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| Endorsing break-India autonomy concept | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Apr 30: There are at least four persons in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) who have from time to time aired seditious views to identify them with the cause of the Kashmiri separatists, all ardent champions of Kashmiri sub-nationalism. They are none other than Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav and Sazia Ilmi. Prashant Bhushan, a close friend of Syed Ali Shah Geelani and other Kashmiri seditionists, everyone knows, had in 2011 openly advocated plebiscite in Kashmir to know if the Kashmiri Muslims wanted to remain with India or wanted Kashmir to become independent or merged with theocratic, dictatorial and feudal Pakistan. A suggestion that infuriated young nationalists and the result was an attack on him in his office chamber itself in Delhi. He faced their ire on many other occasions as well after the Delhi episode, the latest being the one that Indore (MP) witnessed a couple of weeks ago.
That Bhushan meant what he had said in 2011 became manifestly clear on January 5, 2014, when he advocated the need to hold a referendum in Kashmir to decide on deployment of the Army and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) under which the security forces involved in the anti-insurgency operations enjoy a legal immunity. "People should be asked whether they want that the army to handle the internal security of Kashmir. Any decision which does not have the backing of the people is undemocratic. If people feel that the Army is violating human rights and they say they don't want the Army to be deployed for their security then the Army should be withdrawn from the hinterland," he said in an interview with Aaj Tak's Seedhi Baat. Indeed, he spoke the language of Kashmiri secessionists, including those who run and control the NC, CPI-M and the Congress.
An impression was then created by certain vested interests in the media - all well-wishers of Kejriwal -- after Bhushan's atrocious statement on the Army and the AFSPA triggered a fierce controversy that the AAP of rouges had distanced itself from the seditious formulations of its senior leader. It was an attempt to help out Kejriwal. It is a different story that Kejriwal, instead of recognising the ground realities in Kashmir, indirectly made common cause with Bhushan the following day when questioned by reporters. He, inter-alia, said: "We believe the sentiments of locals should be respected. Otherwise democracy will be under threat". There was no fundamental difference between what Bhushan recommended and what Kejriwal said.
Earlier, on October 17, 2011, Medha Patkar had demanded revocation of the AFSPA, saying it was a draconian legislation. After visiting Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar, she had said: "The AFSPA is an inhuman law that has no place in a civilised society. There have been unlawful killings and disappearance cases in the places where this law is operational. We denounce all kinds of violence, including the kind committed by army in Kashmir and other parts of the country". That day, around two dozen human right activists from across the country, including an AAP activist and Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey, started their march from Srinagar to Manipur demanding revocation of the AFSPA and it was led by Patkar. The ten-day-long march was named after 53 year old Irom Sharmila, a Manipuri human rights activist, who launched her crusade against the Act following the killing of 10 persons during the Assam Rifles-crowd clashes in Imphal on November 2, 2000.
What about Yogendra Yadav and Sazia Ilmi? Yadav on April 28 not only endorsed the anti-people, anti-democratic, anti-minorities, divisive and pro-separatist Article 370, but also jumped on to the NC's autonomy bandwagon and advocated demilitarisation. He came to Srinagar from Delhi to make common cause with the votaries of Kashmir's semi-independence. Addressing media persons at Chadoora (Srinagar), he, among other things, said: "Article 370 is an integral part of the AAP's concept of swaraj. All the Indian states should be given autonomy. Presence of army in Kashmir is unwarranted. In real democracy there is no need of military strength". As for Ilmi, less said the better. Suffice to say that she has been openly hobnobbing with those who want the Government of India to amend the Indian Constitution to accommodating the Kashmiris' "Azadi" demand. In 2011 she visited the state, along with then interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir Dilip Padgaonkar and Radha Kumar and participated in a pro-Kashmir roundtable conference. She had attacked the RSS and held it responsible for the so-called alienation in Kashmir. To be more precise, she had made common cause with the anti-India forces operating in Kashmir. What does all this suggest? The answer is not far to seek. The meaning of what these AAP leaders said is crystal clear. |
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