{"id":1578,"date":"2013-08-23T09:24:30","date_gmt":"2013-08-23T03:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=1578"},"modified":"2013-08-23T09:27:58","modified_gmt":"2013-08-23T03:57:58","slug":"riots-in-kishtwar-a-historical-perspectibe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/editors-take\/riots-in-kishtwar-a-historical-perspectibe\/","title":{"rendered":"Riots in Kishtwar- A Historical Perspectibe"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>

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ABDUL MAJID ZARGAR<\/h4>\n

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If\u00a0 the Muslim Junior Home Minster\u00a0 of a Muslim Majority State, otherwise supposed to be under a thick cover of security, says that he was chased by a\u00a0 fifteen thousand strong armed mob and had to take shelter in a Government Dak Bunglow to escape\u00a0 a bid on his life or\u00a0 ordinary citizens are raped, killed & burnt alive or dragged from Police Stations and murdered in broad daylight, there is something seriously wrong with the whole system.
\nWe will have to ponder at this question in the context of recent communal clashes in Kishtwar. While the Central Govt. has admitted that Bajrang Dal, a\u00a0\u00a0 blackshirt\u00a0 member of the fascist Sangh Parivar, instigated & organized the clashes, the question is \u2013 how come these tyrannous\u00a0 organizations have travelled so far in J&K to make inroads in as serene & tranquil a place as Kishtwar?
\nProbably a look at the case history of our patient State will answer some facets of the broader question. In 1947\u00a0 when Abdullah supported an accession with India,\u00a0 the Praja Parishad and its RSS brigade wanted an Independent J&K under Maharaj\u2019s dispensation. In fact, on\u00a0 August 15, 1947, pro-Maharaja organizations like Hindu\u00a0 Sabha, Praja Parishad and RSS hoisted Maharaja\u2019s flags (state flags) in Jammu . They did not hoist Indian National Congress flags. And the banners in their areas of influence in\u00a0\u00a0 Jammu read- \u201cSovereign Independent Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Baltistan under Maharaja Hari Singh\u201d. In other words the parties supporting Maharaja, particularly the Hindu\u00a0 Sabha headed by Pandit Prem Nath Dogra & RSS were favoring independent Jammu and Kashmir under Dogra Dynastic rule and not an accession with India. Obviously these parties wanted J&K to continue as a Hindu State under a Dogra ruler than decide its own future\u00a0 in consonance with the principles of partition.
\nAnother item on the agenda of these fascist organizations was\u00a0 to change the demographic character of Jammu Province which was achieved by them with military precision. Five lac\u00a0 Muslims in Jammu province were systematically annihilated by these evil forces fully armed by State under the direct supervision & control Of Maharaja Hari Singh and his State Forces\u00a0 aided & abetted by State\u2019s top Executives like Prime Minster Mehr Chand Mahajan & Jammu Governor Chet Ram Chopra to convert it from a 61% Muslim Majority province to 38% Muslim Minority\u00a0 area. Hindu fanatics from neighboring areas like Madhopur & Gurdaspur belt joined this pogrom which even Mahtama Gandhi has acknowledged\u00a0 in his regular public discourses. And after achieving this nefarious objective, these wicked forces foisted a communal identity on Jammu making\u00a0 it a laboratory for experimentation of Hindutva policies which is continuing till date.
\nThough a part of the Muslim annihilation pogrom took place under the very nose of Sheikh Abdullah, during his tenure as chief Emergency administrator, he dithered in taking\u00a0 action against those responsible. While the reasons for his abdication of authority\u00a0 is a matter of separate debate, the inertia continued even after he became\u00a0 Prime Minster in March 1948, though comparable precedents in the form of State action against Nizam\u2019s Razakars (Nizam\u2019s private Militia) on similar grounds were available in abundance. If Abdullah wanted to buy peace with these forces, he was badly mistaken, as they soon organized themselves under\u00a0 Sham Prasad Mukerjee and started an agitation- which culminated in his overthrow & arrest. The culture of impunity, as we witness today, actually started\u00a0 from that point of time and is a direct outcome of the State\u2019s inaction\u00a0 against those responsible for genocide of innocent Muslims.
\nWhen we look at the recent incidents at Kishtwar and the earlier one in Rajouri (When Tagodia instigated a riot) and also the communal flare-up in Jammu\u00a0 during Amarnath Land row in the light of these historical facts, we observe\u00a0 a continuing similarity in pattern. In the specific context of Kishtwar, firstly it is the State which,\u00a0 during Governor\u2019s rule in 1995,\u00a0 armed communal fanatics under the name & style of Village defense Committees. They have been licensed to harass, kill & rape with impunity guaranteed. That criminal fanatics from neighboring areas join these armed goons was in evidence during all the\u00a0 above three incidents. Even economic boycott against Kashmir in 2008 was supervised by communal fanatics from Madhopur\/Gurdaspur belt\u00a0 and among them was a\u00a0 sitting MLA from Punjab. Probably it goes to the credit of State Government that this time the borders at Lakhanpur were sealed to restrict their\u00a0 entry into State in hordes. But how far this was successful is another question. Thirdly and the most importantly is the\u00a0 lack of action against the culprits. During Amarnath land row we have witnessed States non-action against people who burnt\u00a0 properties of Muslims in Jammu, lynched Muslim policemen to death, harassed & injured scores of Kashmiri\u00a0 truck drivers (and even killed one)\u00a0 plying their vehicles on Jammu-Srinagar Highway. One of the members of the same evil brigade served a notice on Muslims to vacate Jammu\u00a0 but is still being treated as an honorable citizen of State. In Kishtwar a\u00a0 goon\u00a0\u00a0 wearing the mask of secretary of a political party is on prowl to instigate riots and harass Muslims but is roaming free. The irony is that he is provided with State security funded by your & my tax money. There are countless other instances to prove State\u2019s total non-action against these culprits-\u00a0 but suffice it to say that\u00a0 the culture of impunity for such elements continues-
\nSo let the state, as a first step disband these so-called village defense committees and instill confidence among the people of all faiths in Kishtwar\u00a0 through normal policing. The next step should be to repeat the exercise in Pooch\/Rajouri belt. Failing this it will be very difficult for\u00a0 J&K to survive as a composite State – and if that happens-it will also trigger balkanization of India itself-Let there be no doubt about it.
\n(The author is a practicing chartered Accountant. Feed back at \u00a0 abdulmajidzargar@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Published in Greater Kashmir 23-8-13<\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 
\n 
\nABDUL MAJID ZARGAR
\n 
\nIf\u00a0 the Muslim Junior Home Minster\u00a0 of a Muslim Majority State, otherwise supposed to be under a thick cover of security, says that he was chased by a\u00a0 fifteen thousand strong armed mob and had to take shelter in a Government Dak Bunglow to escape\u00a0 a bid on his life or\u00a0 ordinary citizens are raped, killed & burnt alive or dragged from Police Stations and murdered in broad daylight, there is something seriously wrong with the whole system.
\nWe will have to ponder at this question in the context of recent communal clashes in Kishtwar. While the Central Govt. has admitted that Bajrang Dal, a\u00a0\u00a0 blackshirt\u00a0 member of the fascist Sangh Parivar, instigated & organized the clashes, the question is \u2013 how come these tyrannous\u00a0 organizations have travelled so far in J&K to make inroads in as serene & tranquil a place as Kishtwar?
\nProbably a look at the case …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[169,168,167],"class_list":["post-1578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-take","tag-communal-riots-in-kashmir","tag-kashmir-abddul-majid-zargar","tag-kishtwar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1578"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1580,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578\/revisions\/1580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}