How much longer can this government be allowed to escape blame and responsibility on the excuse of what should have been done in the past?Problem is, this should have done in early 90s itself. We did let this situation grow into what it is today ourself. As of today, doing anything like this would blow the whole thing out of proportion. Its not like govt didn't knew about this earlier. But as I said earlier, to do anything like this you have to first cutoff their public backing. First you have to kill the sympathy and support which they have garnered since long from the Kashmiri people. Once that's been done, you could quietly erase them and there would be no public outcry.
Problem is not that simple.What has this administration done to deal with these pests? If you think these 'exposes' are going to make any real difference, you are kidding yourself.
These are externally sponsored thugs who enjoy life little but vocal support. Among those that support them, such exposes mean nothing and for the rest, it doesn'tmatter anyway.
The question is whether this GoI is going to continue it's weak stance of being blackmailed or do something that matters.
the pattern being................?!Please follow the pattern folks.
Muhammad Yasin Malik, Chairman JKLF is a very strange and intriguing character. In fact, I find him the most interesting to study and he epitomizes the character of Kashmiris – confused, guileful, opportunist, emotional, brave, cautious and full of tantrums.As a militant commander he rose above the ranks of others despite his shortcomings in formal education and disadvantaged family background.
He survived many splits within his party as well as militant threats and fully established himself and his JKLF – partly because of the tacit support of the Indian establishment and security agencies. He is the only Kashmiri separatist who has pockets of support within the intelligence agencies of both India and Pakistan and now he is courting Americans with the blessings from both India and Pakistan.
Yasin Malik is a great survivor. He surrendered in the early 1990s and gave hundreds of JKLF arms and ammunition to the Indian forces which raised the Special Operations Group (SOG) from that using the same arms to kill fellow militants, some from his own group. Yet he called it a cease-fire and got away with it at a time when surrender meant sure death from separatist militants.
Then he established a network of informers for the Indian security agencies to overcome the influence of Hizbul Mujahideen and Jamiatul Mujahideen, particularly in the Srinagar district. Despite the Hizb’s opposition to him, he not only survived but surged ahead. Later, he established direct contact with Indian Prime Ministers – Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh – both clandestinely and openly and when the news was out, he managed it very well. He had very good contacts with Indian leaders Rajesh Pilot and George Fernandes as well.
Last year, when the trans-Kashmir bus service was inaugurated and Pakistan’s then Information Minister Sheikh Rashid was planning to visit his ancestral family in Kashmir, Yasin Malik betrayed Sheikh Rashid and said publicly that he offered help and shelter to the Kashmiri militants. As a result, Rashid was refused visa. There are reports which suggest that Yasin Malik spilled the beans at the behest of Indian intelligence, as they were not happy for Sheikh Rashid to come being certain that he would have received an overwhelming public reception, undermining the Indian position in Kashmir.
More recently, Yasin Malik courted a bigger controversy in Washington when he and Ghulam Nabi Fai of Kashmiri American Council openly supported the Indian position on Kashmir by opposing the right of self-determination. This was so-far Yasin’s biggest shift and that too in public. Despite huge outcry, he seems to have survived it though Fai’s appeal for both Kashmiri separatists and the Pakistani establishment has eroded. Yasin Malik has ever since refused to comment on the Washington Conference, but Afzal Guru’s death sentence seems to have provided him with a new opportunity to divert public attention and use the occasion to his maximum advantage like other Kashmiri politicians from all persuasions.
Yasin Malik is intelligent as well. Despite not being much educated, he speaks good English and has studied immensely to develop a good understanding about the situation around him. After the return from his first visit to the US in 2001, he lied to the Hurriyat leaders in Srinagar to have met with Condolezza Rice, now Foreign Secretary to seek concessions.
He is a ‘drama queen’ too, throwing tantrums every now and then to seek sympathy and secure attention. Some people believe that he is an incarnation of the legendary Sheikh Abdullah though on a much smaller scale. Despite all this, Yasin Malik is still uncontrollable at times and loses his temper. On one occasion he assaulted his fellow Hurriyat leader Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat during a Hurriyat session. He also attacked popular weekly ‘Chattan’ for publishing an article against him and destroyed its office. He is known for his bad language – he swears and smokes regularly despite a heart condition.
He has tremendous support within the Indian establishment. Currently he is close to Ghulam Nabi Fai who is busy to sell ‘an American solution’ to Kashmiris that is without self-determination.
Yasin Malik comes from Maisuma in the heart of Srinagar’s Lal Chowk – a place that has seen umpteen upheavals and is witness to the tumultuous history of Kashmir.
This interview was conducted at his Maisuma residence in May this year.
How do you view the current situation in Kashmir? The situation is pretty bad. In fact, there is no improvement as claimed by both India and Pakistan. The Kashmiri people are suffering as usual.
If nothing has changed as you say, why are you supporting this ‘peace process’ between India and Pakistan? Well we have to move forward. If we do not work towards peace, Kashmir can slide into another Iraq and we could become the breeding ground for Al-Qaeda terrorists and other fundamentalist Islamic forces.
Who is a bigger threat to Kashmiris – India or what you call Islamic fundamentalist forces? I personally think Islamic fundamentalism is a bigger threat, though many may not agree with me.
And why is it so?
You can talk to India, negotiate with it, but not with the fundamentalism.
The Second Round Table Conference is a few days away and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited all the Kashmiris. Are you attending it?
No, I am not attending it as this is not going to solve any problems.
Isn’t it strange that you meet the Indian Prime Minister one to one in New Delhi, but not in the Round Table Conference which at least has some agenda. What kind of message does that give to Kashmiris?
Well as I said it is not the right time and therefore I don’t think I should go.
Does that mean you support the point of view of Syed Ali Geelani who says that all such exercises are useless?
I didn’t say that. All I say is that I don’t think this round table business will help anyway. When I feel something is helpful for the Kashmiris and our cause, I will certainly support it and participate in it.
Earlier you said that the present India – Pakistan Peace Process has not helped Kashmiris, but still you support it?
Listen! I said it has not helped, but I also said that such things are important to break the ice or we will further slide into chaos.
I have noticed something very strange about you. You have many cases of killings registered against you and yet India is very lenient with you allowing you to move freely within India and abroad all the time?
They realize that they can not put me behind bars all the time. They have tried it previously many a time, but failed.
Sorry am I missing anything here? You are free to go anywhere in the world you like, but Syed Ali Shah Geelani can’t even move within Kashmir. He is more influential than you and a more senior politician; why is India doing this?
I don’t know. May be they think Geelani sahib is a fundamentalist and they don’t like that.
So in other words you are saying that the Indian government likes you?
I don’t know, I didn’t say that.
I find it strange, because it was your organization JKLF that killed most of the innocent Kashmiri Pandits and yet the blame goes to the so-called fundamentalists.
[No answer]
What do you say about the brutal killings of the Pandits? They were all innocent.
What can I say…. that is a dark phase of our history when everybody was killing each other. It was never our policy to kill Pandits. But some of our boys thought they were legitimate targets because they were pro-Indian and perceived as conspiring against the majority community.
You are saying that you never killed any Pandits?
Of course not.
But I have heard that as JKLF Chief Commander you ordered such killings?
That is simply not true.
So who killed them?
I don’t know.
But you are responsible for such killings as Chief Commander?
No I am not… and I don’t want to talk about it further.
Okay let us talk about the killings of the Indian Air Force men. You have a case registered in this regard.
I said that I don’t want to talk about it. I am no more a militant. In fact I left the gun soon after and now I believe in non-violence. I am following Gandhi and he is my inspiration.
Does that mean you are against the militant struggle in Kashmir?
Well I don’t believe in it and that is all I want to say. What other people want to do is their business.
Recently another faction of JKLF was launched by Javaid Mir; how many factions has JKLF now got?
You should ask that to Kashmiris as to how many JKLFs do they recognize. You will get the answer.
There is a lot of dissatisfaction among Kashmiris against the so-called separatist leadership. What is your opinion?
Well I think people are angry against them for not being able to do anything. In addition, they believe that these leaders have amassed wealth which is partly true as well. The people are not happy about that.
Many people have the same opinion about you as well. When you went to Pakistan after the earthquake last year, you claimed to have taken one crore rupees with you for the relief work. Where did that money come from?
People donated it to me for the relief operations.
Who are those people? I heard reports that the money came from Indian agencies.
That is not true. This is propaganda launched by these fundamentalists and Jamaatis.
Interview Source : Kashmir Affiars
Public opinion >>>> Court's observation. Something like how laws were changed post Nirbhaya.the pattern being................?!
truth spoken..............................................!Lesson being - It's not important whether you are right or wrong. What is important is how the narrative is built in the public. End of the day that decides a lot in how things shape up.
There is plenty the government can do. Has this government even tried to get these perks repealed? Not that I recall. It's not just courts but political patronage as well just as naxals in Chattisgarh.Problem is not that simple.
All the security & perks Hurriyat enjoys are not from govt but rather on orders of court. Yup, the J&K high court is in cahoots by insisting Hurriyat get the security. Not much govt can do after that.
This leaked expose provides govt with opportunity to handle this issue from a different angle, let's see what happens. We gave BJP 5 years and there are 2 years left of their term.
If they don't show results, they can't chest thump in their campaign in 2019, can they?
I agree with what you say. BJP may well do that and still get away with being elected to power in 2019.Don't be under the misapprehension that they will not chest beat in 2019. They'll do something similar to the surgical strikes before elections and then extract maximum political mileage from it. The fact that any action would be of no real consequence geo-politically is another matter.
pls take out some time later on and enumerate in brief some points on each in hereThey have performed way above expectations in some things AND
failed in some AND
in a lot things they border on being satisfactory.
When I vote in 2019, I will go with the cumulative efforts by BJP rather than on specific issues.
And if they hit Pakistan before elections in 2019 and win, I won't be complaining
I never argued for an one issue vote - that'd be silly for a country of our size. The point was that in the context we were discussing, that is dealing with separatist and the Kashmir issue in general, this government has done little of consequence.I agree with what you say. BJP may well do that and still get away with being elected to power in 2019.
Me, my vote for BJP does not revolve around one single issue.
They have performed way above expectations in some things AND
failed in some AND
in a lot things they border on being satisfactory.
When I vote in 2019, I will go with the cumulative efforts by BJP rather than on specific issues.
And if they hit Pakistan before elections in 2019 and win, I won't be complaining
After all, the worst BJP can be is neutral to Hindus, if not favor us. Where as other parties are blatantly anti-Hindu.
When the other parties are bent on shoving a spike down below us, I guess we don't have much choices, do we?except to mention that you should never allow any political party to take your vote for granted.
I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation- Students in Universities like JNU and JU are shouting Azadi for Kashmir- Retired Army Generals are criticizing a young Army Major for tying up that stone pelter to his Jeep- As If he didn't know about past when BSF and Army would open fire and kill 200-300 stone pelters in a single road clearing back in good old days(90s)- India came under lots of fire back then from International community- There was a resolution against us in UN- Today we have to deal with traitors among us and then outside world-How much longer can this government be allowed to escape blame and responsibility on the excuse of what should have been done in the past?
What has this administration done to deal with these pests? If you think these 'exposes' are going to make any real difference, you are kidding yourself.
These are externally sponsored thugs who enjoy life little but vocal support. Among those that support them, such exposes mean nothing and for the rest, it doesn'tmatter anyway.
The question is whether this GoI is going to continue it's weak stance of being blackmailed or do something that matters.
Absolutely.Its always have been, Kashmirirs are being fooled from early on ..
The situation is indeed grave. I might not understand the gravity as you seem to but I understand enough that the status quo or the current approach is untenable for long.I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation- Students in Universities like JNU and JU are shouting Azadi for Kashmir- Retired Army Generals are criticizing a young Army Major for tying up that stone pelter to his Jeep- As If he didn't know about past when BSF and Army would open fire and kill 200-300 stone pelters in a single road clearing back in good old days(90s)- India came under lots of fire back then from International community- There was a resolution against us in UN- Today we have to deal with traitors among us and then outside world-
Who is asking to put them behind bars? I was talking about something more permanent. Public at large doesn't care only special interests do.It is easy to pick up Hurriyat and other separatists slap charges and put them behind bars what do you think will happen ? They will become heroes, It has been tried many times in the past- The best thing is to make people suffer and expose these crooks, to the extent that Public is no longer interested in what happens to them or demand punishment for them which would be better-
You are deluding yourself if you believe you can shame these people and their genuine supporters.We have tried everything from imprisonment to supari killing to paying bribes to these goons- As the saying goes Sam, Dam, Dand- It has failed miserably- Repeating that would be insanity- What makes these leaders are their followers- Make them such that their followers are at loss of words when It comes to their defense- And court of law cannot save them-
Sure go ahead. All of this could have been done ages ago. Those is power aren't interested in such disclosures, perhaps they themselves have things to hide.I don't know what the Government is planning- But defaming these crooks and exposing them should be the way forward- Its better If NIA puts their bank details in Public on how much money they get from Pakistan and how much they spend on themselves and how little they pay to stone pelter gang leader- It is easy for NIA to do-
Propoganda not backed by force is meaningless. Look at history and wherever it's worked. There have to be consequences for those that do not fall for the propoganda, right now for our side in India, there is none.Then comes the cyber part- We have to create a Bot network with possibly every smart phone and computer as bot peer in the valley and even Jammu- Every Kashmiri phone, computer must be bugged and bombard them with anti-Pakistan, anti-Islam and anti-hurriyat propaganda- Regularly damage the cyber cell of Pakistan and LeT so much so that It becomes extremely expensive for them to continue on this path-
Yes I am aware. They are either brainwashed liberals or have other vested interests. They however, are not representative of the population at large.You would be surprised to know- Many Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu sympathies with these goons and they want India to give autonomy- These people were raped, butchered and thrown out of the valley-
I believe the court had ordered security to be provided to these Paki pimps. That's the problem.Let me ask you something in return, has the government taken back the security cover etc.?
Seems you have not followed entirely what I have said before. The sort of activity NIA is taking up right now or the sting operation is not something which is achieved overnight. You need tremendous amount of intelligence and government backing to do that. Why you think no such thing happened in past? Do you think past governments didn't knew about this? Its the willingness of the government which matters.@Chinmoy
There are many ways to eliminate threats, not just stringing them up on streets. Frankly, we should have made the move along with demonitization when the stone pelting and agitation had died down - as its frankly almost entirely paid. They have been successful because they have been dealt with kid gloves with politicians with vested interests just as Naxals in various parts of the country.
Its ridiculous that the standard has been set so low that not speaking to these people is considered as some sort of achievement for the present government. Let me ask you something in return, has the government taken back the security cover or medical benefits etc.?
I understand a lot of people here have been taken in with the excuse of 'countering the narrative'. To me, its a blatant excuse that allows governments to get away with doing very little.
Tell me, do these people only rely on a narrative or do they back it with force? Unless you make an example of few of these, nothing will change. Nothing works like fear. All your narrative change if any will be destroyed by violence.
Israel faces more backlash than any other nation. There have been more attempts at resolutions against them than any other nation. Fact is, after WWII and near extinction of their race, they realized that the only way to survive in this world was to stand up for themselves no matter what. We being so many in number perhaps have not understood what's at stake.
Anyway, I hope you are right and whatever the government is doing works as much as I think it won't.