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Editor's Note:
The writer, Mr. I. Hussain Janjua is a senior media professional and analyst having experience of research & broadcast journalism in different organisations. He is a non-resident fellow of Chengdu Institute of World Affairs (CIWA). (Email: [email protected]; twitter: @ihussainjanjua)
In a powerful and passionate interview with frequent flashes of anger and displays of emotion, former Chief Minister of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK) and Lok Sabha MP Farooq Abdullah has said that at this moment the Kashmiri people do not feel and do not want to be Indian. He even went so far as to say that they would rather be ruled by Chinese, a point he reiterated when he was asked if he really meant.
He is one of the most prominent ‘pro-India’ faces in disputed Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) noting a distinct sense of betrayal who was interviewed by The Wire. “Well, to be honest, I wonder whether they’ll find someone who’ll call himself an Indian today. What they did, it was already difficult, but what they did on 5th of August last year, was the last stone – nail in the coffin of India,” said the former Chief Minister.
Abdullah said it was complete rubbish for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to claim that the people of Kashmir have accepted the August 2019 changes just because there have been no protests, adding if the soldiers on every street and Section 144 were to be lifted, people will come out in their tens of lakhs. He further said the new domicile law was intended to flood the Valley with Hindus and create a Hindu majority --- yet another cause of Kashmiris bitterness.
He said they had no trust in the Central government. The trust that once bound Kashmir to the rest of the country has completely snapped, he added. But the Central government and, in particular, Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he said they were deeply disillusioned. The militancy has not gone down by 50 percent as encounters are taking place even at the center of Kashmir, in Srinagar too.
He continued, we are not alone. The Gupkar declaration brought in all the parties together; it has revived our image in the eyes of people, that we are not slaves and servants of the Government of India. That we stand by our principles and we will continue to stand by our principles and live by our principles.
“They made us to look like traitors in the eyes of Indians, 1.3 billion people, they make us look like traitors. We are not the traitors, it is they who are the traitors! Who destroyed the very love for this land? They are the ones who have driven us in the corner,” Farooq Abdullah was quite vociferous.
They start thinking was Jinnah right, or was Sheikh Abdullah right? That we cannot live together, we have to have a separate land, that’s what Jinnah said. When Jinnah was even offered, by Gandhi, the prime minister ship, he said no, you give me the prime minister ship but your majority can throw me out anytime. Today they started thinking on that point also – was he right, or was Abdullah right to join this nation which had promised that everyone is equal?
The extremist sentiments of the Indian leadership, largely due to the chaos and disturbances created within India itself, are destabilizing and weakening India itself with each passing day.
This growing confusion and uncertainty being created by India along with its stubborn attitude towards its neighbors particularly the Line of Control in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir reflects that by keeping the Line of Control warm, India is trying to divert the world's focus from the oppression and state terrorism against the innocent Kashmiris at the hands of its forces in the occupied valley.
Since the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status on August 5 last year, nearly one million occupation troops are engaged in the worst kind of human rights violations making the lives of the local population more miserable that have shaken the world.
While the Citizenship Act was a "self-inflicted goal" which has "isolated" India and resulted in the country being bracketed as an "intolerant" state. "India has isolated itself through the move and the list of critical voices in the international community is also pretty long now. Perception of India has changed in the last few months.
The Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory and it is on the agenda of United Nations Security Council since long and interestingly New Delhi itself had knocked at the door of UNSC in early 1948 and had promised the Kashmiris a free and fair plebiscite for their right to self-determination. But till today the Kashmiris have been denied their right and now the fascist Modi government has resorted to inhuman acts to deprive them of their inalienable right.
However, the totalitarian Indian government amid growing restlessness among Kashmiris and their increasing hatred for India must realize and learn from history that it cannot hold on the Kashmiris from the destined right.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
