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kashmir Perspectives
MOHAMMAD SHAFI LASSU Anjumian Moin-ul-Islam, LEH
T
he situation in Kashmir is very fluid. It is going a very serious way: on the one hand they are using a kind of Gandhi formula, a kind of civil disobedience and 'Quit Kashmir' movement, and on the other hand they came down from using the bullet and started stone pelting (using catapults and slingshots), damaging and burning vehicles (civilian and security forces), forcing shops and service stations to close down, cutting hair of drivers defying the call for harthals, etc., like 'intifada' in Palestine, provoking the security forces and forcing them to intervene. Pakistan, and especially ISI, are the advisors, the master mind behind this. Right now it is very dangerous. The situation can't be
controlled with the gun. The present State Government is weak. They don't want to take the bad name although in the long run they will be blamed for what happens. If there are no killings anymore, the situation will improve. If not, they will lose all credibility. There should be a tactical move from the side of the security forces to control these so called peaceful demonstrations. The present agitation is out of control of hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who started all this. Now, mobs have taken over the streets. The State Government must implement rule of law. Kashmiris are fed up with all this, they are terrorised by these mobs. Normal life came to a standstill.
TSERING DORJE, LUTF Chairman and CEO LAHDC
I
ndia can't handle Kashmir or Pakistan. The Home Minister made a mess of it. India should have cornered Pakistan on terrorism. In stead, Pakistan cornered India on human rights violations in Kashmir. For India, it is more difficult to handle the situation in Kashmir. Although, the demonstrations are not peaceful at all – they are pelting stones, using catapults, burning cars – the security forces must show restraint. This is a very dangerous situation. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is very nice and doing his best but he is in a coalition and Congress runs the
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show. They push him in front, he is full of good intensions but it is a very complex situation and he is not experienced enough. His father Farooq Abdullah is very clever, he doesn't want a change or to take over: now people criticise Omar Abdullah, not himself. Omar Abdullah did nothing drastic, nothing new in the economic or developmental field. The Kashmiris are so used to get everything. There is no limit in the packages coming from the Centre. There is an enormous waste of money, they are so corrupt. His predecessor Ghulam Nabi Azad took some measures with limited success, but now
Vol. 4, Issue 10
Epilogue, October 2010