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| Enough is enough, Separatists cannot take common K Muslims for a ride | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, Aug 24: It is indeed very good and heartening development. According to PTI, "shopkeepers" in Kashmir are "up in arms against protestors, who are tasting their own bitter pill as locals are attacking them with stones." The bottom-line of the PTI report is that the people of Kashmir are "fed up with repeated strikes by separatists." Not just the angry local shopkeepers, even the "clerics have", according to the same report, "started making fervent appeals from mosques to open shops and restore normalcy in violence affected areas." Anantnag in South Kashmir, which is a stronghold of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, also witnessed clerics making such appeals taking into account the "lot of hardships" being faced by the people "on account of frequent strikes during the Holy month of Ramzan."
The towns and villages which have witnessed clashes and hot exchanges between separatists and supporters, plus anti-social elements, and shopkeepers and locals during the past few days include Peerbagh in Budgam district, Ompura area in Central Kashmir, Meehama in South Kashmir and Natipora area of Srinagar city, to mention only a few places. All these places have witnessed clashes between the locals and separatists and those who tried to "enforce a strike" in these areas. In Meehama, at least four hooligans and supporters of separatists were "beaten up by locals when they were trying to enforce a strike in the areas." Ompura has repeatedly witnessed exchanges of "hot words between locals and anti-social elements when businessmen were forces to shut down their shops." "As separatists and goons reached the area to enforce the strike, they were greeted with stones. Local shop-owners showered stones on these rowdy elements," says the report. So much so, these angry shopkeepers and locals have "filed an FIR against ten people of the neighbouring Nabir Gund village holding them responsible for spoiling peace and threatening the locals."
Though the protests of shopkeepers and locals against the separatists are scattered, they do suggest that anger is brewing against those who have brought all the economic activities in the Kashmir Valley to a grinding halt. It is hardly necessary to point here that the separatists'-sponsored almost indefinite strike has hit the Kashmir's economy and that there are reports that "people have been seen selling off their belongings at distress rates" at various places in the Kashmir Valley. It is also not necessary to underline here the fact that the vendors, daily-wagers and similar other persons, including those working in hotels, restaurants and dhabas, who earn their bread on a daily-basis are on the verge of starvation.
It can be said that the coming days would witness more and more protests against the separatists and their henchmen as the patient of the people have virtually ended. The reasons - apart from those referred to above - include the collapse of almost all the institutions, administrative or otherwise, including educational institutions and healthcare centres. Almost all these institutions are closed for nearly two months. The fact of the matter is that the separatists and anti-social elements have converted the paradise on earth into a veritable hell, with the separatist leaders and their henchmen leading a comfortable and secure life in the well-protected posh localities and the common Kashmiri Muslims finding it extremely difficult to keep their body and soul together.
A keen Kashmir-watcher has very rightly commented on the basis of personnel knowledge that the "Ali Shah Geelanis, the Mirwaizs, the Muftis and a clueless Omar Abdullah Government indulging themselves to their heart's content in what one might call shadow-boxing of sorts" and that "the only real and tragic part of it is that the shenanigans of the above-listed dramatis-personae are taking toll on life and property, denying the people the right to pursue their vocations, to make life that much less of a drudgery."
It would be only appropriate to quote some relevant portions from his latest essay on Kashmir in this regard. These portions read: "None of the so-called leaders of the separatist movement is suffering personally; they have made sure of that. Their personal needs are fully met and trust me when I tell you that an informal courier service of a kind has come into existence, carrying the good things of life from New Delhi markets to the homes of the separatists. This, when these people have ensured that securing the local Kashmiri bread and milk have become an ordeal for the people in major urban centres, Srinagar in particular. For the men issuing 'firmans' from their safe houses the baker, the milkman and the sabziwalla are always available to ensure that leaders' needs are met. And then they have the additional advantage of telling one or the other of their men in Delhi to make sure that the leader's culinary needs are addressed."
These portions further read like this: "On my usual weekly round of the capital's (Delhi's) most expensive market the other day with my Jeeves in tow, I saw an unknown man, a Kashmiri, asking a shopkeeper for three kilos of salami; the Kashmiri separatist neta's family was apparently very fond of it. Another man, again a Kashmiri, armed with a largish refrigerated container was waiting for his five kilos of mutton chops, Srinagar-bound like the other one. Y'see, the butchers in cities and towns must also observe Hartals and curfews.
Curiosity led me to ask the shop owner 'kya ho raha hai'. Nothing, don't you know Kashmir is hartal-bound for the last five weeks (that day) and 'Sahab log gosht yehan se mangate hein'. Some others 'imprisoned' held in luxury huts in Srinagar have their wazwans smuggled into the premises and yet others like Ali Shah Geelani, currently lodged in the Sher-e-Kashmir Medical Institute, where he has got admitted…after being released from the luxury of his Chashma Shahi hut. Geelani does not appear to be much of an eater but to be sure you will find several loaded tiffin-carriers reaching the hospital, probably to keep those who attend on him well-fed.
Common Kashmiri Muslims are fully aware of all these facts. They also know that these and similar other leaders have become multi-millionaire overnight and that while they send their sons and daughters outside the state for acquiring education and leading a comfortable and secure life there, they are forcing all others to close down everything in Kashmir, including educational institutions, for the cause of Kashmiri freedom. This will not do. The separatists cannot take the people for a ride. They will revolt against them sooner than later because they cannot do without bread, educational institutions, hospitals, government offices and so on. |
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