With flood waters receding in Kashmir, Geelani and company will flood the Indian Armed Forces with allegations and accusations to undermine their great effort in rescue operations. No wonder, today’s heroes will end up as tomorrow’s villains.
BLUNT BUTCHER
JAMMU: Kashmir floods have taken toll of chronic separatists and secessionists, who seem to be nowhere at this hour of crisis when people are craving for help, which is coming only from the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and the National Disaster Response Force. There is no trace of hardcore and omnipresent Syed Ali Geelani, Yasin Malik, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Shabir Shah and all those supremos and commanders, who treat themselves as Messiahs of Kashmiris. They have gone into hibernation, as there is no issue to harp on in the marooned Valley. Miseries of people due to natural calamity are none of their concerns, as they feel vicarious pleasure only when guns roar and gun powder of Pakistan gets exploded. This gives them opportunity to blame the Indian Forces and to cry hoarse over the so-called human rights violations.
The self-imposed disappearance of Geelani and company is understandable. They are caught in a catch-22 situation with flood sufferers of the posh Srinagar colonies reposing their trust in multiple Indian forces, working round the clock to shift them to safer places, provide medicines and food besides lodging them in make shift accommodations. The scenario is being viewed around the world with curiosity. The foreign media is beaming the pictures of soldiers risking their lives to save Kashmiris, who are caught in history’s worst floods. The natural calamity has rendered the separatists issue-less. Since they can’t praise the army for their relentless service, they can’t oppose them either, given the job the army is doing. They can only draw strategies how to negate the impact and to project today’s heroes as tomorrow’s villains. This is not a difficult task for those who have perfected themselves during the past five and half decades in shifting the blame and painting the armed forces in dark. Let the situation ease out; Geelani, Mirwaiz and their ilk will recreate a scenario where in the Army will be held responsible for all the wrongs committed by those who raised their hands up and shrugged their shoulders on the face of colossal calamity. The secessionists and even some mainstream actors will certainly flood the army with accusations and allegations. It is only a matter of time. Kashmir has seen it earlier and will witness such wickedness in future as well.
Same is true about mainstream politicians. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been critically miser in acknowledging the Herculean task of the multiple forces in rescue operations. He has also given a lever into the hands of his opponents by making certain comments with regard to the response of people to flood-warnings and undertaking relief operations, thus making his government as target of criticism. People’s Democratic Party supremo, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, who is waiting in his wings to rule the State, is feeling shy of crediting the forces for their great effort. No wonder, NC and PDP will join their resources and raise their pitch, soon after water recedes, to seek revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Both these parties have been selfish enough in seeking removal of the army’s footprints, notwithstanding the fact that they (the security forces) made their return to the Valley possible from forced migration to plains across the country due to terror threat. Ironically, they returned back as masters and behaved like super-secessionists. The people have not forgotten how PDP worked overtime during 2008 Amarnath land row agitation and incited Kashmiris against Jammu. The party was instrumental in giving new lease to anti-India sentiment in the Valley.
In such a grim situation, credit must go to Ghulam Nabi Azad for calling spade a spade. Rising above petty party politics, he was the first opposition leader, not only in Kashmir but across the entire country, who praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for getting things moved immediately after visiting the Valley and offering support to Pakistan for the flood-affected parts of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). He demonstrated high degree of political acumen by saying, “I am happy that our Prime Minister has shown statesmanship by offering support to PoK.” Ghulam Nabi Azad went on saying “Keeping in view the magnitude of the devastation, we will need huge amount of funds from the government to reconstruct infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir. I am happy that our Prime Minister has sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore for relief work and hope that he provides much more for relief in the State.” Kashmir floods have exposed the self-proclaimed Messihas of the people.