Amarnath land transfer dispute amplifies dichotomy

Our politicians belong to a special caste - they are criminals. They deserve the treatment, the Protagonist, actor Vikram metes out to villains in the movie Anniyan. Our Kashmiri parasites (the politicians, not the public) are slightly different lot - Garuda Puranam may sound communal, and hence may need to be treated in a secular manner.

From their actions and reactions, they have managed to amplify the dichotomy that prevails in the region. What baffles me the most is the absolute lack of contrition on the part of these self-styled figure heads of Kashmiri society.

A mere environmental issue has been given a communal touch, thus fomenting trouble in the name of Islam and communalism.

Amarnath Shrine Board was formed under the aegis of J&K assembly in 2000, to help support Amarnath Yatra. Keep in mind, Amarnath Yatra is successful all these years because of material and logistic support from the Kashmiri public.

Nobody is opposing these facilities or the pilgrims. That's a sad and hidden truth in this political fiasco.

The land transfer issue is about small piece of land that was acquired and transfered to the Amarnath Shrine Board to provide lavatory & other facilities for pilgrims. Many such facilities were inexistence atleast for 20-30 years...frequently upgraded, improved and increased to meet the growing needs of Yatris. Amarnath board has transfered several such portable toilets to the public in response to 2005 earthquake.

This is what Vijay K. Sazawal of Indo-American forum has to say in The Outlook, in response to communally sensitive articles appearing in a local Srinagar daily:

"Sadly, the daily would not tell its readers that the J&K government had after 1996 -- when 250 pilgrims died due to heavy snowfall during the yatra and before the passage of the SASB Act in the state assembly in 2000 -- built a number of permanent comfort facilities for pilgrims. In fact, the earliest such structures were built in 1980s. Also, the media conveniently ignored that the SASB had donated most of its tear-down comfort facility kits to the people of Tangdhar and Uri after the October 2005 earthquake and there was an urgent need to build replacement facilities along the yatra route."

Here are the dick-heads involved in communalizing this political saga:

• Hurriyat Conference - Umbrella organization of Kashmiri separatist parties based in Srinagar, a miscellaneous group of people who will travel to "New Delhi, India" for their medical treatments, expenses either underwritten by the Indian government or by some unknown entity across the border. Very happy to stoke the fire, just before their trip to Pakistan (on an Indian passport, I guess) for "talks".

• Mufti Mohammed Syed - Remember Rubaiya Syed incident under the august Prime Ministership of VP Singh in 1989? Response to the kidnapping is the basis of viewing the Indian state as weak. This guy, I read somewhere, apparently has a Masters degree in harmonizing communal tensions. His party withdrew support over land transfer issue.

• Omar Abdullah - His marked deviation from the script while speaking on the vote of confidence in Loksabha recently was unnecessary. He should have stuck to the topic of the debate, the Indo-US nuclear deal, and not speak about Amarnath Yatra issue. You cannot allowed to be provoked, if you are budding and promising talent.

Check the speech out yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mr2Fjw5A0A

Omar Abdullah, in my opinion, was a fantastic Minister of State of External Affairs in the erstwhile NDA regime. He is well respected in the political circles as a budding young talent and thus eagerly listened to by the public. His vote of confidence speech was blighted by references to Amarnath issue, no doubt about it. His speech contributed to aggravated passions in the Jammu region.

• Media: Our English media is largely influenced by writers from JNU school of pseudo-secularism in New Delhi. They have "tailor-made" jobs available in leftist oriented Education ministry, ASI, Politburo of certain parties and in several newspapers/magazines.

Omar Abdullah's speech, according to some in the media, has elevated him to the national scene. What rubbish are they delivering to us?

1. Listen to this "Walk the talk" by Shekhar Gupta which I had the benefit of watching it live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNXRsjY9Lhk

2. This link has some information, that was completely ignored by our mainstream, English media.
http://www.anindianmuslim.com/2008/07/muslims-favouring-hindu-stand-on.html

Narendra Modi may be right in saying, this issue could be India's Shah Bano II. Knowing what happened after Shah Bano I, do we want a Shah Bano II?

My political preferences and compulsions apart, I am quiet skeptical of Narendra Modi as India's next Home Minister.

How does the current government feel?