Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

J&K crisis

Sixty-one years after August 15, 1947 — I refer to the date, not the event of “independence” connected to it, deliberately — I find the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir not only far from integrated with the Indian nation-state but even more divided within their own State than they have been in decades since that benchmark year. Even more painfully, I find either indifference or cynicism to the fate of those suffering there. The travails of Jammu are reduced to the manipulation by a few unconscionable Hindu right-wing parties; and the tribulations of Kashmir are reduced in equal measure to the trickery of Muslim fundamentalists. Jammu and Kashmir is burning. That it is happening 61 years after the promised “tryst with destiny” cannot but be seen as one of our own failures as a nation-state.

Mridu Rai,

Associate Professor of History, Yale University

It is difficult for the people of Kashmir to forget the grave wounds inflicted on them by successive governments. The presence of over seven lakh forces to deal with “3000 militants” has made the lives of Kashmiris miserable. More than one lakh innocent people have been killed in the Valley, using draconian laws. There may be some grievance over the killing of innocent Hindus which resulted in the migration of Hindus from the Valley but that was the handiwork of some heretics. There has never been any communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in J&K.

The Shrine Board issue is being exploited by Hindu fanatics. They openly said they would make the people of Kashmir starve, and the result was the economic blockade. The land over which all the mayhem is going on is already being used by the Amarnath pilgrims, in the same way as it was used earlier. The arrangements are being made by the government and the local people, and not by the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board. Most important, the yatra is going on peacefully despite the protests in the Kashmir Valley. There has been no incident of pilgrims being attacked by protesters. This clearly shows the maturity of Kashmiri Muslims and their right cause.

Sakib Mehraj,

Srinagar

N.V. Sankaran,

Thrissur

V.S. Srinivasan,

Hyderabad

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