‘Show courage to crush separatists’
| Date :22-Apr-2019 |
Staff Reporter:
Azadi movement is nothing but a violent attempt to impose Sharia on others, said Sushil Pandit
Scrap Article 370 and Article 35-A to restore normalcy in valley, the expert on J&K affairs added
“TIME has come for political establishment in the country to muster courage for resolving the Kashmir imbroglio. Currently, in the name of Azadi, an attempt is on to impose one set of values by usurping rights of others to freedom in valley,” said Sushil Pandit, an expert on Jammu & Kashmir affairs. He was speaking on topic Jammu & Kashmir in current context of volatile situation, explaining the rationale of issues at stakes, what happened in the past, and touching on entire context of policy paralysis in New Delhi. The programme was organised by Manthan, a social organisation, at Persistent Systems Pvt Ltd’s auditorium in Parsodi IT Park. Tracing the ancient glory of Kashmir and comparing it with vexed situation of today, Pandit unravelled the complex web of the thorny issue, adding that successive Prime Ministers squandered opportunity to unify the valley with rest of the country. “Dwelling into the past, the foremost mistake was gamble of Jawaharlal Nehru of taking Kashmir aggression by Pakistan to United Nations that only ensured that it became a permanent thorn in resolving the issue.
But if that was in the past, now latest turn around by the Central Government on Article 35A of the Constitution of India issue ensures that our establishment refuses to learn the lessons. In all, the sufferer is Indian population and those exiled by the religious bigots, the Pandits. Although in the past, too, Pandits’ exodus occurred from Kashmir valley but that of 1990 hurts most as it occurred in independent India,” rued Pandit.
Taking quite an unambiguous stance on violence in Kashmir, Pandit said, “One cannot blame the local populace for the unrest in the valley as this situation has arisen solely due to our own acts of omission and commission that gave a fillip to separatist tendency. Our political system for unknown reasons has bend backwards to accommodate separatist mindset, so why wouldn’t Kashmiri people try to usurp more and more by unleashing violence.” This has been the key to radicalisation of thought process in Kashmir valley as Pandit accused Indian leaders of “buckling under pressure tactics of Islamic radicals who are ought to destroy the culture and what Kashmir once stood for.”
Pandit added, “Kashmir has been in existence from centuries with no change in its nomenclature. But things worsened when the elite ignored conversion of lower class during the reign of Shams-ud-Din Shah Mir (1339-1342) and since then clock turned back on prosperous Kashmir that was known for Shardapeeth wherein flourished the careers of Adi Shankaracharya, Abhinav Gupt, Panini, to name a few. Apart from that, the very same Kashmir also saw birth of Mahayana Buddhism that later spread into South East Asia.
Hence, the assault on Kashmir is a well calculated game plan to destroy the place that brought academic and in turn economic prosperity to India, Pandit averred. In his about two hours speech dotted with accurate references to dates at times to his own inference, Pandit was unsparing on freedom movement leaders particularly that of Congress for current mess of Kashmir. More particularly, the demeanor of Pt Nehru in dealing with Maharaja Hari Singh in time of crisis in Kashmir is responsible for the sorry state of affairs in Kashmir valley. Pandit also dwelled on partition tracing the history and said, “Beyond non-violence, mutiny among ranks of Indian Armed Forces in the aftermath of trial of Indian National Army officers for waging war against British India forced British hand independence to India.” “Unless Article 370 and Article 35-A are not scrapped, normalcy cannot return to Jammu & Kashmir,” concluded Pandit.