DO WE HAVE A SAY???

Imagine you and your family live in a house which has been passed on to you by your ancestors. Now, what if one day some outsiders invade your home and throw you out on the pavement at gunpoint. Adding insult to injury, they start dictating terms inside the house. How would you feel? Would you tolerate it? No way.

That is the story of the Kashmiri Pandits (KP’s).

The history of Kashmir, like many other North-Indian states has witnessed violence and devastation. The KP’s were mercilessly killed and converted which ultimately resulted in Kashmir becoming predominantly Muslim region.

At one point, only eleven families of Pandits remained in the Valley. Walter Roper Lawrence, who visited Kashmir in 1889 as the British Land Settlement Commissioner, mentions this in his note on Kashmiri Pandits in his book 'The Valley of Kashmir'.

So, the recent violence in the valley, obviously has its roots entrenched deep in the history.

In late 1989 and early 1990, the Kashmiri Pandit minority was targeted by Islamic fundamentalists and socially victimized by a significant proportion of the Kashmiri Muslim population.

The ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits continues, with anti-Hindu and anti-Sikh threats being made to them by terrorists as recently as last week.

Now going back to the recent violence in the valley, the protesting people are demanding an Azad Kashmir, free from India and Pakistan.

The separatists are trying to portray the picture that every single Kashmiri hates India and wants to be free, which is an absolute farce. As I had personally met some Kashmiri muslim students few weeks back who were staunchly supporting India and cursed the separatists.

They were in Delhi to meet political leaders to find a solution to the crisis in the valley.

Basically, the notion of an Azad Kashmir is a Pakistani propaganda, being carried out by the separatists on their behalf.

The separatists love to talk lividly on how there should be an Azad Kashmir. How they do not need India to meddle in their affairs and how they can take care of Kashmir themselves.

Well, I have just one question for them, WHO THE HELL ARE THEY TO DIVIDE AND DECIDE THE FUTURE OF KASHMIR ALONE? The so called Kashmir that they represent has no Kashmiri Pandits, no Dogras, no Sikhs and no Gujjars- who were all part of the valley just a few decades back. What about all of us? Who will represent our voices? How can a plebiscite take place after a massive demographic change?

This is a showcase of childish behaviour by the separatists.

The separatists talk about how the local Kashmiris are suffering and the KP’s have long left the valley and have no idea about the trauma that the locals are suffering.

Well, as long as suffering goes, lakhs of KP’s who till a couple of decades back dwelled in mansions are now living in refugee camps in Jammu or refugee colonies spread across the national Capital Region.

Our grandparents still long for their homes with tears in their eyes. We never left our motherland…WE WERE FORCED TO LEAVE AT GUN POINT.

The good thing about KP’s is that we are educated and literate. Why? Because it is this very reason that WE did not take up arms. Otherwise whatever happened with us was a good enough reason to turn many of us into terrorists and wage a war against those who threw us out.

That includes the separatists and the locals who assisted them. They should be thankful to KP’s that like Huriyat Conference we did not form a Kashmiri Pandit’s Liberation Army (KPLA) armed with AK 47’s and Grenades.

Sadly, there are some people in this country who support the idea of an Azad Kasmir, most of whom are the Kasmiri muslims who have migrated to cities for a better life. They have no qualms in travelling by metro, watching movies hindi movies in multiplexes and shopping in malls.

But the minute you talk to them about the troubles in the valley, their blood boils. They immediately start ranting about an Azad Kashmir. So, my dear friends if you are so hell bent on separating form India, then why the hell are you even present here? These are there double standards.

The dim-witted separatist leaders are obviously hungry for power and dream of an Azad Kashmir where they and their future generations will rule. But what these oblivious people do not understand is that if I happens, being a landlocked region with three nuclear countries on each side, they will eventually be swallowed by one or the other.

There are also some foolish Indians who support the theory of an Azad Kashmir, they are just a bunch of pseudo-intellectual buffoons who like to talk about the atrocities in Kashmir while greasing their throats with scotch on the rocks at a page 3 party.

I am a KP and want Kashmir to remain with India. Parts of Kashmir are already occupied by Pakistan (PoK) and China (Aksai Chin), it should not be divided anymore at any cost. If the separatists do not agree with this, then let them go to hell.

Kashmir cannot be divided just because some politically instigated violence is killing people over there. Even the KP’s were killed mercilessly in 1980. But this absolutely does not justifies the violence in the valley. It should stop but not at the cost of an Azad Kashmir.

Come to think of it, the ethnic cleansing of KP’s was not at all possible without the involvement and support of the locals. The whole situation in Kashmir can be suitable explained in one line- What goes around comes around!

HOW WE LOVE TO FORGIVE 'N' FORGET

What is terrorism and who are terrorists? Well, according to me they are a bunch of gun totting fools who live in a parallel universe, kill innocent people whenever they feel like, have no regard for fellow human beings and have no remorse or regret.

They are cold bloodied murderers. They don’t belong to any specific religion because the way they interpret god and his teachings, they just try to justify their actions. In fact, they are surely children of the devil.

It’s a general attitude worldwide, whenever you think of terrorism, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? The answer is Islam. We have a tendency to relate terrorism with Islam.

Whereas the fact is – All terrorists are not Muslims and all Muslims are not terrorists. Countless people lose their lives in terrorist attacks every year worldwide and the disturbing reality is that there seems to be no solution to all this violence and hatred.

India has been quite unsuccessful in dealing with terrorism. These maniacs strike whenever and however they want to. An average citizen of this country can become a victim anytime anywhere.

I personally get a bit worried whenever I visit a crowded market or a busy metro station. There’s a constant fear of an attack. You don’t know in which dustbin or a corner a bomb may explode or from which direction bullets will start flying. The Mumbai attacks just proved how vulnerable we all are. We have no sense of security.

Once Karan Thapar asked the then national security advisor M.K. Narayanan, how seriously he was scared of a second major Mumbai like strike on India? And he said “Here you are asking me a question that I live in almost daily dread that something that I am looking at or the Home Minister P Chidambaram”

If the NSA and the home minister of our country who despite having VIP status and round the clock armed security are scared then you can very well imagine the state of fear in which the common man is living.

Governments have come and gone but none of them did anything concrete for us. Even after so many tragic incidents it is still in deep slumber. For example, God forbid, if today bombs go off in Delhi, barricades and metal detectors will come up all over the city, government will ask us to remain calm, compensations will be given to the victims, some arrests will be made.

And after one month things will go back to where they were. Nobody will care. Is this the way to treat those who’ve trusted the government with their lives?

One thing I don’t understand is what kind of example the government wants to set by not hanging people like Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab?

Why do such things happen only in India? Doesn’t this prove the weakness and incompetence of our government? The monetary compensations given to the families of the victims of the attacks are useless until the perpetrators are not hanged. Money may help them but there would be no peace of mind.

When the local trains of Mumbai were bombed, the next day media showed scenes of trains packed with people (as in people were travelling without any fear). Every channel had the tagline, ‘salute to the spirit of Mumbai’.

What spirit are they talking about? Those passengers are not super heroes. Inside they are very scared. But to simply put it, they don’t have any other choice. If they won’t go to work, they won’t get paid and how will they survive?

It’s a battle between fear and hunger and for the majority of Indians, hunger always wins hands down. Just like the hit bollywood dialogue “Paapi pet ka sawaal hain” (it’s a question of one’s hungry stomach).

We know that India is not on friendly terms with its two major neighbours i.e. Pakistan and China. These countries have been disturbing our peace, directly or indirectly for decades now.

China supports the Naxalites and Maoists and reports say that it even supplies arms illegally to Pakistan.

We as a country have been abused by all kinds of terrorist acts like bombing, hijacking, suicide attacks et al. unfortunately, over the years, we have got used to it and each terrorist attack gives us a date to remember and a reason to light candles.

The media is happy, as it gets at least a week full of high TRP’s and increased circulation. But the irony is they forget the previous incident, the minute a bigger attack takes place. They create furor, for at least sometime, whenever a major attack happens, but in a matter of days they simply move on.

These terrorists, every few months give us a hot topic to talk about. Once it was the hijacking of the Indian airlines plane, and then occurred the attack on Parliament which was followed by the blasts in Delhi and then the recent Mumbai attack.

Just like everyone forgot Rupin Katyal, I am sure people like Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar will also be forgotten few years from now. I am disappointed and sad to say that we have perfected the art of forgiving and forgetting.

CWG FOR DELHI...DEJA VU FOR ME

There is something nostalgic about the Delhi Government's (DG) approach towards the preparations for the Commonwealth Games (CWG). Yup, you read it right, NOSTALGIC. How? Simple it reminds me of my school days.

When I was a student and every year I started preparing for the examinations in the nick of time. How I would laze around and waste my time just like the DG has done and is doing in the garb of preparing for the CWG.

So, here I am writing this blog which would throw some light upon the similarities between DG’s preparations for the CWG and my for the school examinations.

As always the syllabus would be as long as the Great Wall of China and as difficult to conquer as Mount Everest. There were notes to be photocopied, chapters to be mugged up and formulae’s to be learnt by heart. Just like there were stadiums, hotels, parking lots and roads to be built.

Although a herculean task, there was ample time for preparations too. If time was managed properly everything could have been taken care of easily. But just like me the DG also took it easy. The lazy and laid back attitude made sure that nothing was organized till the end.

The DG is doing exactly the same what I did in my school days. That is fooling itself into believing that there is still plenty of time and all deadlines would be met.

I always promised myself that although I’ve wasted today but come what may, from tomorrow onwards there will be hard work and hard work only…and obviously the promise was always broken.

DG again imitating me realised few months back that there was a mega event to be held just as I used to realize that there was an exam only a couple of days before. That is why there is a sudden increase in pace of the works for the games. DG is panicking exactly the way I panicked when I gazed at the calendar.

In the days leading to the exams, many household chores were refused right away as there was course to be completed. It was an easy excuse to get away from any obligations. Similarly the DG is so involved in the games that it has forgotten its responsibility towards its people. Just look at the sky-rocketing price of commodities.

I would cover myself with books, pens, pencils, erasers, etc. so that my parents get a strong message of how committed I was towards preparation. That did not, however meant that I was studying.

It was done only to be saved from any kind of reprimanding. Similarly, by digging up roads all over Delhi and working swiftly in the areas which are the ‘hotspots’ for the games and ignoring other pockets of the city, DG is trying to portray a positive image to save itself from the media as well as the common man/potential RTI filers.

Just like I would blackmail my mom into making my favourite dish for dinner and dad into getting the mobile's account recharged, the same tactics are being implied by the contractors and the DG also.

The contractors are blackmailing the government into granting them insane amounts of money, all in the name of swiftly completing the projects. In turn the state government is no less too as it is doing the same with the centre.

All this is happening because projects did not commence on time so there is no chance of their timely completion as well. Moreover, it is a matter of national pride so both the governments will have to bend backwards to make sure the maximum work is done on time without any further delays.

An example of the financial blunder that CWG is- India's bid document for the Commonwealth Games in 2003 estimated the cost of hosting the event at Rs 1,899 crore. After several revisions the estimates now range from an official figure of Rs 10,000 crore to independent experts at an astounding Rs 30,000 crore.

Moving on, I would burn midnight oil hoping that the entire course would be completed in one night. Similarly, the DG is also working overtime to complete the much delayed projects.

As a result there is mismanagement everywhere resulting in a city covered in dust, troubled by traffic snarls and saddened by accidents. A more systematic method was easily possible had the work commenced on time.

As night turned to dawn I would have already left quite a number of chapters untouched as the clock read 5 a.m. and I also had to catch some hours of sleep. Many other chapters were left uncompleted too.

Numerous policies of the DG have also met similar fate. Like the underground wiring in the walled city, the multi-level parking lots (only 3 out 60 are expected to complete before the games) and many more projects especially those which are away from the focal point will no way be completed before the games as there is no time left.

Ideally, these 3 months leading to the games should have been like the time when you revise the course before an examination. The monsoons would have acted as ‘mock test papers’ for the civic authorities for testing how well they have done their job. Sadly, nothing of that sort is or will take place.

Now the comparison may be humorous but do not forget that what all I did was a proof of my immaturity as I was a teenager back then. It only proved how naïve I was. Maybe I behaved in a way I was supposed to.

But what about the state government, neither our bureaucrats nor our Chief Minister are anywhere near their teens. How could they have been so foolish?
According to me I was afraid to of the examination because I was afraid of failure.

So, the easy way out was to run away from examinations hoping that I would somehow escape them.

But the CWG authorities are not so faint-hearted; they did this deliberately because of the money. Rs 30,000 crore could have been demanded only if a panicky scenario was created where the hosting of the games were threatened. Attach to it the ‘national pride’ tag and voila! You have a winner.

Then and only then would the money be justified and the insane budget passed. The proof of which is in front of our eyes, no one is complaining or bothered about the steep rise in expenses. Right?