“If ‘Jihad’ is so sacred, why separatists have sent their children to Mumbai, Bangalore or abroad”
STATE TIMES NEWS
New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday raised questions over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks about ‘insaniyat’, ‘jamhooriyat’ and ‘Kashmiriyat’ and said appeal should go out to Kashmiris from the “heart” rather than “lips” only to enable “integration of minds and heart”.
As the Rajya Sabha took up a discussion on the prevailing situation in Kashmir, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad pitched for sending an all-party delegation to the valley besides an appeal by Parliament for end to violence which is being witnessed there for the last 33 days.
Initiating the discussion, Azad said criticised the Prime Minister for his “delayed” comments on the Kashmir situation and said even those were made at a rally in Madhya Pradesh rather than in Parliament.
“We are discussing the Kashmir issue for the fourth time.
The Prime Minister should come. The Prime Minister chose Madhya Pradesh to speak on Kashmir. He did not come to this House,” he said, adding “Since when has Madhya Pradesh become the capital of the country?”
Azad took a swipe on Modi regarding his statement on ‘Insaniyat (humanity), Jamhooriyat (democracy) and Kashmriyat, saying such statements only suited former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
“Such words sound weird if it comes from someone who does not believe in them,” he said.
Referring to the oft-repeated assertion that “Kashmir is integral part of India”, Azad said there should also be “integration of minds and hearts”.
“If it comes from the heart, it will reach Kashmir. It is mere lip-service and hence will not reach Kashmir,” he said.
Azad said violence has increased in the valley ever since BJP has come to power in alliance with PDP, remarks which triggered a brief uproar as ruling party members reacted sharply.
As members of the treasury benches objected to it leading to an uproar, Finance Minister and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley said the situation in Kashmir is “sensitive” and “therefore it is imperative, as far as possible, we speak in one voice”.
He urged members from all sides not to touch historical issues where “we have difference of opinion.. This is not the occasion to discuss those issues.. Members should speak from the national point of view.
Attacking Kashmiri separatist leaders for instigating youth to lay down their lives in the name of ‘Jihad’, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh questioned why did they not show their children the “way to ‘Jannat” but send them to safe havens.
“If ‘Jihad’ is so sacred and guarantees a place in ‘Jannat’ then why the separatists have sent their children to places like Mumbai and Bangalore or abroad. Children are getting killed (in Kashmir). Most of the children killed belong to the poorest of the poor sections. Those who have motivated such children in the name of ‘Jihad’ have their children in India’s metros and safe havens,” Singh said.
Rejecting popular perception that the Kashmiri youth is misguided and harboured anti-India sentiments and should be debarred from access to internet, Singh said “the youth of Kashmir wants to be the beneficiary of India’s success story.
I am not sure whether to debar them …Let them get exposed” to internet and Facebook.
“Time has come to rise above politics and face inconvenient truth …Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and whatever be the relationship …In 1994 Congress unanimously resolved it… The matter ended there.”
He said the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir says it is an integral part of India. “The point is that every nation at some point of time has drawn a bottom line as to so far and not more,” he said, adding “the problem with India is we do not close chapters…We dig dead bodies as per convenience.” “Do we need another resolution after that of 1994…”, he said and demanded whom should India talk to and quoted former Prime Minsiter Indira Gandhi that “you cannot shake hands with clench fists.”
Taking on the opposition parties blaming the BJP, he said “again and again it is being told that with BJP’s entry, nothing has been right. … We have to rise above party politics. … Till July 7, tourism was doing well. If BJP has to be blamed, why didn’t we have any issue in the last 1.5 years?”
He took a jibe at Congress saying if Congress enters into coalition it is right and it is wrong if BJP does it.
On the demand for an all-party meet, he said it sounded “good academically” but took a dig at Congress saying when Home Minister was in Srinagar last month, Congress leaders did not come to meet him despite several messages.
“Why did you not meet,” he sought to know and also said “We can talk to Hurriyat…but whom to talk?”
On Kashmiri Pandits, Singh said when there is a talk of stakeholders “Kashmiri Pandits living outside are equal stakeholders of Kashmir. Can we have Kashmir without Kashmiri Pandits? They were driven out and it is alleged that they left on their own. They are stakeholders…so are the people from Jammu…Ladakh”.
“I would just sound a note of warning…If we fall to the temptation of using the bogey of terrorism to settle scores with political adversaries…we may ourselves succumb to that …That has happened. Need of the hour is political honesty before political approach and not to do or say anything that tends to demoralise the security forces of India….because of the security forces J&K is showing semblance of normalcy. We are proud of them,” the Minister said.
To this, the Leader of the Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “No minister can warn the House…He could caution”.
Shamsher Singh Manhas, a BJP member from Jammu and Kashmir, criticised Azad, saying instead of talking about the real problems of Kashmir, he spent most of his time on criticising the Prime Minister.
Referring to the contention that the trouble in Kashmir is because of unemployment, Manhas said youth in Jammu and Ladakh, two other regions of the state, are also unemployed but they have not picked up guns and raised anti-India slogans.
“Jammu shares 500 km border with Pakistan. Everyday Pakistan does one or the other thing. …55 per cent of population of the state lives in Jammu. More than 7 lakh youth are unemployed. Could they not have picked up the gun? Could not they have raised anti-India slogans? There is a difference between nationalism and separatism,” he said.
Manhas said the same was true for Ladakh region.
“Entire Kashmir is not in turmoil. You have Gujjars…..
they are living peacefully. Separatists are creating entire turmoil. …Handful of people are working on behest of separatists. Kashmir is not burning,” he said.
He also questioned Azad as to why people who came from West Pakistan in 1947 have not been given citizenship of India even though Congress ruled the country for nearly 55 years.
In an emotional speech, Nazir Ahmed Laway (J&K PDP) said there was a need to analyse why there was no violence and protests before 1987. “The more we delay this issue (Kashmir violence and protests), the more difficult it will be to find a solution,” he added.
Laway said a better approach would have been that an all-party delegation should have visited AIIMS to meet the children injured during the Kashmir violence admitted there.
Terming the turmoil in Kashmir as not only a “Kashmiri tragedy but a national tragedy”, Karan Singh (Cong) asserted “we have to introspect why thousands of young people embark on this path that brings death and destruction. Why are the youth, barely aged 18, out of their houses? What is the psyche of Kashmir? Why are they motivated? Why has the situation has gone sky high?”
Stressing that there is “no magic wand” to solve the complex problem, Singh said India insisted that J&K is its integral part, but it should not be forgotten that when Kashmir signed accession to India, it was for 84,000 sq miles while the present area was barely 42,000 sq miles as vast land was alienated to China besides the Pak-occupied territory.
“If you won’t talk, you accept what they got…It is not a mature response…We ought to keep the dialogue going. We say it is internal…It is our simplification”, Singh said, adding “Government of India has to bite the bullet at some point and clinch it.”
Besides “insaniyat (humanity), jamhooriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat”, “Jammuiat and Ladakhiat” should also be taken care of as the two regions cannot be brushed aside, he said.
Singh said so far many commissions have been constituted on Kashmir with various recommendations and he was not raising the issues to “score political point” but to bring all heads together, as Kashmir problem has to be addressed in an integrated manner given its complexity.
“It is not only economic problem, there is political problem …only financial package cannot solve the complex political problem…There is widespread alienation of youth …You have got to take concrete steps,” he said, adding that before the government sends an all-party team to Kashmir, a wide spectrum of issues should be discussed.
He said an Empowered Group should be there that can take decisions as it is a political, economic and human problem and “something needs to be done immediately to douse the fire which is devouring the beautiful Valley.”
Singh said there was a broad consensus among parties that the situation has deteriorated in the Valley with more people dying and the toll reaching 60 with thousands injured and about 200 blinded
