A group of ten loyal ministers was asked a question. `Those who are slaves to the king will raise their hands'. Nine did, the tenth didn't. Surprised at the `audacity', courtiers asked about the secret behind this `courage'. The minister poured his heart out. `How can I raise my hand without seeking permission from the Royal Authority. Others could, but I can't afford a defiance. Slave I am, but slaves don't raise hands - even in submission'.
To expect chief minister submit a resignation against the recent bloodshed in the valley is to expect too much. No one has done so far and perhaps no one can. But here the level of submission is unprecedented. Like the tenth minister in the story, our minister too could have thought of stepping down, but how can he? For even a resignation, government of Kashmir, needs a nod from New Delhi. It might sound a bit too fanciful explanation, but the way things are shaping up from the last few weeks define the whole relationship Kashmir experiences with Delhi. The relationship of a bird to a game keeper. The captive can't even flee till the captor allows.

It is humiliating for us all that even the lives lost do not invite a word of concern. Home Minister pins it down to LeT thereby offering a permanent justification to the use of force. Home Secretary sees nothing wrong if police personnel shoot `in defense', no matter how many fall while they defend. And above all, media borrows trivialities from all known and unknown sources somehow to portray this public anger as a simple and the only issue of provocation which is to be dealt with a terrifying toughness. Suspecting a foreign hand has been a convenient excuse. Yes, that suspicion though can't be completely ruled out, but to explain the whole story through a mere phone call intercepted  is too wishful a conclusion to be commented on. They blind themselves to the sun, focus their eye on a flicker.

It was heartening to see Ali Muhammad Sagar doing the unthinkable. Holding CRPF responsible for killings and seeing Omar Abdullah losing control over the forces; Sagar hit the mark. Unexpected, and by our standards of assertion - courageous. The stand could not stand any longer as the next day his chief minister clinched the whole issue by sermonizing parents to counsel their children. Advising parents is quite harmless and needed too, but with it one genuinely expected a word from him about the mercilessness police force works with. Three young boys were gunned down in Islamabad for no fault of theirs and still the word of advice was for parents alone. Omar promises a rabbit he will pull out of the hat `within 24 hours' which to his standards of measurement are still to go even after two weeks.
Not just lust for power, but helplessness at its worst. And this helplessness has a history of its own. The insults heaped on Kashmiris, rulers or subjects alike, are not new. Poor Omar can't do much except to dole out sermons to the misguided youth. The same, perhaps the worse happens elsewhere, where mobs destroy public property but no bullets are shot. They have a crisis in the North-East. CRPF are getting killed in groups and companies together, but civilians go untouched. Imagine CRPF suffering even one tenth of the damage here and think of the massacre whole Kashmir has to witness. That is what makes Kashmir `special' . Special as civilians of today are being treated like militants of yesterday. Special as `our own government can't save `their own people'.

Instigation? Yes, it can have a role. But that can't finish the story. You are trying everything to hunt down instigators and you have bundled them up in hundreds indiscriminately. But what have you done to identify killers which largely stand identified. Therein lies the `atonement' which CM says he is so serious about. Statements imported, promise to punish guilty perhaps is your own.

That is how even moderates turn hardliners when killings are shamelessly and arrogantly justified.  Kashmiris don't just need a sense of security, but a sense of honor. And honor can't be given by buying us all cheap - alongwith `our own Chief Minister'. Promise he can, punish he can't.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST