Kashmir- Articles 370 and 35 (a)

An issue as big as the captioned matter deserves more than one blog. In this blog, I am just giving some random thoughts:

(1) When it comes to the position of India on the International forum or its prestige, we should keep aside our political differences and project one face. Certain political parties have needlessly taken a contrary position, though thanks to a very strong government, the damage caused has been arrested to being minimum. Some of these parties and their representatives will have to stand the test of scrutiny for their myopic stance till eternity.

(2) What has changed for Pakistan that it is behaving like having an internal emergency or a serious international crisis affecting it? India was neither offering Kashmir to it earlier nor is it going to do now! How internal restructuring of states impacts our neighbour is beyond comprehension?

(3) I read somewhere that eminent and respected journalist Shobha Dey has belittled the issue by asking Amit Shah to fix traffic problem in a certain area of Mumbai now that Kashmir issue is fixed! It only belittles her own reputation in the eyes of her thousands of admirers and readers!

(4) While I am sure that Governments of India and Pakistan and their armies have enough sagacity to decide when to start a war and use nukes, if the conversations on Twitter are to be perused and believed, the war seems to have already started with at least one of the countries going to get obliterated from the world map. In fact one Pakistani twitterati has even gone to the extent of saying that while the use of nukes will destroy both the countries, Muslim race will survive as this race exists in several countries. On the contrary Hindus exist only in India and obliteration of India would mean extermination of Hindu race from this world! Very imaginative I must confess!

(5) People are largely happy; this includes people of Jammu as well as Ladakh. But what’s in it for Kashmiris? It’s incumbent upon all of us, the people of India to ensure that we welcome them into the mainstream with open arms rather than playing it as victory and defeat! This also need not be compared to efflux of Kashmiri Pandits, which is now being sought to be neutralised through influx of non- Kashmiris into Kashmir! We should not forget that all the states resist too much influx of outsiders, especially if it impacts job prospects and Kashmiris need not be treated differently. Let the Government and industrialists and entrepreneurs create new infrastructure, skills and jobs leading to the overall economic prosperity of Kashmiris!

(6) Government should not play to the gallery by raising the issues of POK and Aksai Chin at this stage! As aforesaid, on ground nothing has changed for either of India, Pakistan and China and while we must ask all third parties not to poke their noses into India’s internal matter, passions of public should not be aroused by fanning such sentiments!

(7) Though I am no expert on international diplomacy and I am sure Government’s PRO machinery must have been galvanised, we must veer the world’s opinion around this fact that a historical wrong has been set right and that we have no other evil design behind this! Pakistan is playing Islamic card and Trump’s unpredictability we all know!

It’s a big moment but the matter deserves to be handled with utmost care and sensitivity. Secondly, it’s for the people of the two countries to build bridges rather than demeaning each other and flexing nuclear muscles! Let’s see how the “heaven on the earth” that’s God’s own creation Kashmir is, can be made a true heaven to be enjoyed in one’s lifetime and not after!