What is going on in Kashmir?

 After being asked the above  question fourth time in my office lift, I have finally sat down to pen my thoughts.

Firstly, to all dedicated citizens of India, I will recommend that one should neither try to understand Kashmir conundrum nor try to speculate over it. Because no good has come to any one with their association with Kashmir. The roots of this problem are too deep for anyone to spend time and understand it properly and the other issue is “Kashmiris”. Kashmir and Kashmiris have a different culture, a different language and a very different outlook, which you may point out is the case with every-other state. But what you forget is there are other facets of Kashmiryat too. One, the closeness to Pakistan and another Islam. This makes a seemingly simple linear equation into a full-fledged lagrange theorem that too in Urdu, so good luck to you. In the meanwhile, if you have other important things to do, such as buying the correct liquid detergent for your washing machine, do that first.

Let’s begin with some news items.

Okay, what to make of this?

Imagine, Mr. Geelani has guests in his house. It is a normal get-together, season ending or season beginning. Mr. G is sitting with his Hurriyat pals on a sofa. Plates, full of savories, are jostling for space on  glass topped table. Mr. G has one eye on wall mounted 56” TV on his left and another on Mirwaiz. Anyways, suddenly, he finds everyone is getting some or the other ping on their mobiles. There is a commotion and then a shush, as if someone has died. Mr. G is trying to refresh his inbox. But there is no new message.

One by one, people come and shake Mr. G’s hands and ask permission to leave. Mr. G looks around at his family members, who are eyeballing him with the same intensity. No clue says their blank expressions.

One the way out, you finally manage to get hold of a guest and while he is tying his shoelaces and reads the  message. It is a one-liner.

“Leave quickly. For your own safety.”

Government of Kurdistan

Now, blood drains from G’s face.

He feels dejected, offended, insecure and a whole lot of other emotions.

What are your thoughts?

This means that government feels that your home is unsafe for the visitors, but you can stay. We don’t care about you.

What is Mr. G thinking?

Am I not the citizen of this country?

Yes, technically you are. You may be sharing meme videos of Modi ji and Arnab ji, but no can deny that you are a citizen. You may have received money from Pakistan to fire up the Anti-India sentiments in the people. You may be still getting the pension from Indian government and protection, but you still are a citizen.

So, how would you react to this situation. That means, government has decided to bifurcate the citizens into two categories. Good Citizen & bad citizen

Good Citizens: Amarnath Yatris/Tourists/People from Indian Mainland

Bad Citizen:  Kashmiris<Majority community><Terrorist Sympathizers> <OGWs><Salafists>

Can Govt. do that? As it turns  out, they already have.

Have you seen Breaking Bad? I asked one of my colleagues during Tea break .

Yes, he replied. 

Do you remember a scene when Walter White's wife comes to his temporary flat and tells him that she is worried about his safety? 

Oh yes! that was a epic scene.

Reply from Walter White, a drug kingpin to his worried wife, Skyler.

 "I am the danger, I am the one who knocks" ."No, you clearly don't know who you're talking to, so let me clue you in. I am not in danger, Skyler."

For the context Mr. G is White. 

Is it ok?? Well, if you look at it from the constitutional glasses or use your common sense. It doesn’t seem right. But, if you are a person who has been following Kashmir issue since the day he learned to read, it makes sense.

Firstly, the credibility of an RSS backed Govt. is linked with the safe conduction of Amarnath Yatra. Any incident during will send the message that Govt. is not aware of the ground conditions. Secondly, terrorists also make a point to disturb the yatra, since it is a symbol of the erstwhile and now non-existent secular fiber. Amarnath Cave is a motif that Kashmir was not always like this, it was a Vedic Hindu Civilization which was eroded by the marauders and looters who came and destroyed every secular molecule in the society.

Govt. is not bothered by the day-in day-out ding-dong battles between Terrorists and Security forces. But should a so called “Amarnath Yatri” be harmed, that will be a huge setback.

So that is that.

Other part is the huge deployment of Security forces:

I think here I may have to take a pause and think. In my living memory I have never seen Kashmiri Leadership so confused or disoriented. I am reading the tweets of Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba and they are shitting bricks. They are not getting anything out of South-block. No eavesdropping. No Iftar, No freebies. It is a new regime. This regime has kicked the bull in its balls by taking over the control of J & K Bank<read about it>

Is it good or bad?

I think it is good. Kashmiri leader<Looters> have been put into their places. Separatists are no longer being treated as demi-gods and government is being run from Delhi. But all this will work only when something happens for real.

Yo!! What you mean by real? What about 35A and 370?

Good question. I am no constitutional expert. But, even if Govt. abrogates these articles, there will be no change. A problem which has lasted over seven decades doesn’t get over in 7 days. It takes time, power, dedication and a shrewd planning. Well, yes, I am talking about Amit Shah, first of his name, dhokla eater, UP Caste engineer, master strategist and sometimes Home-Minister as well.

Looking at the current situation. I don’t see a plan or a scheme behind it. I see chaos. I see leaks of the memos. I see bizarre statements. Someone must have started with a plan but has now dropped the ball.

My best guess is that all this will go away in another couple of weeks and all will be back to normal.

But the ball has started to roll, and it will not stop. It will gather speed and it may bring some difference to the lives of millions of people affected by the Kashmir Conundrum and crush the ones who are running it as an industry. When? How? Only time will tell.