Watch out-The storm is Gathering

Prof S L Pandit  

 

The drama is slowly unfolding before this nation. The people of India are too busy to foresee the suitable connection between happenings in Kashmir and eventful times in their respective places. The politicians, who have the knowledge of the ramifications of Kashmir imbroglio on the social life in India, refuse to share it with the masses. Ex- bureaucrats who know what is what and how is how, refuse to shore up the level of information of the Indian people. The result is that, while the enemy is scoring no small victories, the people remain as indifferent as ever.

On 7th Feb. '95, 5450 sharp edged weapons loaded in 18 boxes were seized by the police at Jammu railway station while being loaded on the Bombay bound superfast train. The seizure of these weapons should normally not create much concern in this militancy-infested State. But what is intriguing is that the consignment bound for Bombay originated from the Valley which is still the traditional home to world famous handicrafts and horticulture produce.

The effective sealing of the Punjab border made the Jammu border active and sensational seizures during the past two years confirm that drug and arms smugglers are in search of alternate routes. The militancy in Kashmir coupled with the almost non- functional State administration provided a God-sent opportunity to the drug mafia operating from 'Golden Crescent'. Kashmir being logistically viable, is dependable too, because the mafia is convinced that Kashmiri Muslims can be coerced into carrying out the trade in the name of Jehad against India as also to avenge browbeating by that country.

And India presents a market colossus because it has the capacity to suck in everything and anything yet leave no trace behind. Our country especially the urban centres have become almost ingovernable in so far as checking the activities of criminals is concerned. The illegal trade can work like a well- oiled machine once Kashmir is established as a distribution centre for all-India consumption of narcotics.

The characteristic feature of today's militancy in Kashmir is that foreign mercenaries who have arrived in numbers are controlling much of the militant activities to the discomfiture of the locals. JKLF, Hurriyat and others are playing only as fiddles to these foreigners. The local administration, which prepared the ground fertile for the growth of militancy cannot look back now. The bomb blasts on 26th Jan, 95 at Jammu speak only about the helplessness of an administration, which was supposed to defend the people of J&K State from internal and external aggression.

They sowed the wind. They will reap the whirlwind, says the Bible. By surrendering the initiative of controlling the socio-economic and political life of the people to the armed insurgents (both locals and foreigners) they have deceived their own kin. There was a time when a Kashmiri boy would not kill even for a big treasure. But now, thanks to this administration it has learnt how to kill and get away with it. It is now conversant with border crossing points, besides he has developed contacts with criminals in many neighbouring countries. These boys are now on the run and hence they easily fall in the dragnet of Mafia groups who command a better organisation and authority. It is therefore, no wonder that Harkat-ul-Ansar and Lashkar-e-Tayuba, which are the militancy facades of drug mafia, are tightening their grip on the Kashmiri Muslim society while chubby local organisations are more and more being relegated to positions of insignificance.

The whirlwind which Kashmiri Muslims are going to reap will be shared by Indian people as well. Pakistan is going to push drugs on to us, and ISI the arms and ammunition everywhere. It wants to arm the people against India. The announced motives backing armed insurgency are not the real ones. The game is simple. The un-interrupted flow of fruits from the Valley can easily provide a conduit for exporting illegal contraband F.O.R. destination (13 processing laboratories are already functioning in POK). The quantum of trade will make it almost impossible to check each and every vehicle coming out of the Valley.

One day the shapeless monster called GOI will be forced to apply a ban on exports from the Valley. That day a new uprising, more devastating than the present one, will grip the Valley. The future administrators are bound to inherit not only the problems created by their predecessors but also their incompetence. There appears no hope for the future. However the Indian people on their own can rally against Pakistani designs and defeat them.

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Courtesy:- Prof. S.L. Pandit and April-May 1995 Koshur Samachar