For Peace keep killers and Rapists away

 Mid Day

At the outset I would like to clarify that we are all for peace and would naturally support any peace initiative. We are fully aware of the fact that unless there is peace between India and Pakistan there is no way that peace can return to Kashmir.

But then who can bring peace is a question that needs to be asked and answered. Do we buy peace at any cost ie by bringing on stage the killers of yesteryears and doing “piece-deals” with them. Needless to say that such steps are a sure recipe for more violence. Here we have a man who has 23 criminal cases including rape, murder and kidnapping pending against him. He has accepted on tape killing 4 unarmed IAF officers calling them “agents of the enemy”. He appears for summons in Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping cases even today. Apart from that he is involved in killing of Lassa Kaul,Mushir-ul-Haq,Dooraiswamy and others.I haven’t even mentioned the gruesome raping and killing of Sarla Bhat.And thankfully for him the CBI hasnt even filed a chargesheet in 19 years.In case any newspaper or any TV channel needs proof I have it all.

We disagree with the policy of separatists which is essentially one of Pan-Islamic expansion. Having said that has anyone ever seen us protesting against a Sajjad Lone,a Mirwaiz , a Ghani Butt or even Syed Ali Shah Geelani? Everyone has a right to speak but are we to be lectured by killers and rapists on peace? Wouldn’t it all be a big farce?

Hindustan Times

 Indian Express

The Times of India

I ask the organisers of such peace events as to why they cannot anybody else in Kashmir to speak on Peace. If peace is to endure then members of civil society have to be stake holders. What is wrong with inviting a Rehman Rahee, a Rafik Raaz, Mohd Shafi Khan, Shafi Shauq or a Hassan. Haven’t heard of them? I presumed so. They are leading poets and sculptors of Kashmir. Incase you have aversion to them also please invite anyone but people like Yasin Malik,Bitta Karate or a Javed Nalqa. Sorry but our catholicity still hasn’t reached that of Jesus. We cannot forget how they selectively killed our community members and had us leave our homes.

It is for the organisers read the Indian Civil Society to ensure that there is a line that needs to be drawn as to who should represent Kashmiris. Should it be a man who has blood on his hands or a man who really means peace?

While the press has said what we did no one reported that the “Peace Activists” pushed us and abused us. They tore our material and threw it on our faces but then what else do you expect from people who host Yasin Malik.

Jansatta

To cut a long story short, the world needs to take notice of our ethnic cleansing. The media which normally shows a lot of urgency in cases “where gross violation of justice” has been done needs to take up the issue that not even one person has been convicted for killing of Kashmiri Pandits.Not even one.I feel like shouting my lungs off that the media barons could hear me. NOT EVEN ONE.

 Daily Hamara Samaj (Urdu)

20 years hence my house lies burnt, my deities defaced, my community displaced and disparaged and I am to hear Yasin Malik. Tell me Arnab Goswami if my method is wrong what is the right method. Help me get peace and I will follow your method. Bring me back my home and my childhood that I lost waiting in a queue outside a toilet in a refugee camp because the Government could provide only one for 100 Pandits.

PS: Thanks nonetheless for carrying the news, Arnab.

Times Now Video Link -  http://www.timesnow.tv/India/Separatist-leader-Yasin-Malik-heckled/videoshow/4336085.cms

Punjab Kesri

The Election Farce,Sajjad Lone etc

Che Kamyu Kareneay taveez pan
Yaaro van bale yaaro van

Who hath cast thy spell on thou?
Speak up my friend, speak up

Wahab Khar the 18th Century poet probably had the power to see future. How else does one explain the above verse unless he knew that Sajjad Lone, the most vociferous of the separatists would one day take a U-turn (strategic not ideological-let us laugh over it) and join the election fray. Intrigue has always been a part of Kashmir’s history and Kashmir’s leaders have more often that not been treacherous and perfidious. Sajjad Lone can be no exception.

After all he is following in the footsteps of his illustrious father who was first a minister in the Govt.of Jammu and Kashmir and then when the tide of separatism engulfed the valley he too changed his colours and became a separatist. As they say in Kashmir, Once a turncoat always a turncoat. Abdul Ghani Lone was about to don his old colours when the rival separatist gangs got a whiff of it and killed him. Sajjad and Bilal had a chance to speak up then but then the fear of death at the hands of terrorists had the better of them. If you can’t beat them join them.

Bilal joined the Hurriyat Conference while Sajjad kept to his People’s Conference because the Hurriyat did not want him amongst them. They were wary of him for various reasons, the primary being his proximity to some sections of the Indian Establishment. Sajjad who spends more time outside the valley found support from the liberal media and some sections of chatterati and thus was propelled to the national television screens as a “a separatist leader”. It was of little consequence that he enjoyed little or no support at the ground. His English speaking abilities and his suave ways became his passport for leadership. It is another matter that he was a leader because of his connections with the Editors of English News Channels.

Then came his big moment! The Amarnath agitation divided the state of Jammu and Kashmir like never before.The Govt of Jammu and Kashmir cancelled the temporary allocation of land which led to protests in Jammu.Sajjad Lone scoffed Arnab Goswami,”Are you comparing the agitation in a few Mohallas in Jammu to that of a Pan-Kashmir Agitation”.When the agitation in Jammu further gained ground he told Rajdeep Sardesai”We should give one and half district to Jammu and live peacefully”. It all reached a crescendo when he shouted at Dr.Jitendra Singh in Barkha Dutt’s programme that the land row is settled, all that is to be settled is Azadi.He even wanted Jitender Singh’s mike to be muted.

He was arrogant and rude to say the least. He was so vocal about his being Kashmiri separatist that he forgot that he is human too. He rubbed many people the wrong way.

Soon the elections were around the corner. The separatists including him gave a boycott call but a determined Election Commission went ahead with the election schedule. He was once again the most vocal face of the boycotters. Even on the day when the first phase figures came out and when 64% electorate had polled in he told Arnab Goswami” One Swallow does not make a spring. Wait there still is six more phases”. Meanwhile his sister Shabnam Lone too stood for elections. He swore by the Holy Quran that he had nothing to do with her candidature. He said, he did not support the farce called elections. He renewed his calls for boycott and his sister lost.

The Election Results were announced. Sajjad Lone was forlorn and dejected. He seemed to have lost the guftaar (the art of conversation) though he still maintained that he did not regret his decision to boycott polls. He was suddenly seen biting dust. He called for introspection but then who would have thought that this would be introspection. His introspection will be to swear in the name of the Indian Constitution. Whether he represents Kashmir in India or India in Kashmir is mere semantics. Doesn’t Sharad Pawar represent Maharashtra in India and India in Maharashtra?

A word is due to our columnists who see this as some “paradigm shift” in the politics of Kashmir, those who believe that Lone is a “moderate voice” among the separatists and for those who believed that his “Achievable Freedom Document” was some Godsend solution to Kashmir. It is time for them to spend some more time in Kashmir and go beyond what they see from their Shikara’s. It is time for them to talk to normal Kashmiris and know what the Lone U-turn means. It is time that they stop bullshitting and telling us that in the last assembly elections the Kashmiris voted for Bijli,Sadak,Paani and not for India.Do they think we are so dumb as to believe that all these years Kashmiris did not need Bijli,sadak and Paani.Go drink some paani from Chasme Shahi in Kashmir.It is believed to have medicinal values that cures brain disorders.

One just hopes that the establishment lets the elections be free and fair and does not in any way or form aid the candidature of Sajjad Lone. It is only then that we would know how much of a leader Sajjad is outside the studios of TV Channels. Only time will tell whether he is elected or not or whether the Indian Establishment covertly gets him to the Parliament or not. What we know for sure is that he represents himself and himself alone in Kashmir as well as India. Seldom has a Kashmiri leader represented anyone but himself and Lone can not be alone in this.