number of yatris and the duration of yatra why our move is being viewed as a communal act. Mahant Deependragiri who is the bearer of Charhi Mubarak (Holy mace of Lord Shiva) of Amarnath Yatra has himself stated time and again that the Shrine Board has wrecked havock with the sanctity of this yatra by extending its duration upto two months and by erecting an artificial ice lingham in place of a fast diminishing natural one. He has maintained that religious significance of the yatra is only for a period of fifteen days upto Shrawan Purnima and not two months. So it is very sad to observe how communal colour has been given to a purely ecological and regional problem. Hindu fanatics are simply playing into the ploy of BJP that is fanning communal sentiments just to garner votes in the forthcoming parliamentary elections in India next year. So it is time for all and sundry to visualize the issue in its real perspective and stop painting it in wrong colours forthwith lest the alienation of the people of Kashmir shall aggravate to a state that will end up seeing entire south Asia burning into flames considering that both India and Pakistan are nuclear states and Kashmir has been declared as the most vulnerable nuclear flashpoint in the region.

1 comment:

  1. Asalamualikum!!
    Nice work,Please carry on to expose the real face of Indian Democracy.

    Ma Salama
    Waleed

    ReplyDelete