This refers to the story "Govt has hatched conspiracy against me: Asiya " (GK August 19th 2010). Everybody has a right to education whether he or she is son or daughter of a militant, army personnel or a policeman. Even if Asiya Andrabi wants to send her son for higher studies out of state what is wrong in that ? Infact she completely denies the fact that her son wants a passport for higher studies outside India. I have never met Asiya Andrabi nor am i her sympathizer but as a Kashmiri i have never seen a single statement from Asiya Andrabi wherein she has advised Kashmiri people not to send their children out of state or out of India for higher studies. Not even Hurriyat leaders have ever uttered a word on this topic. This is also a fact that no Hurriyat leader has ever directed Kashmiri people to throw stones at police or security forces. What we are witnessing in valley right now is a spontaneous reaction from Kashmiri youth which has no direction at all from any leaders. It was Syed Ali Shah Geelani who appealed people few weeks back to desist from stone pelting and other modes of violence etc and the state run TV and Radio aired his messages for the first time regarding this issue some weeks back, even the Delhi based news channels lauded the role of Geelani for appealing people to be calm.
Now making a hue and cry over Asiya Andrabi's son Muhammed Bin Qasim seeking a passport the Government is not at all honest over what it says and what it does in action. It was our Chief Minister who came to the rescue of a budding footballer when he was not getting a passport as his father had been a militant commander many years back. In this regard the Chief Minister made it clear few months back that a child cannot be made a scapegoat for the crime committed by his or her father and that young soccer player got his passport within days which enabled him to go out of India for playing football. This was a realistic approach of Mr Omar Abdullah.
Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah was spearheading a plebiscite movement in J&K from 1953 to 1975 but his children (Dr Farooq Abdullah, Dr Mustafa Kamal etc) went out of state or country for higher education and nobody dared to question Sheikh sahib over his children's education. This is also a fact that Sheikh Sahib was also not against Kashmiris education and in fact he was an ardent supporter of education of Kashmiri people. So let us be realistic and not make a propaganda over such issues. The Hurriyat leaders must also ensure that education in our state must not suffer due to strikes and hartals. They must allow schools and colleges to function. There are schools and colleges in Palestine also but they are not shut for months together. We need to find some solution to this problem as soon as possible

Dr Muzaffar Bhat
Gopalpora, Chadoora
budgam_social@rediffmail.com

Lastupdate on : Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
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