Geopolitical Analysis

The Asian Age (India) published the following letter in its issue of 24th June 2005, by K.N. Pandita

Sir, With reference to Farzana Versey’s letter Ominous Signs (June 20), I am the one who had written the letter to the JKLF in 1989 to which Aditya Rangroo has alluded in Homeless Pandits (June 18). The ground realities unfolded by 15 years of

externally supported and abetted terrorism in Kashmir leading to the selective killing of nearly a thousand members of the Kashmiri Pandits during the initial days when KLF (later on JKLF) raised religious slogans, have convinced the whole world that Kashmir terrorism is integral to the Wahhabi ideological movement. In fact, OIC has given the status of an observer to the religion-based secessionist Hurriyat and not to any popular group from Kashmir just because Pakistan pleaded that Kashmir is the unfinished task of partition. In pursuance of the above ideological goal, Kashmiri terrorists would not like missing the opportunity of taking on even the President of Pakistan who is also from the Army. The story of governor Jagmohan’s logistical support to the exodus of the Pandits is the old canard which even the most virulent of his opponents, namely Dr Farooq Abdullah, also contradicted, albeit later. The works of public welfare which Mr Jagmohan did for Kashmir during his tenure endeared him to the masses in Kashmir to the extent that Muslim women in Srinagar sang his praises as part of contemporary folklore (wanwun). Of course, while dealing with the anti-national elements, he saw that the law of the land reigned supreme. If anyone in Kashmir had a strong clout in the Indian ruling apparatus, it were the stalwarts of the Kashmir political platform like Sheikh Abdullah, Bakshi Ghulam Muhammad, G.M. Sadiq, Mir Qasim, Dr Farooq Abdullah and Mufti Muhammad Sayeed who enjoyed the best of both worlds. If the Pandits had any say, neither Article 370 would be there nor the fatal status quo clause in the Simla Agreement. And thus the Kashmir issue would have been non-existent. Finally, the successful ethnic cleansing of Pandits from Kashmir and the acceptance of Kashmir’s covert theocratic status by the “secular” Indian Union leave no chance for the small religious minority of the Pandits to have any political space in Kashmir.