Points Which Can Be Added In Speech

Kashmir, a heaven on earth; an abode of saints and host of numerous

religions, has been eyed covetously by foreign powers since ages and
has been subjected to a number of foreign invasions. The recent attempt
buy a neighbouring country (Pakistan) to subjugate the region through a
militancy and terrorism aided proxy war is yet another form of invasion.

While earlier invasions were aimed at securing trade or geography, the

latest one is targeted at the minds of the people. The sole purpose is to
engineer a blood bath that instills fear and breaks the will to resist.
Almost three generations of Kashmir have suffered this onslaught, yet
the objective of the cruel agitation and unmitigated violence has not
been achieved. The people of Kashmir have refused to let go their age
old peace loving, enlightened civilization.

At the outset of this horrendous phase, Kashmiri Pandits, who had

coexisted with the Muslim counterparts in the Kashmir Valley for
millenniums were forced to leave their home and hearth on the point of a
gun. Immediately after the successful engineering of this exodus,
attention was focused on to destroying the Kashmiri culture! Intellectuals
were killed, media house were attacked and an enormous number of
sane voices were silenced. Yet, terrorism failed to create any tectonic
shift in the mi ..

This raises a question about the outcome of militancy in Kashmir – has it

brought in its wake the liberation that is promised to the Kashmiri people
or has it been rejected as an unwanted foreign belief?

Mass massacre and wanton bloodshed has, so far, proved beneficial for
a certain group of leaders only. Time will prove that those who claim
militancy as a source to highlight Kashmir issue at international level are
the real criminals of Kashmir people. In the last two and a half decades
of militancy, the people have moved away from the original agenda of
the Kashmir movement. Instead, due to indiscriminate killing, the very
fabric of Kashmiri society that had religious equality and saintly
teachings as the threads has been destroyed. Slowly, Kashmir has lost
its value in the international market and global audience.
The ‘Two Nation Theory’ which was the very basis of creation of India
and Pakistan out of British India has fallen apart, all thanks to Pakistan
for following the path of self distraction and using Kashmir as the means
to attain this. Unfortunately is it Kashmir that has suffered due to
Pakistan’s unsubstantiated ambitions. The result has been an
unacceptable degradation of Kashmiri polity, economy and society.

India, sadly, has not come up with a viable solution to the problem
despite many windows of opportunity that were available to her. The
government has consistently been following a blinkered policy of feeding
the ever hungry stomachs of the vested interest in a misplaced belief
that peace can be brought through money power. Rot in Pakistan has
deepened and it is sliding downward, but is Kashmir policy continues to
be as diabolic as ever.

The preoccupation with vested interests has diverted attention from the
all important factor of the debilitating effect of militancy on women, youth
and children of Kashmir. Disempowerment of youth and women may
have worked to the benefit of militancy or the ideology of terror, but it
has surely not worked well for Kashmiri’s. They have become totally
dependent on outside resources for education, employment, vocational
training, health, veterinary and all other services.

When the people start becoming dependent on the state, the sponsors
of militancy start attracting them in the name of cultural aggression. For
instance, what the Indian army is doing in the region in terms of relief in
disasters, education or empowerment of youth etc. is unmatched by the
entire State Government machinery. Even in terms of generation of
ideas such as drug de-addiction, dog bite treatment, Super-30, medical
camps and so on the Army is in the forefront. The state machinery is
making no effort to take on the responsibility which is intrinsically its own
and is quite content in letting the Army do all the work. This is not a very
good situation for a community that takes pride in being self reliant.

Even in terms of generation of ideas such as drug de-addiction, dog bite

treatment, Super-30, medical camps and so on the Army is in the
forefront. The state machinery is making no effort to take on the
responsibility which is intrinsically its own and is quite content in letting
the Army do all the work. This is not a very good situation for a
community that takes pride in being self reliant.
The insane voices are not being challenged and as a result the
degradation brought about in the society as a bi-product of militancy, is
not allowing the psychological repair that is so very essential at this
stage. Persistence of hatred, irrespective of the target of hatred, is
something that Kashmir cannot afford any more. Also, the minds,
particularly of youth, cannot be allowed to remain traumatised or angry.

It is time that to understand the negative impacts of militancy and its

failure to meet Kashmiri aspirations which was the stated objective. It is
time for the people of Kashmir to take stock of their lives and those who
played with them. It is time to focus on assets ( who are willing to add
worth and value to our lives) rather than liabilities (who are ever geared
up to add violence, anger and dis-empowerment) so that the greatness
of Kashmir, the real sense of pride and above all, the future of its
children, can be salvaged.

OPTION FOR OPENING SPEECH

Islamist militant organizations have targeted India for more than a
decade. Bombings have bloodied the sprawling metropolises of
Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, as well as smaller cities and towns
throughout India. Dramatic attacks have also hit the historic Red
Fort in Delhi, the Indian Parliament and Kashmir’s state assembly.
Police and paramilitaries stand permanent guard outside
government buildings, popular tourist sites and crowded markets,
while terrorism alerts have become familiar headlines. For an India
experiencing unprecedented economic growth, Islamist terrorism is
a grim reminder of South Asia’s bitter divisions.
As with much of the political violence that has roiled the
subcontinent, a corrosive mixture of external and domestic causes
lie behind this terrorist threat. Pakistan’s sponsorship of militant
groups fighting in Kashmir has allowed these organizations to build
their capabilities for pushing violence into the Indian heartland. At
home, a small but sufficient proportion of Indian Muslims appear to
have been radicalized by vicious anti-Muslim riots instigated and
enabled by nationalist Hindu politicians. While the vast majority of
the 140 million Indian Muslims have no interest in militancy, a
driven few believe that there can be no justice or security for
Muslims in a “Hindu Raj.” This combination presents a
multilayered challenge to an Indian state lacking the resources of its
richer peers and beset by serious challenges of development and
governance.

Background to Today’s Violence

When British India was partitioned in 1947, millions left their homes amidst chaos
and carnage—Hindus and Sikhs fled from the newly-formed Pakistan into India, and
many Muslims abandoned the historic core of the Mughal Empire in north India 1.
The riots and massacres of partition were quickly followed by a full-scale war over
the disputed princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—situated between the two new
countries—which had a Muslim-majority but was ruled by a Hindu maharaja. This
violence bred a foundational enmity between India and Pakistan that has continued
for six decades. Further wars in 1965 and 1971 and the development of nuclear
weapons by both states hardened this “conflict unending” 2.

For the purposes of understanding the recent wave of Islamist terrorism within
India, the year 1989 marked an important moment. It was then that a serious
insurgency erupted in Kashmir led by Kashmiris seeking independence, the Jammu
and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). This rebellion was backed by Pakistan, which
began supplying arms and training in large quantities to individuals and
organizations fighting in Kashmir 3. Drawing on the lessons of Afghanistan in the
1980s, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) believed that it could bleed India
while safely shielded behind Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

The JKLF was quickly marginalized by its own organizational failures, Indian
counter-insurgency strategy and Pakistani dissatisfaction with the JKLF’s pro-
independence ideology. A more disciplined, pro-Pakistan group rose to the fore built
around the infrastructure of the Jamaat-i-Islami political party—the Hizb al-
Mujahidin. Hizb al-Mujahidin carried the banners of Islam and Kashmir in the early
and mid-1990s, but largely restricted its violence to the confines of the Indian-
administered state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Indian counter-insurgency efforts expanded apace, containing, though not

eliminating, the Hizb al-Mujahidin. In the mid- and late-1990s, militant
organizations with a dominantly Pakistani recruiting base began to take up an
increasingly prominent role in the Kashmir conflict 4. Harkat-ul-Mujahidin and
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, soon followed by Jaysh-i-Muhammad, were based heavily in
Pakistan and had ties to groups in Afghanistan; Harkat-ul-Mujahidin and Lashkar-e-
Tayyiba had been formed to fight in Afghanistan and consequently shifted attention
to Kashmir. They had more expansive aims than either the JKLF or Hizb al-
Mujahidin, both of which drew the bulk of their cadres from Kashmir itself. The new
wave of powerful jihadist groups, though different in important ways from one
another, had visions of shattering the Indian state and “liberating” its Muslim
components 5. The glories of past Mughal dominance combined with broader
Islamist ideologies, creating a South Asian jihadist milieu 6.

Pakistan provided these groups with extensive sanctuary, resources and assistance in
infiltrating across the Line of Control. In this way, Kashmir laid an important
organizational basis for the terrorism that would come to haunt India’s streets—the
Harkat, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaysh-i-Muhammad would take the guns, money and
training of the ISI and strike beyond Kashmir.

For this to become a sustained campaign, however, these organizations needed local
assistance from Indian Muslims. Although partition divided the subcontinent along
religious lines, many millions of Muslims remained in India. They tended to be less
educated and poorer than the middle and upper classes who would join the elite of
the new Pakistan. This relative poverty has continued—Muslims lie toward the
bottom of most key statistical categories 7. Some of India’s Muslims have also been
influenced by tolerant strands of Islam, born of the subcontinent’s exposure to
numerous faiths and sects over centuries. This diversity has provided an important
check on radicalism, as has the ability of Muslims to become involved in India’s
democratic politics as candidates, workers and government employees. The Muslim
population has not historically proved a source of violent radicalism or support for
Pakistan-backed militants 8.

Point against BJP

The Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP of “befooling” Muslim
women with the triple talaq bill that seeks to make the practice a criminal
offence, alleging that it has no provision for their welfare in case their
husbands are jailed.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said 18

opposition parties, including the Congress, wanted to send the bill to a
Select Committee for its proper scrutiny before it becomes a law, but the
government did not allow it.

He alleged that the BJP does not believe in democracy and that is why it
did not allow the motion moved by the opposition to send the bill to a
select committee.

Azad said the BJP is projecting itself as a “messiah” for Muslim women
and claiming to be champions of their welfare and rights, but has not made
any provision for their welfare.

“This government is trying to mislead Muslim women and the general

public,” he alleged at a press conference.

“What are they giving to Muslim women. They are merely projecting
themselves as their ‘messiah’, but they are in fact only trying to befool the
Muslim women,” he said.