Kashmiris in Exile protest against separatist propaganda | GroundReport
New Delhi/Jammu, August, 08 (Scoop News) – Kashmiris in Exile today made an impassioned plea for peace in Kashmir. Hundreds of Kashmiris along with Sikhs, Dogras and Muslims held a huge rally today at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi; which was joined by members of civil society as well. The internally displaced Kashmiri Pandits made a fervent appeal for peace to the youth in Kashmir and requested them to not get instigated by the rabble rousers who are hell bent upon destroying not just Kashmir but even future and lives of the young impressionable Kashmiris. They also made it clear that no solution to Kashmir issue is possible without the involvement of Kashmiri Pandits.
We are an inalienable party to the Kashmir issue said Dr.L.N.Dhar a displaced Kashmiri and a member of the Kashmiri Samiti, Delhi. The government of India should identify the real criminals who are instigating the young people to come on the streets to indulge in arson and rioting. It is imperative for the government to act against such people as Massarat Alam and Asaiya Andrabi. They should be charged for murder because it is on their instigation that young people are coming out as rioters and then getting killed. There can be no peace in the valley unless the government of the day acts tough on the people who are causing such unprecedented bloodshed in the valley said Rakesh Kaul, President of the Kashmiri Samiti Delhi.
It is a welcome step that the Home Minister has said that the Government will initiate a political process in Kashmir but then the government has to understand that there isn’t just one stream of thought that it needs to engage in “a quiet dialogue” with, said Kamal Hak, National Spokesperson of Panun Kashmir. He said that the government should take on board the Buddhists, Shias, Gujjars, Dogras, Pandits, Sikhs and not just the separatists. In case the quiet dialogue doesn’t address the issues of Kashmiri Pandits then the whole process will lay waste as we have seen in the past, said Amal Magazine of Roots in Kashmir, an organization of young Kashmiri Pandits.
The protesters even sent books to the stone pelters in Kashmir saying that the light of education would remove the darkness of their ignorance and would help them know who their real enemies are. They will know how they are being used by some evil minds for their narrow parochial objectives said Radhika Kaul a Yale student who also attended the protest. It is our way of telling our brethren back in Kashmir not to let their lives go waste for someone’s evil aims. We were thrown out of our homes some 20 years back but have never resorted to violence of any kind she said.
The Kashmiri Pandits have been demanding a separate homeland in Kashmir to be called Panun Kashmir (Our Kashmir).We do not want to live with people who engage in violence at the slightest pretext of perceived or real injustice. We are a peace loving community and would never indulge in such wanton acts of violence at the drop of a pin said Rakesh Gurkha, a young Kashmiri Pandit. We want to live in a peaceful Kashmir and hence our demand for a separate homeland in Kashmir is not only long due but even justified. He even questioned the ethics of the Media who he said, would criticize the security forces but did not show or write a word about the Sikh boy whose hair was cut by protestors or about the Mayor of Jaipur who was attacked and forced to return to Jaipur without the Darshan of the Holy Cave of Shiva at Amarnath. Are these less important to the media just because they aren’t Muslims, he quipped.
Meanwhile Panun Kashmir Panun Kashmir (PK) organised a Seminar in Jammu on the Topic “Making Sense of What is Happening in Kashmir" on Sunday. The Seminar was presided by Dr. Mohan Krishan Teng. an eminent political scientist of Jammu & Kashmir. The Seminar was addressed by MM. Khajuria, former Director General of Police Prof Hariom. an eminent think-tank and political writer and Dr. Ajay Chrungoo, Chairman of Panun Kashmir Shailendra Aima Senior Vice Chairman of Panun Kashmir conducted deliberations and Kuldip Raina Gen. Secretary Panun Kashmir presented the vote of thanks.
M M Khajuria former Director General of Police, while speaking in the Seminar, opined that the "Quit Jammu & Kashmir" call given by Tehrik-e-Hurriyat Chief Syed Ali Shah Gellani amidst the ongoing disturbances in Kashmir exposed the political dimension of the conspiracy hatched by Pak establishment and its local collaborators. . Khajuria impressed that the governments in Delhi and Srinagar must take all necessary measures to effectively deal with the disturbances and challenge to the integrity of the country there was an urgency to review the political and strategic formulations with a view to break the vicious cycle of violence and isolate the mischief mongers.
Dr.Ajay Chrungoo, Chairman of Panun Kashmir stated that It is time for the entire nation to recognize the "extremely regressive content of the movement which is holding whole of the Kashmir valley in its grip. It is time the whole nation delegitimizes the public mobilizations in the valley by emphatically stating that the strife in Kashmir is basically driven by an ideolological content which negates the freedom of mankind, breeds hatred and aims to destroy pluralism based on right to equality. It is time all of us reiterate our commitment to the indivisible unity of India and proclaim that nobody even the brute majority has a right to negate it. It is time message goes loud and clear that nobody has the right to change or seek exceptions on the basic structure of Constitution of India".
Dr. Chrungoo further stated that the "forces which are ruling the roost in the valley at present have already brought about the genocide of an entire community of Kashmiri Hindus. These forces have to be defeated ideologically and denied the respectability of a legitimate political movement. Government of India has to correct its policy formulations and realize that concessions to communalism and separatism have been self defeating. The situation in Kashmir cannot be salvaged through flirtations with variants of separatism and communalism there".
Dr. Teng during his presidential address asserted that Muslim separatism in its various forms including the demand for secession of Jammu and Kashmir from India and the creation of a separate Muslim sphere of power in Jammu and Kashmir is destructive of the unity of India and the secular character of its social and political organization.
