Come now to the second TV show titled 'We The People'. A female assistant professor in Kashmir University believed that the recent bomb blast on October 1 was the deed of the Government of India itself!! She repeatedly broke into short outbursts against Delhi, accusing it of constantly terrorising the Kashmiris and averred that the youth of the state had taken to the gun because of that. It was a harangue that warranted an immediate charge of sedition. But it went unchallenged by the compere, Barkha Dutt, as well as by all in the audience except a solitary person.
Although an Opposition member of the present legislature, he spiritedly defended the national security forces and listed the developmental achievements of the ruling government. Soon, however, he digressed into how the root of the present terrorism in J&K was in the way Sheikh Abdullah, whom he dubbed "the great secularist", was jailed and how the state's autonomy had been eroded by Delhi over the years.
This diversion too went uncontested because, once again, neither the compere nor the "expert" panel nor the audience knew the whole truth about Sheikh Abdullah's incarceration.
That truth, as stated by Dr Anand in his book comprises the following facts:
- Though the 1952 Delhi Agreement with Sheikh Abdullah's J&K government provided several concessions, including a separate flag, for giving J&K maximum autonomy while expecting the state to discharge its obligations as a unit of the federation of India, the implementation of its hard core was not forthcoming. This aroused suspicion in the minds of the public. There was a serious rift in Abdullah's Cabinet itself.
The differences reached a peak when Abdullah started advocating secession that would make J&K an independent state. Abdullah was accused both by his colleagues in the Cabinet and the public outside of trying to create a state for himself. Taking cognisance of all this, the Sadar-i-Riyasat dismissed Abdullah from his post of prime minister of J&K and had him detained on August 9, 1953, under the State Preventive Detention Act. He was released in January 1958, but rearrested in April that year for making inflammatory speeches.
- In the Kashmir Conspiracy Case, Sheikh Abdullah and 25 others, 10 of whom were in hiding in Pakistan, were charged with conspiracy to "overawe by force and show of force the duly constituted government of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, with the object of overthrowing it and facilitating annexation of the State's territory by Pakistan". The final charges were brought against Abdullah and the others on August 31, 1962. The case was then committed for trial by the special sessions court, Jammu. The first prosecution witness gave his evidence on September 19. The entire case came to an abrupt end. Sheikh Abdullah and the other arrested persons were released. Everybody knows that it was Nehru who brought about that release.
It was during the years that Sheikh Abdullah was in jail that the state's Constituent Assembly enacted a constitution that made J&K the most autonomous state in the Union of India. It retains that status even today. And remember that whatever parliamentary laws and provisions of the Indian Constitution were made applicable to it from May 1950 have had, as required under Article 370, either the prior concurrence of the state government or were made in consultation with the latter -- even after Sheikh Abdullah returned to power in February 1975. Where then is the question of his imprisonment and the alleged erosion of autonomy being the causes of terrorism in J&K since 1989?
To all who are truly honest and have done their homework, the conclusions would be clear that --
- The terrorists trained by Pakistan (with American aid) to oust the invading Soviets from Afghanistan became jobless after that mission ended in 1988-89 and were therefore released into J&K for yet another jihad -- this time against the kafir Indians.
- Because successive state governments' overall performance has been pathetic, terrorism in J&K has continued and proliferated from that direct or indirect abetment.
- The Government of India has used kid gloves in dealing with the state government.
- Delhi is still living the legacy of the Mahatma's ahimsa in dealing with terrorists and Pakistan.
- Delhi has failed miserably in effectively communicating the nation's case on J&K both internally and externally.
All of the above can be set right soon enough if only Vajpayee uses verve and virility, instead of perpetually blinking his eyes, jerking his head and raising his hand.